#215 Preventative Health via Whole Exome Sequencing

Our guest today is Dahlia Attia-King, Founder and CEO of Panacea. Panacea’s mission is to improve access and utilization of genetic testing by offering affordable whole exome sequencing, physician oversight, and genetic counseling all in a 10 minute workflow. This week we are chatting about utilizing whole exome sequencing for preventive health.  Dahlia’s education in biology and experience working with genetic laboratories exposed her to the reality that many middlemen stood in the way of patients receiving valuable clinical genetic tests. She embarked on a multi-year journey to discover the reasons for the barriers and was inspired to create a solution. Dahlia and her co-founders founded Panacea with a mission to increase access to clinical genetic testing. With an additional 6 years in Healthcare IT, Dahlia learned about the technology solutions integral in pushing genetic testing and healthcare into a much needed era of modernization. On This Episode We Discuss: The difference between whole exome and whole genome sequencing  Why WES vs panels?  Examples of conditions that we can learn risk level for through WES  The future of insurance coverage of WES for preventative health purposes  Importance of pre-test education of tests  How the cost of WES has changed over time  Founding Panacea  Depth of coverage of the sequencing through Panacea  Post-test genetic counseling with Panacea  To learn more about Panacea and WES, follow them on Instagram or head to their website. Stay tuned for the next new episode of DNA Today on December 23rd, 2022 where we’ll be discussing African American Ancestry with Nicka Sewell-Smith! New episodes are released every Fridays. In the meantime, you can binge over 210 other episodes on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, streaming on the website, or any other podcast player by searching, “DNA Today”. Episodes since 2021 are also recorded with video which you can watch on our YouTube channel.   DNA Today is hosted and produced by Kira Dineen. Our social media lead is Corinne Merlino. Our video lead is Amanda Andreoli. Our outreach Intern is Sanya Tinaikar. Our Social Media Intern is Kajal Patel. And our Graphic Designer Ashlyn Enokian. See what else we are up to on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube and our website, DNAToday.com. Questions/inquiries can be sent to info@DNAtoday.com.  Pharmacogenomics is a field of research that studies how a person's genes affect their response to medications. LetsGetChecked’s myPGx, is a new offering for business clients. This robust testing panel identifies potential drug-gene interactions for over 100 drugs across behavioral health, cardiovascular health, and pain management. This accounts for over 800 million annual prescriptions in the US alone. To learn more visit letsgetchecked.com/mypgx. LetsGetChecked also provides access to testing, virtual consultations, and medication delivery for a range of health and wellness conditions from the comfort of home. Visit LetsGetChecked.com to shop their health tests and use code “DNATODAY” for 20% off! (Sponsored)