Errors in genetic testing are unfortunately commonplace. One of the most common genetic testing errors involves recognizing that genetic testing is appropriate but ordering the wrong test. For instance, people who have a personal and/or family history suggestive of...
Laura Marotta was just trying to treat her son’s asthma. Instead, the asthma medication led to extreme adverse side effects, including depression, anxiety, and hallucinations. My Gene Counsel’s President and CEO, Ellen Matloff, had the opportunity to talk...
A few months ago, two sisters published an essay in The New York Times about their genetic testing journey, which started because their mother was found to have a mutation in one of the BRCA genes. People who have a mutation in one of the BRCA genes are at increased...
The vast majority of people diagnosed with colon cancer are over the age of 50. In fact, the average age of colon cancer diagnoses in the United States is 68 for men and 72 for women. However, colon cancer can and does occur in people in their teens, 20s, 30s, and...
A woman’s physician ordered multi-gene panel testing due to her family history of cancer and told her that the lab had found two “errors” in the PALB2 gene. Compared to the general population, patients with a pathogenic variant in PALB2 have between...
Ellen Matloff, MS, CGC is a certified genetic counselor and the President and CEO of My Gene Counsel, a digital health company that provides scalable, updating genetic counseling solutions. Matloff founded the Yale Cancer Genetic Counseling program, served as its...
The second stage of the genetic counseling graduate school application process is the interview. Programs invite selected candidates to visit the campus and interview with the faculty. This is an interview for the program as much as it is for the applicant. In the...
An oncologist referred an endometrial cancer patient to a genetic counselor because she was diagnosed at a young age – before age 50. The patient had already undergone surgical treatment before the oncologist referred her to a genetic counselor. After taking a...
In this episode, we continue our discussion with Meagan Farmer and Danielle Bonadies as we discuss how the Top Errors in Genetic Testing may be negatively affecting therapeutic decision making. We also discuss ways that life science companies may be able to...
This weekend, Chris Evert tweeted that she was diagnosed with early-stage (Stage 1C) ovarian cancer, which is associated with an outstanding survival rate. This news is especially good because most people diagnosed with ovarian cancer are diagnosed at stage III or IV,...