Genetic testing for breast cancer risk is back in the news. Congratulations to Mary-Claire King on receiving the Lasker Prize for her work on the discovery of the BRCA1 gene and its link to heritable forms of breast cancer as well as her work in using genetic tools to identify and reunite war crime victims.
The New York Times covers the story as well, highlighting Dr. King’s call for all women over 30 to receive genetic testing to search of genetic variants that confer elevated risk of breast cancer. Dr. King’s article in JAMA that details the issues, and is open-access, is here: Population-based screening for BRCA1 and BRCA2
The National Society for Genetic Counselors has issued a statement raising concerns about the impact of population-based screening, such as Dr. King has called for, in terms of how it might affect individuals as well as the health care system more broadly.