TOPMed ACC Awarded to Westat

The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) has awarded Westat the Trans-Omics for Precision Medicine (TOPMed) Administrative Coordinating Center (ACC) contract. The TOPMed Program is part of NHLBI’s precision medicine initiative that aims to improve the prevention and treatment of heart, lung, blood, and sleep disorders through tailored and individualized disease treatments. 

The program generates whole genome sequencing (WGS) and other –omics data and integrates them with molecular, behavioral, imaging, environmental, and clinical data to better understand the biological processes that underlie HLBS disorders.

In transitioning to TOPMed 2.0, NHLBI is shifting the administrative functions of the program to Westat as the new ACC. Westat will work in close coordination with the other components of the TOPMed ecosystem, which includes 1,300 investigators, 42 working groups and committees, 4 sequencing centers, a Data Management Core and an Informatics Resource Center.

As the new ACC, Westat is responsible for

• Program administration, coordination, and communication
• Scientific consultation and technical assistance
• Publication coordination and tracking from proposal development through scientific and administrative reviews and publication
• Developing and maintaining a comprehensive Manual of Operations
• Maintaining the public- and private-facing TOPMed website

“TOPMed is a groundbreaking program producing high-quality genomics and other multi-omics data, which combined with deep phenotyping could shed light on a number of diseases, especially those affecting diverse populations,” said Sunitha Mathew, M.S., a Westat Associate Director for Public Health and Epidemiology and project director of the TOPMed ACC. “I am delighted that Westat has been chosen to be the new ACC for such an impactful program.”