Communicating Genomic Information

Communicating genomic information is critical to helping individuals and their families understand their risks for certain diseases, enabling them to make informed decisions about their health and take preventive actions. Additionally, sharing genomic information with health care providers can improve the accuracy of diagnosis and effectiveness of treatment.

GARDE: Scalable Clinical Decision Support for Individualized Cancer Risk Management

Evidence supports individualizing cancer screening based on each person’s risk. We propose to enhance and disseminate software that scans electronic health records of target patient populations to: 1) automatically identify those at high risk to develop hereditary cancers according to national cancer guidelines, and 2) reach out to patients via automated “chatbots” offering patient education and the opportunity to receive at home genetic testing for hereditary cancers.

Through wide dissemination, the GARDE platform has the potential to enable evidence-based, individualized cancer screening to reduce cancer burden (1U01MD017421). For more information visit: https://reimagineehr.utah.edu/

Kin Keeping

Kin keeping refers to the activities and efforts individuals undertake to maintain and strengthen family relationships and connections, often involving communication, coordination, and support within the family network. We study the role kin keepers have on family history collection and have developed a novel scale to quantitatively measure kin keeping.

Publications

Adherence to Mammography and Pap Screening Guidelines Among Medically Underserved Women: The Role of Family Structures and Network-Level Behaviors
Allen CG, Todem D, Williams KP. Adherence to Mammography and Pap Screening Guidelines Among Medically Underserved Women: the Role of Family Structures and Network-Level Behaviors. J Cancer Educ. 2021 Dec;36(6):1155-1162. doi: 10.1007/s13187-020-01879-y. Epub 2020 Oct 27. PMID: 33107009; PMCID: PMC8076331.

Developing and assessing a kin keeping scale with application to identifying central influencers in African American family networks
Allen CG, McBride CM, Escoffery C, Guan Y, Hood C, Zaho J, Brody G, An W. Developing and assessing a kin keeping scale with application to identifying central influencers in African American family networks. J Community Genet. 2023 Dec;14(6):593-603. doi: 10.1007/s12687-023-00665-9. Epub 2023 Aug 31. PMID: 37648941; PMCID: PMC10725405.

In the News

What is kinkeeping? (The New York Times)