#237 Digital Tools for Cancer Outreach with Michelle Bowman

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This week Michelle Bowman, a cancer genetic counselor from Sydney, Australia, joins us for a conversation on how to utilize digital tools to reach patients who can benefit from cancer genetic counseling. 

Michelle Bowman (she/her), has been a practicing cancer genetic counselor at Western Sydney Local Health District for over 15 years. Michelle is interested in diversity, equity, inclusion and justice issues in health care and genetics, and she is also interested in emerging models of care and eHealth. Michelle holds a committee membership at eHealth NSW, which is NSW Health’s digital centre of excellence. She received her graduate degree in genetic counseling from the University of Melbourne.

On This Episode We Discuss:

How medical and genetic systems are different between countries

New and emerging models of care and eHealth technologies that are transforming the field of cancer genetic counseling

How digital tools can be utilized to reach patients who may not have access to traditional in-person genetic counseling services, particularly in rural or underserved areas

Using digital pedigree software (like TrakGene) to help address some of the challenges in providing accessible care to diverse patient populations, particularly those with complex family histories or limited access to traditional healthcare services

Improving the accuracy and completeness of family health history data with digital pedigree software and the benefits this offers for patient care

How digital pedigree software can help to promote health equity and reduce health disparities among diverse patient populations

Challenges and benefits of incorporating these digital tools into the genetic counseling process

How eHealth tools can be used to improve patient education and increase patient engagement in the genetic counseling process

Ensuring that these new approaches to genetic counseling are accessible and equitable for all patients, regardless of their socio-economic status or geographic location

Advice for patients who are considering genetic counseling and how they can best utilize the resources available to them, whether in-person or through digital platforms

The Centre for Genetics Education has many great resources including the Genetic Service Finder for Australia with their list of services. Public and private providers are listed on the Human Genetics Society of Australasia’s website. Check out the life insurance products she mentioned. Here are the EviQ Referral guidelines for cancer genetics she also referenced. Michelle recommends this paper about genetic testing for ovarian cancer. 

You can follow our guest, Michelle Bowman on ​LinkedIn.

Stay tuned for the next new episode of DNA Today on May 26th, 2023, where we’ll be discussing ​​secondary findings with BRCA! New episodes are released every Friday. In the meantime, you can binge over 235 other episodes on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, streaming on the website, or any other podcast player b