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PROJECT NARRATIVE Advancements in prenatal genetic screening have significantly improved the identification of chromosomal abnormalities and heritable conditions during pregnancy, yet current standards for patient education in this domain are largely ineffective. The most effective approach to education about prenatal screening, is one-on- one genetic counseling, but due to the limited number of counselors this is not feasible, especially in rural and frontier areas.

PROJECT NARRATIVE Consumer protections are of rising importance to the sustainability of personal genomics and mobile health industries and realization of precision health, yet the extent of consumer protections available from the Federal Trade Commission (the primary federal agency in the United States responsible for ensuring online privacy and data security beyond medical settings, for the prevention of unfair and deceptive trade practices of companies that might not be governed by HIPAA, and for promoting innovation) are poorly characterized and have received surprisingly little ELSI re

PROJECT NARRATIVE The proposed K01 Award?'Evaluating the Risks and Benefits of the Next Generation of Direct-to-Consumer Genetic Tests??will enable the candidate to acquire the academic background, research experience, and professional skills to become an independent ELSI investigator exploring the risks and benefits of current and emerging direct-to-consumer (DTC) genetic tests.

PROJECT NARRATIVE: Genetic counseling and health education are essential components of any early diagnosis program for sickle cell disease to ensure that risk results are effectively communicated by healthcare workers to those at-risk couples and their families. These are also important within the context of culture and health literacy because health beliefs and attitudes of the general public have a significant impact on health seeking behaviors that substantially influence reproductive decisions made by individuals and families.

Prenatal screening and testing technologies using genetic methods are rapidly expanding, offering increasing amounts of genetic information about the fetus. However, research shows that women from underserved populations are less likely to receive or accept prenatal genetic services, leading to discordant birth outcomes. We propose to explore the barriers to access and acceptance of prenatal genetic care among women from underserved populations.