Increasing the Positive Yield of Hereditary Cancer Testing with Concurrent DNA and RNA Sequencing with Rachid Karam, MD, PhD

• The diagnostic yield of hereditary cancer genetic testing has improved over time as new technologies have been established. Despite these improvements, a substantial proportion of patients undergoing DNA testing for hereditary cancer still either receive inconclusive results or remain without a molecular diagnosis. This webinar will demonstrate how concurrent DNA and RNA genetic testing increases detection of clinically- actionable variants and reduces variants of unknown significance (VUS), ultimately improving the positive yield of genetic testing.

Rachid Karam, MD, PhD | Presenter

  

Rachid obtained his medical degree in Brazil, at the Federal University of Health Sciences of Porto Alegre, one of the most reputable medical schools in the country. Rachid has a PhD in Oncogenetics, and did his graduate studies on the role of the nonsense-mediated mRNA decay (NMD) pathway in the regulation of the CDH1 gene expression, at University of Porto, in Europe, and at MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas. He did his postdoc at University of California, San Diego (UCSD) School of Medicine, where he focused on RNA biology research. Rachid joined Ambry Genetics in 2014, and currently he is the Director of Ambry’s Translational Genomics (ATG) Lab.

Tara Namey, MS, LCGC | Moderator

   

Tara Namey joined Ambry Genetics in 2016 as an Oncology Genetic Specialist.   Prior to joining Ambry, Tara was employed for 16 years at Lehigh Valley Health Network during which time she played an integral role in the development and growth of the Greg and Lorraine Harper Cancer Genetics Program.  During her time there, Tara served as both Manager and Senior Genetic Counselor.  Tara received her Bachelors of Science degree in Biology/Pre-Med from the University of Scranton.  She earned her Masters of Science degree in Genetic Counseling from California State University, Northridge and is board-certified by the American Board of Genetic Counseling.