Türkiye’s First Multidisciplinary Gene Therapy Education Program: History and Plans for the Future

Abstract

Background: Gene therapy is applied to regulate the functions of mutated or disease-causing genes in human cells and targets nucleotides. Recent years have seen an increasing number of publications reporting successful results from gene therapies, suggesting an increasing scientific curiosity among clinicians. Methods: Gene Therapy Symposiums were hosted by the [blinded for review]. The participants answered pre-post-tests, and satisfaction scales. Results: A total of 192 participants underwent training, none of whom had previously undergone gene therapy training. Of the sample, 71.9% were female and the median age of the participants was 32 years. Of the total, 84.9% were studying medicine and 15.1% were studying in non-medical fields. Among those studying medicine, 17.2% were students, 18.4% were main specialty research assistants, 38.0% were subspecialty research assistants, 17.2% were specialists and 9.2% were assistant professors/professors. An analysis of the completed pretests revealed that 32.3% had answered the questions correctly, while 58.6% answered the questions correctly after undergoing training. The overall satisfaction score was 91.8 out of 100. Conclusions: The results of the pretest revealed the knowledge and awareness of gene therapy among the participants to be low, indicating a need for education programs addressing the subject. Gene therapy has moved beyond the theoretical realm in recent years and is today seeing practical applications. There is an urgent need to train the clinicians and other operatives required for the provision of gene therapies and to develop strategies for tertiary care centers in this field over the next 10 years.