The Institute for Genomic Medicine was established in January of 2015 under the direction of Dr. David Goldstein as a part of Columbia University's Precision Medicine Initiative. The overarching goal of the institute is to create a cohesive research and teaching environment for human genetics and genomics within Columbia. Recent technological advances in genome sequencing and adoption of electronic medical records enabled the creation of patient-centered personalized medicine being one of the the keystones of the medical field. The sequencing facility at IGM consists of a 3000 square foot facility that has four Illumina HiSeq2500 sequencers. Currently, the sequencing capacity for the facility is 160 whole genomes or 1500 whole exomes per month.

David Goldstein is the author of over 200 scholarly publications in the areas of population and medical genetics. His principal interests include human genetic diversity, the genetics of disease, and pharmacogenetics. He was elected a fellow of AAAS in 2013 and was a recipient of one of the first seven nationally awarded Royal Society / Wolfson research merit awards in the UK for his work in human population genetics. Dr. Goldstein is also one of three overall principal investigators of the NINDS Epilepsy genetics Center without Walls and directs the genome sequencing and bioinformatic core of Epi4K. Epi4K is currently the largest epilepsy genetics project in the world and is in the process of generating whole exome and whole genome sequence data on no less than 4,000 patients with epilepsy.

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