reness about the importance of family history. Utah is in a unique position to tie their efforts with their population's strong interest in genealogy. This year, the state health department is sponsoring a "Tell Us Your Story" contest that encourages families to order Utah's family history materials, learn about their family histories over holidays and submit their stories for a prize. Minnesota has developed a number of facts sheets about chronic diseases in which family history plays a major role. These fact sheets will be used this month in family history campaigns in hospitals across Minnesota and at the state health department.

Additionally, Minnesota and Michigan have begun to incorporate family history risk assessment into their WISEWOMAN programs. WISEWOMAN is a federally funded initiative to identify underserved women at risk of cardiovascular disease, counsel them about diet and exercise, and refer them for further risk factor screening and follow-up care. All of the four states are promoting "My Family Health Portrait" as an easy to use tool for organizing family health history information.

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Contact: Geoff Spencer
spencerg@mail.nih.gov
301-402-0911
NIH/National Human Genome Research Institute
15-Nov-2006

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