Genotypecast with Grey Genetics
18 episodes - English - Latest episode: over 2 years ago - ★★★★ - 4 ratingsGenetics isn’t always black and white. News stories related to genetics often raise more questions than they answer. On Genotypecast, we bring you insight from genetic counselors.
Your host, Eleanor Griffith, MS, CGC, is a certified genetic counselor and the founder of Grey Genetics, an independent telehealth genetic counseling and consulting service.
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Episodes
Prenatal Screening, False Positives, and NYT's Coverage
January 06, 2022 04:01 - 32 minutes - 30 MBOn January 1, 2022, the New York Times published an article focused on the high false positive rates of micro-deletions and -duplications in non-invasive prenatal screening tests NIPS/NIPT. The article was entitled, “When They Warn of Rare Disorders, These Prenatal Tests Are Usually Wrong.” The reaction on Twitter from genetic counselors was mostly negative and critical. I discussed this article and genetic counselors’ reaction to it with certified genetic counselor Katie Stoll. Articles/Po...
A Conversation with a Palestinian Genetic Counselor
May 28, 2021 02:57 - 23 minutes - 21.8 MBHebbah Sayed-Ahmad is a Palestinian American prenatal genetic counselor. She shares her experiences as a Palestinian within the genetic counseling profession. She also discusses what has been described as a medical apartheid in Palestine and how the restriction of movement of Palestinians within the Occupied Territories contributes to healthcare disparities and specifically impacts genetic risks, such as those associated with consanguinity and endogamy. She shares her perspective on the imp...
Later Abortions, Reproductive Justice, and Genetic Counselors’ Obligation to Speak Up
April 22, 2021 01:55 - 16 minutes - 15.4 MBCertified genetic counselor Jordan Brown follows up on Katie Sagaser’s tweets exhorting genetic counselors to speak up for the importance of access to abortions in the third trimester and also to advocate for reproductive rights and reproductive justice more broadly. Do you have questions or topics you’d like a genetic counselor to discuss on a future episode ? Leave us a short voice message here! We may use your message on a future show. Related Articles and Resources Writings by Doroth...
Addressing Health Disparities in Sickle Cell Disease
December 15, 2020 16:42 - 16 minutes - 14.9 MBCertified genetic counselor Barbara W. Harrison discusses how racism impacts the health disparities in Sickle Cell Disease, gene therapies in development, and how these developments are being received by the Sickle Cell Disease Community. Follow Barbara on Twitter: @Barb_DNA_GC Find Barbara on LinkedIn Related Articles and Resources: Alexandra Power-Hays, M.D. and Patrick T. McGann, M.D. “When Actions Speak Louder Than Words — Racism and Sickle Cell Disease.” N Engl J Med 2020; 383:1902-...
Race-Based Medicine is Bad Medicine
October 20, 2020 15:09 - 16 minutes - 15.2 MBElizabeth Fieg, MS, CGC expands on her recent Twitter thread, discussing the problems with using categories of race and ancestry to guide test selection in pharmacogenomics and more broadly in medical genetics. She explains how a broader approach to testing is more equitable and can also be more cost-effective. Related Articles and Resources: Follow Elizabeth on Twitter: @ElizFiegCGC Elizabeth’s twitter thread on race and pharmacogenomics Elizabeth’s interview for the AliveAndKickin podc...
The Promise of Gene Therapy in Ocular Genetics
October 07, 2020 15:02 - 16 minutes - 15.4 MBNaomi Wagner, MS, CGC dives into the topic of gene therapy, explaining why ocular genetics is an especially promising area for gene therapy and how discussion of gene therapy with patients is a routine part of her practice in providing telehealth genetic counseling services for ocular conditions. She also provides some perspective on just how long it can take for a gene therapy to become available, genetic counselors’ actual and potential roles in gene therapy trials, and the ethical and soc...
NCCN Guidelines & Expanded Recommendations for Germline Testing Based on Tumor Genomic Testing Results
October 04, 2020 01:04 - 15 minutes - 14.4 MBKaren Huelsman MS, LGC discusses recent NCCN guideline updates which expand genetic testing criteria (for high-penetrance hereditary breast and/or ovarian cancer susceptibility genes) to include any mutation identified on tumor testing that has clinical implications if also identified in the germline. She discusses these updated recommendations in the context of the evolution of tumor genomic testing, commercially available paired tumor testing, and her role as a Precision Medicine Oncolog...
When a NYT Article Stirs up Confusion about Reproductive Genetics
September 23, 2020 12:50 - 7 minutes - 11 MBCertified genetic counselor Brianne Kirkpatrick discusses the recent New York Times article “When a DNA Test Says You’re a Younger Man, Who Lives 5,000 Miles Away.” How surprising is this story? What are the implications for law enforcement? Should a bone marrow or stem cell transplant recipient be worried about passing on their donor’s DNA rather than their own DNA to any children they may have? (Spoiler alert.. No… Brianne will explain why.) Do you have questions or topics you’d like a ge...
Black in Genetic Counseling
September 03, 2020 15:12 - 17 minutes - 16.3 MBCertified genetic counselor Deanna Darnes was the first Black student to graduate from her genetic counseling training program of The University of Texas Genetic Counseling Program (UTGCP) in 2010. Ten years later, there are over 5,000 genetic counselors in the United States, yet fewer than 50 are Black. Deanna discusses how whataboutisms can derail efforts to increase these numbers, recruitment strategies, and the new organization Black in Genetics (BIG), dedicated to amplifying the voices ...
ACOG Now Recommends that NIPS be offered to all pregnant women
August 28, 2020 14:09 - 14 minutes - 13.1 MBCertified genetic counselor Emily Goldberg discusses the new ACOG guidelines related to Screening for Fetal Chromosomal Abnormalities. ACOG (The American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology) now recommends that NIPS (Non-Invasive Prenatal Screening) be offered to all women, rather than to only women with higher risk pregnancies. Emily also reviews current use and practices related to NIPS, its benefits and limitations. Do you have questions or topics you’d like a genetic counselor to discu...
Structural Racism in Genetic Testing
June 23, 2020 01:20 - 19 minutes - 35.3 MBCertified genetic counselor Aishwarya Arjunan, MS, MPH, CGC, CPH expands on her recent tweet, which got a lot of attention from genetic counselors on Twitter: I always use myself as an example, why should I get a test with a 55% detection rate for CF-23 while someone who is AJ has a 97% detection rate. We're both paying our insurance premiums/deductibles, why do I get a lower quality screen based on my ethnicity/race? For context, Aishwarya is of South Asian ancestry. She discusses how out...
Cascade Testing: Can Telehealth Help Make it Happen?
February 18, 2020 16:37 - 15 minutes - 20.8 MBOne of the benefits of identifying hereditary cancer mutations in individuals is Cascade Testing—being able to offer targeted testing to family members to identify others who are at high risk as well as those who are average risk. Yet historical studies suggest that the uptake of cascade testing is 30% or less. Certified genetic counselor Francesca Tubito was co-author of a study recently published in The Journal of Clinical Oncology that tested the feasibility of a streamlined method of ca...
Changing and discrepant variant classifications: Can you trust genetic testing results?
January 21, 2020 13:58 - 21 minutes - 29.6 MBThe Wall Street Journal recently profiled a family whose BRCA2 variant was reclassified—from Pathogenic to a Variant of Uncertain Significance. This difference in classification has important implications for medical management recommendations. The family profiled, however, made irreversible decisions years ago, based on the Pathogenic classification provided at the time. Certified genetic counselor Ann Jeffers Brown discusses how common these changes in classification are, as well as some o...
ACMG Opposition to HR 3235—and the Backlash
January 20, 2020 18:28 - 20 minutes - 28.8 MBOn January 9, the American College of Medical Genetics sent a letter to members of the House of Representatives, voicing their opposition to HR 3235, a bill that would allow genetic counselors to be reimbursed by CMS for providing genetic counseling. The ACMG recommended additional language related to the scope of practice of genetic counselors, most notably opposing the ordering of genetic tests by genetic counselors.Ellen Matloff, a certified genetic counselor and the founder and CEO of My...
George Church’s DigiD8 Brings Eugenics to Dating Apps
December 18, 2019 00:10 - 23 minutes - 31.6 MBCertified genetic counselor Katya Orlova discusses George’s Church’s new venture, DigiD8, which aims to add a new layer to how people match on dating apps: preventing matches between individuals who are both carriers for the same autosomal recessive condition. (DigiD8’s tagline? “Science is your wingman.”) Is it eugenics? Could any good come out of it? What are the implications for disability rights as well as genetic data privacy and security. Do we want genetic testing to inform who we mee...
Panel Testing: Insurance Coverage and Clinical Utility
November 06, 2019 11:43 - 19 minutes - 26.5 MBCertified genetic counselor Kate Wilson discusses both clinical care and insurance billing and coverage issues surrounding gene panel testing. Numerous studies have shown higher positive rates when testing with larger panels. Why do higher positive rates not necessarily lead to better insurance coverage? What will it take to get data showing a reduction in morbidity and mortality and demonstrating utility for medical management? Kate also provides insight into the complexities of billing for...
Carrier Screening Panels are Getting Bigger… Is that Better?
October 25, 2019 19:17 - 11 minutes - 16.4 MBOn this second episode of Genotypecast, certified genetic counselor Amber Gamma discusses the continued expansion of Universal Carrier Screening panels—business motivations, clinical utility, impact on patient care, and some of the risks and complications of interpretation that come along with this new era of expanded carrier screening. Do you have questions or topics you’d like a genetic counselor to discuss on a future episode ? Leave us a short voice message here! We may use your message...
DNA Donations: Implications to Consider
September 24, 2019 18:12 - 18 minutes - 24.9 MBOn this first episode of Genotypecast, certified genetic counselor Brianne Kirkpatrick of Watershed DNA reviews two recent news stories related to cord blood and sperm donations, discussing the risks and unknowns associated with each as well as the implications for society at large. Do you have questions or topics you’d like a genetic counselor to discuss on a future episode ? Leave us a short voice message here! We may use your message on a future show. Articles Discussed Thayer, Kate. “...