Exciting News from the Program!

After months of planning, the Program for Jewish Genetic Health is proud to announce the launch of our group genetic counseling sessions with testing for common Ashkenazi genetic diseases. This has been a long time coming and we are very excited to finally open this up to the public!

The backstory: Our program has had many successful genetic testing events at different campuses and synagogues over the years. But we have been seeing that many past participants contact us years later for an extra copy of their results because they are either in the dating/marriage or family planning stage and finally need their results for important decision-making. Pretty much every patient who calls gets an earful from me about how his or her results may be outdated, as new tests were likely added to the panel since the testing was done.

Our program leadership has been struggling with our official stance on when we believe carrier screening should be done. Since some will use their results in the pre-dating or dating phase, maybe it would make sense to recommend testing early on (think college time). But many will choose a partner and only use their results when starting to think about building a family. If those people got tested at 19 years old and will only use the results years later, chances are the testing is outdated.

The brainstorming: After much back-and-forth about this, we decided that we would not be going ‘on the road’ to campus screening events any more. We believe that the best time to get testing is before contemplating a pregnancy; and that may mean a different thing to everyone. We think that it should be up to the individual to decide when is the most appropriate time to get tested and we should not be imposing a time-frame on college students.

So how should people get tested? Until now, we have been seeing patients one-on-one in our clinical offices. In those sessions, the individual meets with a genetic counselor and a detailed medical and family history is obtained. The genetic counselor then recommends a panel of tests depending on what was reported during the session. The costs involved may differ from one patient to another since different tests may be recommended.

But for the patients who have no family history of genetic conditions or are not of mixed ancestry, the testing and genetic counseling is standard and quite straightforward. We still like the campus screening model of providing affordable and efficient carrier screening, and so we decided to try a new model of group sessions for the more “straightforward” cases.

The details: Our group sessions will be held on Fridays at 9 AM in our Bronx location. For these sessions, we are partnering with JScreen, a genetic testing group that relies on generous donors to offset the cost of testing. There will be a minimal cost for the counseling (which will likely be covered by insurance) and the total cost for testing will be $99. Pre-registration is required.

While these sessions are not a one-size-fits all, they certainly will be helpful to many. Take a look at our PJGH testing website for more information on registering for an appointment and to learn more about whether the group setting is right for you.

We look forward to meeting you!