Health Care and Direct-to-Consumer Genetic Tests
Dr. Houriya Ayoubieh Leads Effort to Educate Clinicians About Direct-to-Consumer Genetic Testing
Source: National Human Genome Research Institute
Ayoubieh co-chairs NIH Direct-to-Consumer Genetic Testing Project Group creating an FAQ and other resources for health care professionals
Houriya Ayoubieh, M.D., FACMG
At-home DNA test kits are becoming increasingly popular. For years, companies have sold them to people interested in tracing their ancestry through their genome. And more recently, these direct-to-consumer genetic testing products have been marketed as a way for people to better understand their risk for certain diseases, such as hereditary cancers.
Often, patients who have used these tests will turn to their primary care providers for guidance, particularly if the results indicate a predisposition toward disease.
TTUHSC El Paso’s Houriya Ayoubieh, M.D., FACMG, an assistant professor and clinical geneticist at the Foster School of Medicine, is part of a National Institutes of Health group helping health care professionals understand the benefits and limitations of direct-to-consumer genetic tests.
Dr. Ayoubieh and Tracey Weiler, Ph.D., of Florida International University’s Wertheim College of Medicine, are co-chairs of the Direct-to-Consumer Genetic Testing Project Group, part of the NIH’s Inter-Society Coordinating Committee for Practitioner Education in Genomics. Their group recently developed a Direct-to-Consumer Genetic Testing FAQ for health care professionals, hosted on the NIH’s National Human Genome Research Institute website.
The resource provides an overview of the wide-ranging landscape of genetic tests, as well as guidance health care professionals can follow when patients present with results that indicate an inherited genetic condition.
Dr. Ayoubieh also recently moderated a one-hour panel discussion focusing on case studies related to direct-to-consumer genetic testing. The discussion kicked off Healthcare Professionals’ Genomics Education Week, presented by the National Human Genome Research Institute June 6-10, 2022. Visit the institute’s page for a link to the recorded video and slides from the presentation.