{"id":136826,"date":"2024-10-30T19:20:32","date_gmt":"2024-10-30T23:20:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/?p=136826"},"modified":"2024-10-30T19:20:32","modified_gmt":"2024-10-30T23:20:32","slug":"adoptee-seeks-reassurance-through-dna-answers-study","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/?p=136826","title":{"rendered":"Adoptee Seeks Reassurance Through DNA Answers Study"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Melissa Shafer was nervous as she went on the DNA Answers website to gain some insight into her long-sought genetic medical history from the new St. Luke\u2019s Community Health research program.<\/p>\n<p>The 43-year-old Assistant Vice President of Government Relations and Community Affairs at St. Luke\u2019s was adopted during her first year of life, and she was excited to realize that by participating in the DNA Answers study, she would be receiving medically relevant genetic information that would not only better inform her but could also impact her two children.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ve often asked myself, \u2018What am I passing on to my kids?\u2019\u201d said the Upper Saucon Township resident.<\/p>\n<div style=\"padding: 56.25% 0 0 0; position: relative;\"><iframe style=\"position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%;\" title=\"DNA Answers Testimonial - Melissa Shafer\" src=\"https:\/\/player.vimeo.com\/video\/1006343980?badge=0&amp;autopause=0&amp;player_id=0&amp;app_id=58479\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p><script src=\"https:\/\/player.vimeo.com\/api\/player.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Being adopted presented challenges to knowing her family medical history. And to further complicate things, Shafer\u2019s biological mother, too, was adopted. This made Shafer\u2019s medical detective work much more challenging.<\/p>\n<p>The DNA Answers is a no-cost community health research program, that St. Luke\u2019s is offering with their population genomics partner, Helix. The organizations launched the DNA Answers research study as part of an ongoing commitment to the Lehigh Valley to offer the latest medical technologies that support a \u201cprecision medicine\u201d approach in healthcare.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have arrived at a historic turning point in the history of medicine \u2013 the ability to use information stored in patients\u2019 DNA to improve the accuracy of certain treatments for the individual patient,\u201d reports Aldo Carmona, MD, St. Luke\u2019s Senior Vice President of Clinical Integration.<\/p>\n<p>Born in Florida, Shafer was adopted\u00a0as a baby by a\u00a0Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, couple.\u00a0Shafer\u2019s biological mother was born in Newfoundland, Canada, where she too was adopted as a baby, by a US military family stationed there at the time.<\/p>\n<p>As an adult after she started her own family, Shafer felt a growing urgency to know more about her own medical background. \u201cI\u2019d been active on Ancestry.com, which helped me learn about my heritage but not my medical genetics,\u00a0especially on the paternal side of my biological family,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>During a trip in 2023 to St. John\u2019s, Newfoundland, Canada,\u00a0Shafer was\u00a0able to meet\u00a0her great-uncle,\u00a0the last living sibling of\u00a0her biological grandmother. This allowed her some further insight, as he relayed that her grandmother\u2019s medical history included heart disease. Additionally, Schafer knew that her biological mother had died after a long battle with bladder cancer.<\/p>\n<p>Then in January 2024, St. Luke\u2019s launched its community health research program, DNA Answers, which involves \u2018medical grade\u2019 analysis of participants\u2019 DNA through Helix\u2019s Whole Exome(+) Sequencing (WES), technology designed specifically for healthcare purposes. Shafer acted quickly and enrolled in the study and following a simple blood draw at a St. Luke\u2019s laboratory, she waited for the results with a mix of excitement, curiosity and anxiety. Among her concerns, Shafer stated, \u201cI\u00a0wanted to rule out if\u00a0I was a carrier of the BRCA gene, which would put me at a high risk for cancer.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Christopher N. Chapman, MD, principal investigator for DNA Answers explained, \u201cOur study initially aims to enroll 100,000 participants over four years. Participating individuals, like Ms. Shafer, are provided genetic screening at no cost, informing them of important health information about inherited risks for serious conditions, such as a certain type of cardiovascular disease and certain types of cancer. This knowledge allows the participant to make proactive decisions in conjunction with their healthcare provider to potentially delay, reduce, or even prevent these conditions from occurring later in life.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Additionally, for research participants who have provided their informed consent, Helix will apply its end-to-end genomics platform and unique Sequence Once, Query Often\u2122 model, which allows future clinical genomic tests to be run with a provider\u2019s order and patient consent without the need to collect an additional sample. This could help participants\u2019 providers tailor care options and prescribe medications even more accurately and effectively \u2013 hence the term \u201cprecision medicine.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Thankfully, as Shafer\u2019s testing results returned, she breathed a sigh of relief as, \u201cEverything came back negative\u201d meaning that the screening did not identify any genetic variants currently known to be associated with an increased risk for the conditions covered by DNA Answers.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis was good news!\u201d she said. \u201cIf not for DNA Answers, I wouldn\u2019t have learned this critical medical information. It was quick, easy and free-of-charge, and my family and I are grateful for it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>To learn more about St. Luke\u2019s community research study, DNA Answers, visit\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.dnaanswers.org\/\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=http:\/\/www.DNAanswers.org&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1730390210195000&amp;usg=AOvVaw0jptQsZeKF3wDEDAR5VT63\">www.DNAanswers.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>About St. Luke\u2019s<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Founded in 1872,\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.slhn.org\/\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=http:\/\/www.slhn.org\/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1730390210195000&amp;usg=AOvVaw1hp6F7DYOz28A_b-t4JPDD\"><strong>St. Luke\u2019s University Health Network<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0(SLUHN) is a fully integrated, regional, non-profit network of more than 20,000 employees providing services at 15 campuses and 350+ outpatient sites.\u00a0 With annual net revenue of $3.4 billion, the Network\u2019s service area includes 11 counties in two states: Lehigh, Northampton, Berks, Bucks, Carbon, Montgomery, Monroe, Schuylkill and Luzerne counties in Pennsylvania and Warren and Hunterdon counties in New Jersey. St. Luke\u2019s hospitals operate the largest network of trauma centers in Pennsylvania, with the Bethlehem Campus being home to St. Luke\u2019s Children\u2019s Hospital.<\/p>\n<p>Dedicated to advancing medical education, St. Luke\u2019s is the preeminent teaching hospital in central-eastern Pennsylvania.\u00a0 In partnership with Temple University, the Network established the Lehigh Valley\u2019s first and only four-year medical school campus.\u00a0 It also operates the nation\u2019s oldest School of Nursing, established in 1884, and 52 fully accredited graduate medical educational programs with more than 500 residents and fellows. In 2022, St. Luke\u2019s, a member of the Children\u2019s Hospital Association, opened the Lehigh Valley\u2019s first and only free-standing facility dedicated entirely to kids.<\/p>\n<p>SLUHN is the only Lehigh Valley-based health care system to earn Medicare\u2019s\u00a0<em>five-star<\/em>\u00a0ratings (the highest) for quality, efficiency and patient satisfaction.\u00a0 It is both a Leapfrog Group and Healthgrades\u00a0<em>Top Hospital<\/em>\u00a0and a Newsweek World\u2019s\u00a0<em>Best Hospital<\/em>.\u00a0 The Network\u2019s flagship University Hospital has earned the\u00a0<em>100 Top Major Teaching Hospital<\/em>\u00a0designation from Fortune\/PINC AI 10 years in a row, including in 2023 when it was identified as THE #4 TEACHING HOSPITAL IN THE COUNTRY.\u00a0 In 2021, St. Luke\u2019s was identified as one of the\u00a0<em>15 Top Health Systems<\/em>\u00a0nationally.\u00a0 Utilizing the Epic electronic medical record (EMR) system for both inpatient and outpatient services, the Network is a multi-year recipient of the\u00a0<em>Most Wired<\/em>\u00a0award recognizing the breadth of the SLUHN\u2019s information technology applications such as telehealth, online scheduling and online pricing information. \u00a0The Network is also recognized as one of the state\u2019s lowest-cost providers.<\/p>\n<p>Information provided to TVL by:<br \/>\nSam Kennedy<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Melissa Shafer was nervous as she went on the DNA Answers website to gain some insight into her long-sought genetic medical history from the new St. Luke\u2019s Community Health research &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/?p=136826\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Adoptee Seeks Reassurance Through DNA Answers Study<\/span> <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":136827,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[69,482],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-136826","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-in-the-valley","category-press-release-2"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/DNA-Answers.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136826"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=136826"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136826\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/136827"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=136826"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=136826"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=136826"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}