Grab some friends, a drink and join in on an informal discussion about the implications of genetic technology today. We'll start by hearing from a group of panellists who'll share their own experiences with genetic testing, before opening the discussion up to the audience.

Panellists

Clare Gibbons, MSc, CCGC, CGC

Clare Gibbons is an American and Canadian Board certified genetic counsellor. She received a bachelor of science with a specialization in genetics from the University of Alberta and her Master of Science in Genetic Counselling from Sarah Lawrence College in New York. Clare has been working as a counsellor in the Genetics Program at North York General Hospital for 14 years. During this time she also spend several months working that the National Centre for Medical Genetics at Our Lady Children’s Hospital in Dublin Ireland. Previously, she was a member of the North York General Hospital Ethics Committee for four years. She was president of the Canadian Association of Genetic Counsellors in 2001 and holds this position again this year.  Her areas of interest include prenatal genetics, sickle cell and thalassemia and Huntington disease.

Robin Hayeems, MSc, PhD

Robin Hayeems is a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Health Policy Management and Evaluation at the University of Toronto.  Her program of research centres on the complex health service and policy implications of population-based screening initiatives, specific to the context of maternal and child health.  Genetic technologies serve as key case examples in her research, as they exemplify the challenges of translating technical potential into coordinated laboratory and clinical practices, public health programs, and systems of health service delivery more generally.  Robin’s postdoctoral funding through The Canadian Health Services Research Foundation has enabled her to build a partnership with the Maternal Child and Youth Health Strategy at the Ministry of Health and Long-term Care.  In this capacity she is currently involved with internal policy work related to newborn screening, maternal serum screening, and genetic services more broadly. Robin’s research and policy priorities are informed by postdoctoral training in health policy, doctoral training in public health and bioethics as well as her clinical experience as a genetic counsellor.

At 33 Nara Abrams lost her Mother to Leukemia, her Grandfather passed away from the same disease when she was 6. While she never "feared" cancer for herself, she thought that if she ever got a diagnosis Leukemia would be it. In the summer of 2009 on the urging of her best friend she participated in Dr. Narod's BRCA study. When she found out she was positive for the BRCA 1 mutation at the age of 35 her journey of cancer prevention began.

Stacie Sklar

From her early teen years, Stacie had been surrounded by illness and cancer, but it wasn't until she was pregnant with her second child that it came to light that her family's illnesses may have been linked genetically. After undergoing genetic counselling at PMH at the urging of Dr. David Chitayat, head of prenatal genetics at Mt Sinai, her and her family underwent genetic testing. Her BRCA1 positive result was horrifying to her but she knew she had to face this head on and to do what she needed to do for herself and her young beautiful healthy family.

Register by 3pm on November 24th and receive a free drink (for the first 50 registrants)! Light appetizers will also be provided.

This event is being organized to commemorate the first Annual Genetic Counselling Awareness Week, an initiative of the Canadian Association of Genetic Counsellors (CAGC). Thank you to Gene Dx for the kind support.