Liz Kearney, Founder of Mainstream Genomics, shares how genetics counselors help people review their medical history before planning a family.
Mainstream Genomics is a telehealth service that helps people who are pregnant or planning for pregnancy learn their chances for a healthy baby. Liz has been a genetic counselor for 25 years. She is a national thought leader about genetic service delivery and is a Past President of the National Society of Genetic Counselors.
Highlights include:
7:20 – LK: “Genetic testing is not one size fits all.”
10:14 – LK: “Physicians are incredibly busy and they’re expected to manage many, many aspects of your health and genetics is just one of them. If you think about it, expecting physicians, every time they see a patient, to be processing any chances for genetic diseases is a lot to ask.”
15:16 – LK: “That’s just about our health system that we wait until mom’s already pregnant, but it actually is better if we were testing people earlier because they would actually have more choices in terms of, you know, for their pregnancy.”
18:56 – LK: “Most people don’t have access to genetic services and often their physicians will not be able to ask the right questions in order to elicit who needs those extra services.”
19:05 – LK: “Technology is an excellent solution to this problem, because we certainly have the ability now through really pretty simple technology, to have people directly answer questions about their medical and family background, have a genetics expert review that information, and then give that guidance to both the patient’s physician and the person themselves. To say, you know, here’s some follow-up that you may want to consider.”
Leading with Health is hosted by Jennifer Michelle. Jennifer has a Master’s in Public Health and Epidemiology and is a former EMT. As President of Michelle Marketing Strategies, Jennifer specializes in healthcare marketing. She is on a mission to create a healthcare system that actually cares about the patients and the providers.