The National Coalition for Health Professional Education in Genetics
(NCHPEG pronounced "NITCH-peg")

The National Coalition for Health Professional Education in Genetics (NCHPEG) is a non-profit "organization of organizations" committed to educating health care providers about the application of genetics concepts in practice. NCHPEG members are an interdisciplinary group of leaders from approximately 130 diverse health professional organizations, consumer and volunteer groups, government agencies, private industry, managed care organizations, and genetics professional societies. NCHPEG is not a policy, standard-setting, or regulatory organization; instead, its goals are to:

• integrate genetics content into the knowledge base of health professionals and students of the health professions,

• develop educational tools and information resources to facilitate the integration of genetics into health professional practice, and

• strengthen and expand the Coalition's interdisciplinary community of organizations and individuals committed to coordinated national genetics education for health professionals.

NCHPEG was established in 1996 by the American Medical Association, the American Nurses Association, and the National Human Genome Research Institute. NCHPEG’s mission is to promote health professional education and access to information about advances in human genetics to improve the health care of the nation.

As part of a five-year contract funded by the Bureau of Health Professions in the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI), and the Office of Rare Diseases (ORD) at the National Institutes of Health, NCHPEG will develop and disseminate a genetics education project targeted at a specific group or related group of health care providers each year. The dental education initiative is the first in this series, and it is in direct response to dental providers’ expressed need to have a better understanding of genetic concepts as they may apply to their patient population.

For more information about NCHPEG’s current and upcoming projects, or to discuss the genetics education modules on this site, send an e-mail to geneticsinfo@nchpeg.org, or call our office at (410) 583-0600.