Genetics: testing, therapy, editing, association with disease risk, autism, and more | Wendy Chung, M.D., Ph.D.

**Peter Attia** (0:11)
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My guest this week is Dr. Wendy Chung. Wendy is a board certified clinical and molecular geneticist and the new chief of pediatrics at Boston Children's Hospital. Wendy earned her PhD in genetics from Rockefeller University and an MD from Cornell University Medical College. She completed her residency in pediatrics and her fellowship in molecular and clinical genetics at Columbia's New York Presbyterian Hospital, where she then served as a professor of pediatrics and directed her research programs towards the genetics of obesity, diabetes, breast cancer, autism, and rare diseases.
Wendy has received numerous awards for her research as well as for her clinical and teaching contributions, including being elected to the National Academy of Medicine. In my conversation with Wendy, we focus on genetics from a variety of angles. We talk about what science and genetics looked like before we could decode the human genome, as well as what we know currently when it comes to whole genome and exome sequencing. This includes an understanding of the difference between clinical genetic testing and what's available commercially. We also speak about genetics and newborn screening, as well as a project that Wendy is involved in called the Guardian Study. We talk about genetics as it relates to a variety of conditions, including PKU, which some of you may have heard of if you've ever noticed on a diet soda can. It says, if you have PKU, don't drink this. Breast cancer, obesity, autism, and cardiovascular disease. We ultimately talk about gene therapy, how it works and what's required to change a gene, and of course the future and ethics of gene therapy. So, without further delay, please enjoy my conversation with Dr. Wendy Chung.
Hey Wendy, thanks for making time to chat today. This is an especially busy day, as I learned you're literally in the process of moving from New York to Boston later today, no less. So I'll try not to get in the way of that transition, but that's probably a good intro to kind of explain what it is you do. You're moving from one prestigious institution in New York to another in Boston. Tell us where you're going.

**Wendy Chung** (3:12)
Sure, I'm going to be the Chair of Pediatrics at Boston Children's Hospital and will be at Harvard Medical School.

**Peter Attia** (3:17)
You're both an MD and a PhD.
How do you balance your time between, let's not include the new responsibilities that will be administrative, but up until now, how have you balanced your time between the lab and clinical practice? How do those split?

**Wendy Chung** (3:32)
So, they split about 20% clinical, 80% research, but truth be told, they're really together. So, when I think about things, I always say it starts with the patient and ends with the patient. So, it starts with the patient, to me, in terms of clinically seedling them. Many times, the answers aren't obvious, and so it becomes a research question. And at the end of the day, though, it has to go back to the patient. So, within this, that split, I think, just signifies how much we have to learn and why research is so important to improve clinical care.

**Peter Attia** (4:00)
You didn't do a combined MSTP or MD-PhD program. You did your PhD first and then went to medical school, or did you do the combined program?

**Wendy Chung** (4:08)
Yeah, I did a combined program between Cornell and Rockefeller. And since Rockefeller doesn't have a medical school, we do that with Cornell.

**Peter Attia** (4:15)
I see. So, presumably, you knew you wanted to be a physician scientist as you went through training.

**Wendy Chung** (4:20)
Yes, that's right.

**Peter Attia** (4:21)
What drew you to your current field of genetics? How would you describe to somebody what it is you do in the lab?