Hereditary Cancer Risk Assessment
"It is more important to know what sort of person has a disease, than what sort of disease a patient has."
- Sir William Osler
DID YOU KNOW that 10% of all cancers are due to a hereditary component or a “bad gene” passed down in a family? This is our opportunity to implement PREVENTIVE measures in these types of families.
Creating a Personalized Cancer Prevention Plan allows us to make sure we are employing the right interventions including surveillance, medications, and surgical options depending on your level of risk. This is a simple test we can obtain in the office and is usually covered by insurance for patients that meet criteria. If you have multiple cancers in your family, cancers diagnosed before the age of 50 and/or rare cancers in your family, you may be a candidate for testing.
Please click on the link below for a brief questionnaire to determine your cancer risk.
My excitement about the opportunity to offer hereditary cancer risk assessment at Summit Health Group has roots as deep as my undergraduate training at UC San Diego. There, I was blessed to study under great minds and influential educators, who taught to always seek the science, study the facts, and always synthesize and evaluate critically. Those professors continue to push me in my mind’s eye-- I have studied for almost 20 years beyond my undergraduate training now and I still learn every day.
I was introduced to cancer risk assessment a few years ago while attending a community lecture and I discovered that not only was the science compelling - it was already embraced by medicine’s leading professional organizations as standard of care. Cancer screening is what we should have been doing already, and yet no one I knew was offering this service in their practices. I delved into the world of cancer genetics and quickly developed a care plan that I could easily incorporate into a regular office day. I was stunned by how many more lives I was touching in a profound way.
Myriad Genetics has partnered with physicians at every level and shares the same commitment to bringing this important clinical service into the lives of every patient. Myriad is also unparalleled in their commitment to protecting the integrity of patients' genetic data. I am proud to offer Myriad’s genetic testing as part of our cancer risk assessment and develop a personalized Cancer Prevention Plan for each and every patient.
Please join us in preventing cancer.
- Dr. Stacy Waneka