Jewish students receive genetic screenings

Genetic screening is helpful for determining potential diseases, students and doctors said at a clinic at Boston University’s Hillel House Wednesday.

About 80 students from BU’s Jewish community attended the genetic-screening session. The clinic was sponsored by the Victor Outreach and Screening Program for Ashkenazi Jewish Genetic Diseases, which is run out of Tufts University Medical Center.

Coordinator Raanan Alter said genetic testing is an easy way to get answers about possible future health risks.

“Last thing you want is a surprise later in life, which could be distressful and costly,” Alter, a College of Arts and Sciences senior, said. “Knowing enables you to make informed decisions.”

At the clinic, BU students were able to undergo genetic screening, a process which helps individuals find out if they are carriers of various diseases.

The screening sessions took place in 15 minute shifts and cost students $25. Other screening institutes, such as Tufts Medical Center, may charge patients upwards of $300 for the same test.

Alter explained the low cost of the screening is due to a substantial grant made by the Victor Outreach Program, a program founded by Lois Victor, its sponsor.

Victor created the program to “provide education, outreach and screening for the prevention of devastating genetic diseases carried at increased frequencies among members of the Ashkenazi Jewish population,” according to Tufts Medical Center’s website.

“Screenings are pretty expensive,” Alter said. “[Victor] pays for almost all of it.” 

Jodi Hoffman, an assistant professor of pediatrics in the division of genetics and director of the Victor Outreach Program, said she believes the program is doing invaluable work.

“The program is vitally important in its ability to empower oneself,” she said.

BU is the sixth school in the Boston area to be visited by the program. At each school, 80 spots are offered for Jewish students to be genetically screened, Hoffman said.

Tufts Medical Center’s website also states that people of Ashkenazi Jewish descent have at least a 1 in 5 risk of being a carrier for one of several inherited diseases, especially Tay-Sachs disease, a fatal degenerative disease.

CAS sophomore Michelle Brosbe found the screening opportunity particularly useful because her brother is a carrier and she wanted to know if she was too. 

“I’m glad they did it,” she said. “It’s important to know what you could potentially be a carrier of.”

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