HOOVER, Ala. (WBMA) \u2014 A pioneering initiative in Alabama is making advanced precision medicine accessible to rural and underserved communities across the state. Southern Research’s Catalyst program provides free genetic testing to adults aged 19 and older, regardless of income or insurance status. The data collected is used in clinical trials to advance medical research.<\/p>\n
Dr. Marquisha Jarman, owner of Comprehensive Pediatrics and Internal Medicine in Hoover, is among the providers offering the test. “For me, I’ve always wanted to offer my patients an opportunity to participate in research studies and to have an opportunity to have testing done,” said Jarman. “If I had some genetic testing that you didn’t have to pay out of pocket for, because a lot of them are really expensive, I said I would like to offer it to you.”<\/p>\n
The process involves patients providing a blood sample at their doctor’s office, which is then sent to a genomic lab in Massachusetts for analysis. Niall Lennon, Chief Scientific Officer at Broad Clinical Labs, explained, “We\u2019re looking for little signals in the genome that might say someone is at increased risk of developing a certain disease.”<\/p>\n
SEE ALSO: UA student veterans allege delays in benefits, issues with on campus office<\/a> Jarman said some people have been skeptical of participating due to privacy concerns, but emphasizes measures are taken to protect the patient’s information.<\/p>\n Southern Research ensures that personal identifying information and genomic data are stored separately, linked only by a unique code. “They get a specific identifier for their sample that does not travel with their name,” said Khalilah Brown, Chief Medical Officer for Southern Research and the project lead for Catalyst.<\/p>\n Lennon emphasized the security measures in place, stating, “We are regulated by the same laws that regulate clinical testing done in hospitals… The data we generate here is never sold… It\u2019s not available to other companies or insurers.”<\/p>\n Participants receive clinically useful information and are connected to a genetic counselor to understand their results and any additional testing needed. The program aims to help individuals make informed healthcare decisions while contributing to research on genetics and common diseases.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HOOVER, Ala. (WBMA) \u2014 A pioneering initiative in Alabama is making advanced precision medicine accessible to rural and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":197140,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3846],"tags":[14825,6511,8747,267,80013,80014,11923,67516,70,80012,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-197139","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-genetics","8":"tag-clinical-trials","9":"tag-data-protection","10":"tag-genetic-testing","11":"tag-genetics","12":"tag-genomic-data","13":"tag-healthcare-decisions","14":"tag-precision-medicine","15":"tag-privacy-concerns","16":"tag-science","17":"tag-southern-research","18":"tag-uk","19":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114710061397409489","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/197139","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=197139"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/197139\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/197140"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=197139"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=197139"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=197139"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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