Seeking Scalable GC Strategies: GENEPOD

Genetic testing is becoming increasingly widespread, even for people who may otherwise be healthy, and yet there’s already a shortage of clinical geneticists and genetic counselors. The challenge ahead is to scale up the delivery of informed decision making. 

A team of researchers in Canada was recently able to test a digital health platform called Genetics Adviser to do so, as part of a study in which the genomes of 1500 theoretically healthy individuals who had come down with COVID were being sequenced to try to understand genetic factors linked to COVID susceptibility and outcomes. 

Yvonne Bombard, PhD, professor at the University of Toronto and director of the genomics health services and policy program at Unity Health Toronto, joined GenePod to discuss how well the digital platform worked when it came to increasing knowledge and improving outcomes such as decisional conflict and empowerment.