Trend Genetic risk assessment is being paired with behavioral health coaching

Summary

GWI's Wellness for Cancer Initiative reports that precision medicine is making it easier to identify people who inherit a higher risk of cancer, and that prevention for them is becoming more personalised. At the University of Miami's Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center, a model pairs genetic counselling with health coaching for people with cancer predisposition, family history or other elevated risk. Patients on its high-risk pathway often meet a genetic counsellor and a health coach on the same day. The reasoning is that genetic information alone does not change behaviour, while nearly half of cancer cases are linked to factors people can modify. A Sylvester physician stresses that genetic risk does not mean nothing can be done. The programme sees about 100 patients a month and its coaching staff is expanding by 200%.