Tagged Ashkenazi Jews

A new study for cancer risk in Ashkenazi Jews aims to be a model for genetic testing

Dr. Kenneth Offit says a new study on BRCA mutations in Ashkenazi Jews will help save lives and contribute lessons for future medical testing. (Courtesy of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center)
March 13, 2018 / Josefin Dolsten, JTA

NEW YORK (JTA) — A new study will provide free testing for three mutations that substantially increase the risk for developing breast, ovarian and prostate cancer among people with Eastern European Jewish ancestry. The BRCA Founder Outreach Study (BFOR), which was launched last week, will test 4,000 men and women in… Read more »

The three cancers Jews need to worry about most — and how to reduce the risks

Better education about the dangers of sun exposure is credited for helping bring Israel's skin cancer rate down from the world's second-highest a decade ago to 18th today. ( Miriam Alster/Flash 90)
June 8, 2017 / Niv Elis

As if Jews don’t have enough to worry about. Geopolitical threats to the Jewish people may wax and wane, but there’s another lethal danger particular to the Jewish people that shows no signs of disappearing anytime soon: cancer. Specifically, Jews are at elevated risk for three types of the… Read more »

After losing Ayelet, Galenas find joy with new baby, thanks to NIH breakthrough
June 19, 2014 / Uriel Heilman, JTA
Seth Galena and Hindy Poupko, at his right shoulder, celebrate the birth of their son Akiva at his bris, June 15, 2014. (Piha Studio)

NEW YORK (JTA) – Even before their daughter, Ayelet Galena, was diagnosed with a rare bone marrow disease called dyskeratosis congenita around her first birthday, parents Hindy Poupko and Seth Galena knew they wanted to have more children. But once the diagnosis arrived, the couple had a dilemma: There… Read more »