Genetic Testing Seminar

We are delighted to welcome Dr Michael Gattas, a Consultant in Clinical Genetics, to Bloomhill to present this seminar on Genetic Screening related to cancer.   As genetic testing becomes more affordable and available to families, it is important to understand who should be included in genetic testing, when and for what cancers.

Michael has a particular interest in familial cancers and has seen many women and men who have had BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene testing for breast cancer, Lynch syndrome with bowel and other cancers, and some of the rare cancer syndromes like Von Hippel Lindau syndrome, or Li Fraumeni syndrome.

Dr Gattas trained as a Paediatrician (Children's Specialist) at the Mater Hospital in Brisbane, before completing further training in Genetics. He has a great deal of experience in testing for genetic disorders, including DNA and chromosome tests, including chromosome microarray analysis. This expertise is especially important now that next generation sequencing technology has entered clinical practice.  He has advised many patients interested in preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD), and in vitro fertilisation (IVF), who have questions about passing on a serious inherited health problem.