Genetic testing is a double-edged sword.
It empowers individuals and families to learn whether they are at increased risk for developing disease. Yet genetic information has medical, legal and ethical dimensions that forever alter people's lives. Individuals within many ethnic communities are particularly fraught with concern about inherited genetic alterations that give rise to life-threatening disorders. For example, breast cancer, sometimes caused by changes in the genes BRCA1 and BRCA2, as well as inherited degenerative metabolic disorders such as Tay-Sachs Disease and Gaucher Disease, are more prevalent in the Jewish community. This grant will help provide an integrated approach to addressing the medical and social dimensions of this rapidly evolving specialty.