David Josephy of Life Raft Group Canada presented GIST 101 as the opener to our Virtual Life Fest Weekend.

The Office of Community Outreach, Engagement, and Equity presents their inaugural series, Let's Talk About It, with real-life conversations between experts and survivors, program participants, caregivers, and others on a variety of cancer-related topics.

In this first video, Andrea Askins and her UTSW genetic counselor, Cheyla Clark, explore pancreatic cancer and the importance of genetic testing; Andrea shares her story, including her father's journey through pancreatic cancer, her collaboration with Cheyla for genetic counseling, and the steps they made that led to Andrea's placement into the UTSW Pancreatic Cancer Prevention Program.

Genetics plays an important role in the treatment of pancreatic cancer, and COVID-19 has brought about some important changes in regulations around telemedicine and genetic counseling. Individuals with an increased genetic risk may benefit from lifestyle modifications to prevent cancer or from early diagnosis, when treatment may provide a better outcome.

Wendy Conlon, MS, CGC, is a genetic counselor with UCLA. She oversees surveillance of patients and their family members, provides risk assessment, genetic counseling and genetic testing to individuals with pancreatic cancer and their at-risk relatives. She helps individuals and families navigate their treatment options, as well as other cancer prevention strategies. In light of COVID-19, access to genetic counseling and testing is easier and more convenient, and Wendy shares these updates. We learn about the benefits of genetic counseling and ask Wendy questions about this important topic!

A Department of Medicine Grand Rounds presented by Aimee Lucas, MD, MS, Assistant Professor of Medicine (Gastroenterology).