A 24-year-old woman came to see a genetic counselor to discuss her inherited risk for breast cancer. She claimed she had undergone genetic testing at age 16 due to a strong history of breast cancers on her mother’s side of the family and had a pathogenic variant...
We’ve come a long way in cancer awareness over the past half century. Most of us now know that cancer is not contagious, right? Correct. But, in fact, you can acquire a common virus, the Human Papilloma Virus, which increases your chance to develop certain...
Help and Hope Happen Here is a pediatric cancer podcast hosted by Mark Levine. Each episode, Levine chats with oncologists, parents, patients, and other stakeholders in the fight against childhood cancer. In this episode, Levine looks at how genetic testing and...
Many supposed breast cancer risk genes don’t raise risk, studies find By Marie McCullough for The Philadelphia Inquirer In the quarter century since the watershed discovery of BRCA1 and BRCA2, dozens of other genes have been implicated in hereditary breast cancer. A...
As seen on The Washington Post and Kaiser Health News By Christina Bennett When her gynecologist recommended genetic testing, Mai Tran was reluctant. “I didn’t really want to do it,” recalled Tran, who had just turned 21 and was living in New...
February 2021 Update In light of National Donor Day, we checked in on My Gene Counsel’s Meagan Farmer, her husband Brantley, and their brother-in-law, Greg. You can read their original interview down below, which tells the story of Brantley’s kidney...
Here is what three of the top cardiovascular genetic counselors would like you to know about inherited cardiovascular disease: Brittney Murray, MS, CGCCardiovascular Genetic Counselor at Johns Hopkins University Sudden cardiac death can be the first symptom in...
The things you do every day CAN make a difference when it comes to cancer prevention. It all comes down to making healthy choices and avoiding things that are known to cause cancer. Consider these tips to reduce your risk: 1. Screen Certain health screening tests can...
Twenty years ago, a 45-year-old woman with a recent diagnosis of breast cancer went to see a dermatologist, who noted hyperpigmentation of her lips. The dermatologist clinically diagnosed her as having Peutz-Jeghers syndrome (PJS), a rare genetic condition that often...
Given the rapid and numerous developments in the field of genetics, there is a growing need for genetic counselors in nearly every area of medicine, as well as a need for students that represent all of us. This includes people of color, men, members of the LGBTQIA+...