National Family History Month: A Reminder for Providers and Genetic Counselors!

October’s National Family History Month is an important opportunity to emphasize how family history drives cancer risk assessment, genetic referrals, and prevention.

Even with growing access to genetic testing, a detailed family history often remains the first and most actionable clue to hereditary cancer risk.

Providers and genetic counselors are uniquely positioned to help patients understand why family health information matters and encourage them to share it with relatives. Even brief conversations with relatives to start the conversation, templates for gathering family history, or reminders to update records can make a meaningful difference. 

Cascade Testing

When a hereditary cancer mutation is identified in a family, cascade testing is essential.  Knowledge is power, and a positive genetic test result can give patients and their families the chance to rewrite the cancer history that exists in their family.  Healthcare providers and genetic counselors play a crucial role in guiding patients on how to share results with relatives and access appropriate testing. Even simple tools—like family letters or resources explaining the significance of the mutation—can make communication easier.

This month is a chance to review how family history is documented in practice, reinforce genetics referrals when red flags are present, and support communication that leads to cascade testing. By helping families share information and act on it, providers play a direct role in preventing cancer across generations.

Looking for some tools and resources to help your patients and families?  illustrator, author and hereditary cancer advocate Mark A. Hicks has created a wonderful website (https://genetionary.org/) dedicated to hereditary cancer where individuals can find family history drawing tools, information related to cascade testing, letters for sharing genetic test information, and more! 

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Enjoy podcasts? You may also like our CGA-IGC Research Collaboration series- or others from the CGA-IGC Podcast Series (Seasons 3, 4, 5, 6 & 7) presented by the CGA-IGC Education Committee. Or, explore our Expert Approach to Hereditary Gastrointestinal Cancers podcast series (Seasons 1 and 2). We're also on Spotify!

Also, looking for other educational resources? Toolkits? Webinars?

Our webinars are a valuable member benefit, and we encourage you to sign up as a member so you can join the live webinars and access our earlier webinar series on demand!

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