Hardly a day passes without the media hitting us with hype about genetics and how it will transform medicine and life as we know it today. As I write this, television's talking heads shows are all aflutter about news that, with the live birth of a baby, some wacky sect claims to have successfully cloned a human.

There's a problem in all this hype and publicity about genetic technology. These stories and predictions lack the specifics needed for rational people to craft rational responses. This is particularly true for laboratory executives and pathologists. Diagnostic testing lies at the heart of genetic and proteomic analysis. As technology moves out of the research lab and into clinical settings, laboratorians must be ready to make informed decisions about how to acquire and deploy new assays based on genetic and proteomic science.

Like many of you, I am frustrated with the lack of detail and clear foresight about how genetic knowledge is expected to change medicine and society. To help fill that vacuum, this entire issue of The Dark Report is dedicated to assessing the ways genetic knowledge will reshape and transform the American healthcare system. I think you will be fascinated with the vision of Rick J. Carlson, our chosen expert on this subject.

The good news is that the most disruptive changes from genetic knowledge are not expected for as long as ten years. From that perspective, labs will be relatively unaffected in the near term. But the near term passes quickly. Go back to 1995. How many of you had a business email address that year? Or a personal email address? 1995 was the year that PapNet®, ThinPrep®, and AutoPap® were approved by the FDA for some aspect of cervical cancer screening applications. It took just seven years for email to become ubiquitous and vast changes to occur to cervical cancer screening. My point is this: time flies much too quickly to ignore the threats and opportunities represented by new genetic knowledge.

That is why The Dark Report is pulling out the crystal ball in this issue and gazing into the future with Rick Carlson. He is an "insider" in the full sense of the term. He has access to thought leaders and information unavailable to the media. Because of this fact, his information represents the best intelligence available on how genetic knowledge will change the healthcare system we serve today. More importantly, I encourage you to use this intelligence to help your laboratory or pathology group practice develop appropriate business and clinical strategies.

Grasping the Impact of the Genetic Revolution

It's an insider's view of far-reaching changes expected to create new opportunities for labs.

NEWSMAKER INTERVIEW: Laboratories Sit Squarely Between New Genetics and Today's Medicine

One consequence of genetic knowledge is that consumers will begin buying individualized healthcare services

CEO SUMMARY: Healthcare futurist Rick J Carlson believes that knowledge of the human genome will trigger revolutionary changes in the American healthcare system. In particular, Carlson predicts consumers will drive the primary shift in the way healthcare services are organized and delivered. As this occurs, he believes clinical laboratories and pathology groups are perfectly positioned to serve the changing needs of consumers and their physicians. At this year's Executive War College, Carlson's insight and predictions captured the crowd. In response to requests for more information from him, The Dark Report arranged this exclusive interview. Because of Carlson's unique access to many of the nation's thought leaders in healthcare, business, and politics, his views represent a highly credible view of how and why the genetics revolution will change the healthcare system as we know it today.

Institute Projects 20-Year Trajectory For Genetic Technology Development

Tracking Genetic Technology's Future

INTELLIGENCE:

PAML Buys Lab In Salt Lake City

"Metabolomics" Gaining Favor For Therapeutics and Diagnostics

Focus Technologies Ready for IS0-9001