PHG Foundation

HbA1c is the world’s most widely used test for diagnosing type 2 diabetes. New evidence shows that G6PD deficiency and other genetic variants are systematically distorting its results for Black and South Asian populations. Every year, millions of people are diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, and for many the process begins with a single blood test. HbA1c testing is convenient, does not require fasting, and gives an integrated picture of blood sugar control over several months.

Potential fallout from the recent UK Biobank data exposure – and similar cases – highlights that governance cannot be treated as an administrative add on. It is foundational infrastructure on which the Health Data Research Service (HDRS) must build. A few weeks ago, UK Biobank was at the centre of controversy following reports that its volunteers’ data had been made available for sale on the Chinese retail platform Alibaba.

National attention has been gripped by the recent meningitis outbreak which has claimed two lives in Kent this March. This acute disease, although thankfully rare, has a rapid onset and can result in hospitalisation and death. In this post, we unpack the role that genomics has played in enabling a rapid public health response and put this in the context of wider changes in the UK public health response infrastructure.

An exciting opportunity for a business development expert to shape the future of the PHG Foundation, help capitalise on its unique value and continue the mission of making science work for health. PHG is a highly respected organisation working nationally and internationally, and located at the heart of the world-renowned Cambridge biomedical cluster. Our talented staff team is governed by our Board of Trustees and supported by our expert Associates, Fellows and Senior Fellows.

One year ago, the PHG Foundation report, Host genomics: lessons for infectious diseases, highlighted the promise of host genomics research for infectious disease. Policy priorities may have changed since then, the evidence has not. The need to advocate for the importance of this research is more important than ever. What did our report say?

Following the successful completion of the NHS national pilot in April 2025, the highly anticipated first results assessing CYP2C19 genetic testing to guide clopidogrel use in ischaemic stroke and TIA patients have now been unveiled.

In the quest for a more personalised and predictive form of medicine, few technologies have generated as much excitement and as much controversy as polygenic risk scores. The concept is compelling: a single number, calculated from hundreds, thousands or millions of small variations in your DNA, that estimates your lifelong genetic predisposition to common diseases like heart disease, cancer, and diabetes.

Healthcare is undergoing a quiet revolution. Paper trails are giving way to digital records, and AI scribes are becoming official note-takers of patient–clinician conversations. This shift from analogue to digital promises precision, speed, and access to the latest innovations.

Wednesday 29 October 2025 Register here About this talk The growing use of genomic data in healthcare aims to balance predictive and diagnostic needs by supporting both disease prevention and clinical decision-making. Yet, the predictive potential of genomic information is frequently overstated, with the genome too often portrayed as a complete “blueprint” for health.

An international group of leading researchers, health professionals and policy makers met from 7th to 11th September at Ayer’s Cliff, Canada, to determine how best to secure the potential benefits of genome-based technologies for population health globally over the next quarter century.