2026 Polygenic Risk Scores

*Agenda sessions subject to change as we finalize the schedule* 

Day at a Glance

7:30 – 8:00 AM	Registration, Breakfast & Exhibition	30 min
8:00 – 8:15 AM	Opening Remarks	15 min
8:15 – 9:30 AM	Session 1. From Analytic Validity to Clinical Utility	75 min
9:30 – 9:50 AM	Break and Exhibits	20 min
9:50 – 10:55 AM	Session 2. Clinical Integration: Workflow, Decision Support & Cost	65 min
10:55 AM – 12:00 PM	Session 3. PRSs for Cancer	65 min
12:00 – 1:00 PM	Lunch & Founding Adopter Symposium (Illumina)	60 min
1:00 – 2:05 PM	Session 4. Cardiovascular & Kidney PRS in Practice	65 min
2:05 – 3:10 PM	Session 5. Patient Experience, Communication & Policy	65 min
3:10 – 3:30 PM	Break and Exhibits	20 min
3:30 – 4:45 PM	Implementation Roadmap	75 min
4:45 – 5:00 PM	Concluding Remarks	15 min
5:00 – 6:00 PM	Networking Reception	60 min

Session-by-Session Program

Opening Session  |  8:00 – 8:15 AM
Opening Session  |  8:00 – 8:15 AM

Time	Topic	Speaker / Format
8:00 AM	Welcome	Michael Widlansky, MD, Chair Division of Cardiovascular Medicine
8.05 AM	Conference Objectives & Disclosures	Iftikhar J. Kullo MD, Professor, Division of Cardiovascular Medicine; Associate Director, Mellowes Center for Genomic Sciences and Precision Medicine; Associate Director of Population Science, Cardiovascular Research

Session 1. From Analytic Validity to Clinical Utility  |  8:15 – 9:30 AM

Chair: Iftikhar J. Kullo, MD — MCW

The evidence chain a polygenic score must satisfy before it can be used clinically: analytic validity in the laboratory, clinical validity in the population, and clinical utility at the bedside. This session establishes the vocabulary and the reporting standard that later sessions depends on.

Time	Topic	Speaker / Format
8:15 AM	KEYNOTE: Analytic Validity of PRS — The Laboratory Perspective (25 min)	Niall Lennon, PhD — Senior Director of the Genomics Platform, Chief Scientific Officer and Chair of the Board of Broad Clinical Laboratories, Institute Scientist
8:40 AM	Clinical Validity: Improving the Precision of PRS	Qiongshi Lu, PhD — Associate Professor, Biostatistics and Medical Informatics UW–Madison
8:55 AM	Clinical Utility of PRS: The PRS-CUReS Framework	Iftikhar J. Kullo, MD — Professor, Division of Cardiovascular Medicine; Associate Director, Mellowes Center for Genomic Sciences and Precision Medicine; Associate Director of Population Science, Cardiovascular Research, MCW
9:10 AM	Panel Discussion	Session 1 speakers + Chair

Session 2. Clinical Integration: Workflow, Decision Support & Cost  |  9:50 – 10:55 AM

Chair: Muska Nataliansyah, MD, PhD, MPH — MCW

The session pairs the implementation-science lens on barriers and facilitators with the clinical decision support that delivers a score at the point of care, and closes on the cost and coverage considerations that determine whether a program is sustainable

9:50 AM	Implementation Science for PRS: Frameworks, Barriers & Facilitators	Mochamad (Muska) M. Nataliansyah, MD, MPH, PhD— Assistant Professor of Surgery; CHDS implementation scientist, MCW
10:05 AM	Clinical Decision Support & EHR Integration for PRS-Guided Care	Nephi Walton, MD, PhD, MPH — Wake Forest University School of Medicine
10:20	The All of Us Research Program: Population Genomics at National Scale	Nguyen Park, DMSc, MS, PA-C, DFAAPa, Program Officer All of Us Program
10:35 AM	Panel Discussion	Session 2 speakers + Chair

Session 3. PRSs for Cancer  |  10:55 AM – 12:00 PM

Chair: Muhammed Murtaza, MBBS, PhD — UW–Madison

Cancer is where polygenic risk has travelled furthest into screening practice. The session opens on genomic testing for cancer more broadly, then turns to the evidence behind breast cancer polygenic scores and to what risk-stratified screening requires to be adopted.

Time	Topic	Speaker / Format
10:55 AM	KEYNOTE: From Liquid Biopsy to Polygenic Risk — Genomic Testing for Cancer Risk (20 min)	Muhammed Murtaza, MBBS, PhD — Division of Surgical Oncology  Professor, Department of Surgery, Director of the Center for Precision Medicine, UW–Madison
11:15 AM	Polygenic Risk Scores for Breast Cancer: Promise and Practicalities	Elizabeth Kearney, MS, CGC, MBA; Precision Health, UW Health
11:30 AM	eMERGE-IV: Returning Polygenic Risk at Scale in US Health Systems	Jodell E. Jackson, PhD — Assistant Director of Scientific Networks and Genomics at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.
11:45 AM	Panel Discussion	Session 3 speakers + Chair

Lunch & Founding Adopter Symposium (Illumina)  |  12:00 – 1:00 PM

A 20-minute Founding Adopter talk (Illumina; non-promotional) on supporting PRS implementation in practice, followed by an informal working lunch.

Session 4. Cardiovascular & Kidney PRS in Practice  |  1:00 – 2:05 PM

Chair: Iftikhar J. Kullo, MD — MCW

 Coronary artery disease; familial and polygenic hyperlipidemia show how monogenic and polygenic testing combine; and the session closes on hypertension and chronic kidney disease, where PRS pathways are maturing.

Time	Topic	Speaker / Format
1:00 PM	Coronary Heart Disease	Iftikhar J. Kullo, MD — Professor, Division of Cardiovascular Medicine; Associate Director, Mellowes Center for Genomic Sciences and Precision Medicine; Associate Director of Population Science, Cardiovascular Research, MCW
1:15 PM	Hyperlipidemia: Integrating Monogenic and Polygenic Testing	Aimee C. (Welsh) Zullo, MD, FACC, DipABLM — Associate Professor, Froedtert/MCW
1:30 PM	Hypertension and Chronic Kidney Disease	Ashraf El-Meanawy, MD, MS, PhD, FASN— Outpatient Dialysis Medical Director, Professor MCW
1:45 PM	Panel Discussion	Session 4 speakers + Chair

Session 5. Patient Experience, Communication & Policy  |  2:15 – 3:20 PM

Chair: Saskia C. Sanderson, PhD — King’s College London
A polygenic result only matters if it is understood and acted on, and if the person receiving it is protected from its misuse. This session covers what happens after disclosure — behavioral and patient-reported outcomes, the counseling needed to convey probabilistic risk — and the insurance and legal gaps that shape whether patients accept testing at all.

Time	Topic	Speaker / Format
2:05 PM	Risk Communication: Conveying Polygenic Risk to Patients and Clinicians	Rachel A. Sundstrom, MS, CGC — Certified Genetic Counselor, Froedtert/MCW
2:20 PM	Patient-Reported & Behavioral Outcomes after PRS Disclosure	Saskia C. Sanderson, PhD — Senior Research Fellow  Data Science Lead, NIHR Mental Health Translational Research Collaboration (TRC) Mission, King’s College London
2:35 PM	Genetic Information, Insurance & GINA Gaps	Anya E. R. Prince, JD, MPP — David H. Vernon Professor in Law, University of Iowa
2:50 PM	Panel Discussion	Session 5 speakers + Chair (Sanderson)

Implementation Roadmap  |  3:30 – 4:45 PM

Moderator: Iftikhar J. Kullo, MD — MCW

The capstone of the day. Patients and referring clinicians say what would make a PRS result worth acting on, and the goal is to convert the sessions’ action items into a prioritized roadmap — the evidence still required, the pilot or registry needed to generate it, and the owners and timeline to do it. Live polling ranks priorities, reported with denominators as participant input.

Time	Topic	Speaker / Format
3:30 PM	Patient Perspectives on Using PRS in the Clinic (25 min)	Patient panel (moderated)
3:55 PM	Clinician Perspectives on Using PRS in the Clinic (25 min)	Clinician panel Laura C. Hawks, MD, MPH Associate Professor, MCW;  M. Fuad Jan, MD Associate Program Director, Cardiovascular Disease Fellowship, Interventional Cardiology, Cardiology Faculty at Aurora
4:20 PM	The Roadmap: Evidence Requirements, the Pilot/Registry to Generate Them, Owners & Timeline (25 min)	All attendees — live poll + moderated discussion with the Session Chairs

Sponsors

We acknowledge support of this meeting by unrestricted grants from Illumina, Novartis & MyOme