This webinar includes:
0:00 Welcome/Intro to Representative Higgins
2:38 Representative Higgins
Rep. Higgins Bio
Congressman Brian Higgins is a member of the United States House of Representatives serving New York’s 26th congressional district, which includes portions of Erie and Niagara Counties and thank him for his leadership and sponsorship of H.R. 2144, the “Access to Genetic Counselor Services Act.
In the 117th Congress, Brian serves on the House Committee on Ways and Means on the Subcommittees on Health, Trade, and Social Security. In addition, Brian currently serves as a member of the House Committee on the Budget. Brian is Chair of the Canada-US Inter-Parliamentary Group and Co-Chair of the Northern Border Caucus, from which he advocates for federal policies that recognize the unique needs of northern border communities – efforts which serve to strengthen economic and security ties with our Canadian neighbors. Additionally, Brian serves as one of four Co-Chairs of the bipartisan House Cancer Caucus, and he is a member of the Great Lakes Task Force, the House Manufacturing Caucus, and the Northeast-Midwest Congressional Coalition.
Rep. Higgins provides a welcome message and his thoughts about genetic services.
6:22 Dr. Eric Green
Dr. Green Bio
Eric D. Green, M.D., Ph.D., is the director of the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) at the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH). He is the third NHGRI director, having been appointed by NIH director Dr. Francis Collins in 2009.
Dr. Green’s relationship with the Institute began long before his appointment as director. He served as the Institute’s scientific director (2002 - 2009), chief of the NHGRI Genome Technology Branch (1996 - 2009) and founding director of the NIH Intramural Sequencing Center (1997 - 2009). Prior to that, he played an integral role in the Human Genome Project. Throughout his career, Dr. Green has authored and co-authored over 375 scientific publications.Dr. Green discusses the growing genetics and genomics space, genetic technologies and research leading to clinically important discoveries.
22:53 Dr. Altovise Ewing
Dr. Ewing Bio
Altovise T. Ewing, Ph.D. is a clinician-scientist with 10+ years of genetic counseling and health disparities research experience. Dr. Ewing has dedicated her career to ensuring that emerging genetic and genomic resources, services and technologies do not further exacerbate health disparities and inequities.
Her unwavering passion for equity and inclusion has enabled her to serve as a trusted and committed healthcare liaison to marginalized, medically underserved, and underrepresented communities in research. Currently, Dr. Ewing serves as a Senior Science Lead and Strategist on the Global Health Equity and Population Science (HEPS) team at Genentech.Dr. Ewing discusses disparities in accessing genetics research and services, inequities in access to research, services, testing, and treatments.
35:40 Mr. Jay McDaniel and Heather Hampel
Jay and Heather Bios
Jay has been a VP in home lending at The Huntington National Bank in Columbus, OH for 18 years. He has 3 daughters that attended The Ohio State University. He lost his dad when he was 18 to the same cancer that killed his father, brother, and two sisters. When Jay was 47, he was diagnosed with the same late-stage cancer as his father. He went to OSU’s Wexner Medical Center where he met Heather Hampel and was diagnosed with Lynch syndrome.
Heather is a Professor in the Department of Medical Oncology and Therapeutics Research and Associate Director of the Division of Cancer Genomics at City of Hope National Cancer Center. Her research focuses on Lynch syndrome and universal tumor screening for Lynch syndrome. She has >170 publications on the prevalence of Lynch syndrome among colorectal and endometrial cancer patients, the best testing protocols, cost-effectiveness, and referral guidelines for cancer genetics. She was on the Board of Directors for the American Board of Genetic Counseling from 2006-2011, serving as President in 2009 and 2010. She has been on the Steering Committee of the National Colorectal Cancer Roundtable since 2016. She was on the Council of the Collaborative Group of the Americas on Inherited Colorectal Cancer from 2016-2019, serving as president in 2017-2018. She is currently the Secretary/Treasurer of the National Society of Genetic Counselors.Mr. Jay McDaniel and Heather Hampel discuss the patient perspective and the relationship of a patient with genetic counselors.
46:03 Dr. Heather Zierhut
Dr. Zierhut Bio
Dr. Heather Zierhut is the President of the National Society of Genetic Counselors’ Board of Directors. She is the head of the University of Minnesota’s Genetic Counseling Graduate program and is a professor in the Department of Genetics, Cell Biology and Development in the College of Biological Sciences at the University of Minnesota. Heather received her bachelor’s degree at the University of Wisconsin La Crosse and earned her master’s degree in genetic counseling from University of Minnesota-Twin Cities and doctorate in philosophy - focused in molecular, cellular, developmental biology and genetics - with an epidemiology minor.Dr. Heather Zierhut provides an overview of the Access to Genetic Counselors Services Act and explains how it will impact patient access to specialized genetic services.