Esti Rose ’07S, a genetic counselor for YU’s Program for Jewish Genetic Health, recently penned an op-ed on the importance of couples getting genetic screening propr to their pregnancies. The op-ed was published in JTA and The New York Jewish Week. In her op-ed, Rose discusses one of the major reasons why couples do not get tested or delay testing: the astronomical cost associated with genetic screening. Screening for the current panel of Jewish genetic diseases, writes Rose, can cost as much as $6,000 if performed in a commercial lab and many insurance policies don’t cover the costs until pregnancy.
Thanks to a gift from Michael Stoler, YU’s Program for Jewish Genetic Health conducted its first campus-wide Jewish genetic disease carrier screening in April 2012. 50 students on the Wilf campus and 62 on the Beren campus were screened, and more than one third of participants were found to be carriers of at least one Jewish genetic disease.
For donor opportunities, contact Bruce Lander at 212.960.5279 or blander@yu.edu.