Ellen T. Matloff on Changes to the Field of Genetic Testing

Ellen T. Matloff, MS, CGC, director, Yale Cancer Genetic Counseling Program at the Yale School of Medicine/Yale Cancer Center, gives an overview of the recent changes to the field of genetic testing.

Genetic testing has changed hugely in the last 10 months. Matloff says that rather than blindly ordering BRCA1/2 testing from one company, there are now at least 10 different options.

Matloff says she wants to bring attention to laboratories that openly share their data in public databases. Many laboratories have made this pledge, and the hope is that the remaining laboratories will too. Matloff says she hopes insurance companies will get on board with this strategy as well, making laboratories that share data their “preferred choice” to patients.