UAB Provides Top Genetic Counseling In Southeast

By Donna Cope

Many doctors treat patients under the belief “You are your genes,” meaning that every person is a product of his or her own unique heredity.

The statement is true to some degree, said Dr. Anna Hurst, a medical geneticist and pediatrician in the Department of Genetics at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB). That is because hereditary factors predispose every person to myriad characteristics including hair, eye and skin color, as well as height, physical conditions and diseases.

Recently, there has been a huge increase in awareness about genetic predisposition following actress Angelina Jolie’s announcement that she carries a faulty copy of the BRCA1 gene, indicating that she has a strong hereditary tendency toward breast and/or ovarian cancers. Jolie elected to undergo preventative surgery to ensure she would not develop the cancer that killed her mother.Most cases are not so clear cut, said Dr. Anna Hurst, a medical geneticist and pediatrician at UAB Hospital. In her role, Hurst trains pediatrics and genetics residents at Children’s of Alabama in Birmingham. She and a genetic counselor often see patients together, screening family history forms and meeting as a team to discuss their findings with the patients and medical providers.

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