CLEMSON — Clemson University’s Joseph F. Sullivan Center and School of Nursing Healthcare Genetics Ph.D. program are joining together to host CU FORGE (Finding Opportunities to Reduce Risk through Genetic Evaluation), a genetics-based, breast cancer-screening clinic.
The clinic launched June 23 and will be held weekly on Tuesday afternoons at the Sullivan Center. Healthcare Genetics program students, Sullivan Center staff and School of Nursing faculty members will manage the clinic.
The clinic is open to the public and participants are encouraged to check with their insurance carriers to determine the coverage for this service. Participants must qualify as having a high risk for breast cancer according to the National Comprehensive Cancer Network guidelines. High-risk individuals will have a family history of one or more of the following:
• A known mutation in a breast cancer susceptibility gene within the family;
• More than two breast cancer cases in a single individual;
• More than two individuals with breast cancer on the same side of the family;
• First- or second-degree relative with breast cancer diagnosed younger than 45 years old;
• Male breast cancer; and
• More than one family member on the same side of the family with a combination of breast cancer and one or more of the following: pancreatic cancer, prostate cancer, sarcoma, adrenocortical carcinoma, brain tumors, endometrial cancer, leukemia/lymphoma, thyroid cancer, dermatologic manifestations and/or macrocephaly, hamartomatous polyps of GI tract or diffuse gastric cancer.
To make an appointment, contact the Sullivan Center at 864-656-3076. For more information, contact Julie Eggert, coordinator of the School of Nursing Healthcare Genetics Ph.D. program, at jaegger@clemson.edu, or Paula Watt, director of the Sullivan Center, at pwatt@clemson.edu.