SACRAMENTO Genetic counselors play a key role in many healthcare settings. At UC Davis Health, there are genetic counselors at work in adult, pediatric, pre-natal, and oncology clinics.
Genetic counselors evaluate patients for features of hereditary or genetic conditions and order appropriate testing to reach a diagnosis. The diagnosis of a genetic condition can have huge implications for the patient and their family: it can provide a long-awaited answer for the patient’s signs/symptoms and help guide treatment, screening or preventive care.
Genetic counselors also educate the patient’s family about how the genetic condition is inherited and help identify other family members who should consider genetic evaluation/testing.
Pictured: Guadalupe Carvajal, Nicole Mans, Makenzie Fong, and Julia Martinez, genetic counselors in the Hereditary Cancer Program at the Cancer Center.
Approximately 5 to 10 percent of cancers are associated with an inherited gene mutation. Genetic testing can help determine whether a mutation is the underlying cause of an individual’s cancer and whether they have a higher risk of developing additional cancers. Genetic testing also may be informative for individuals who do not have cancer but have a family history of cancer. Genetic test results have implications for other family members as well.
Genomic Medicine Clinic
The Genomic team at the MIND Institute.
The goal of the Genomic Medicine Division at the MIND Institute is to help improve the quality of life for individuals, both children and adults, and family members of individuals with genetic disorders through clinical care, research, and education.
Maternal Fetal Medicine
This multidisciplinary team provides expert, high-risk obstetrical care for maternal and fetal conditions that can occur during pregnancy.
Today, Nov. 14, is Genetic Counselor Awareness Day. If you see one of our genetic counselors or work with the team often, please thank them for their dedication to our patients.
Credit: Gregory Urquiaga/UC Davis: Three undergraduates in “Becoming a Latino Scientist,” from the left Kaitlyn Menjivar-Esquivel, Itzel Gonzalez and Peyton Apruzzese, learn about opportunities at the Graduate and Law School Fair on the Quad Oct. 23 for an assignment given by instructor Luis Carvajal-Carmona, (center), a professor of biochemistry and molecular medicine who oversees campuswide Avanza HSI initiatives as associate vice chancellor for academic diversity in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. They are talking with Brad Pollock, in the booth, chair of the Department of Public Health Sciences in the School of Medicine.
The University of California, Davis, is now eligible to be one of the nation’s few research-intensive universities designated as a Hispanic-Serving Institution, or HSI, after fall enrollment numbers crossed the threshold for HSI status for the first time
Latinx enrollment at UC Davis has reached a new peak of about 8,100 students or 25.1 percent of undergraduate full-time-equivalent students, which surpasses the U.S. Department of Education’s criteria of at least 25 percent for HSIs. This fall’s 25.1 percent was up from 24.6 percent last year.
The campus has long-sought HSI designation to underscore its commitment to serving Latinx students. The status also makes the university eligible to apply for competitive grants from the federal government and foundations to support student success, innovation and institutional transformation benefiting all students.
“I’m grateful to all the members of the UC Davis community who worked for nearly a decade to reach this milestone,” said Chancellor Gary S. May. “Achieving eligibility for HSI designation shows that UC Davis is fulfilling its mission to serve the state, the nation and the world. We’re empowering more young people from underserved communities and closing the gap on socioeconomic disparities in access to higher education, particularly research universities.”
In each of the past few years, UC Davis has met HSI requirements related to serving low-income students and core expenses, and it is expected that the campus will seek to renew the status for those two criteria in January. With their anticipated renewal and this fall’s enrollment numbers, the next steps are to continue working on Latinx student success at all levels and seek federal funding to further support institutional transformation.
Two designations
The campus already secured the federal government’s status as a Minority Serving Institution in 2019 as an Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander-Serving Institution, or AANAPISI. Two designations position UC Davis to pursue a broader range of funding opportunities that will further support student success and strengthen academic programs.
“This synergy provides opportunities to deepen our understanding of and better serve Asian, Pacific Islander and Latinx students,” said Pablo Reguerín, vice chancellor for Student Affairs. “It helps us build a more inclusive campus community and links together the success of all students.”
A vision for leading HSI STEMM
Luis Carvajal-Carmona, a professor of biochemistry and molecular medicine who oversees the campuswide Avanza HSI initiatives as associate vice chancellor for academic diversity in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, or DEI, has a special ambition for UC Davis. He wants UC Davis to capitalize on its status as a Research I university — signifying a high level of research activity — to become the top HSI for science, technology, engineering, mathematics and medical sciences, or STEMM.
Instructor for the first-year seminar “Becoming a Latino Scientist,” he said he sees UC Davis STEMM education and research experiences as paths to well-paying careers and social mobility for Latinx students.
Alumni ‘incredibly proud’
Neptaly “Taty” Aguilera, a 1973 graduate of UC Davis, has championed Latinx opportunities, support and achievement as a leader of the UC Davis alumni association, the campus’s Chicanx Latinx Alumni Association and the Hispanic Community Council, as well as in his current role as co-chair of the UC Chicanx Latinx Alumni Association.
“For UC Davis, reaching the HSI milestone will only further contribute to its prominence in the nation and world as a public institution of higher education,” he said. “As Chicano alumni, we are incredibly proud of this major achievement for UC Davis.”
Long an advocate for Latinx students and alumni of UC Davis, 1972 graduate Caroline Cabias has served with the Chicanx Latinx Alumni Association, the HSI Task Force, the HSI Community Council and the UC Chicanx Latinx Alumni Association. “This is a public statement that we can look forward to more partnerships with our Hispanic stakeholders and community leaders,” she said, “to expand campus programs not only to sustain the enrollment but to increase it to better recognize the demographics of California.”
Joy and appreciation
Word about the HSI enrollment benchmark was met with joy and appreciation for those who helped lead the work including Enrollment Management, which includes Undergraduate Admissions; members of campus organizations and committees; Lina Mendez, the former director of HSI initiatives; Blas Guerrero, interim director of Avanza HSI initiatives; and Raquel Aldana, a professor of law who, as the former associate vice chancellor for academic diversity, co-chaired the HSI Task Force.
The achievement also builds upon research by Marcela Cuellar, an associate professor of higher education leadership at UC Davis who studies HSIs, emerging HSIs and Latinx student success.
“I extend sincere thanks to all who have been working toward this goal over many years,” said Renetta Tull, vice chancellor for DEI. “There are so many people and units across campus, alumni and members of the community who have put in time and effort to make this happen.”
Student success
Rodrigo Bonilla, director of the Chicanx Latinx Retention Initiative, said its work supports Latinx academic success through a culturally informed approach that centers student’s identities and experiences. Opened in 2017, the Center for Chicanx and Latinx Academic Student Success, also known as El Centro, offers on-site academic advising and tutoring, mental health support, professional development opportunities, academic seminars, community programs and more.
“We’ve been able to engage in many innovative initiatives because we have institutional support,” he said.
Lorena Márquez, chair of Chicana/o/x studies, said reaching the 25 percent enrollment mark does more than recognize the work of the academic department, El Centro, the Undocumented Student Resource Center and many others. “It signals to future UC Davis students that we are a friendly place where they can find community and foster lasting personal and professional relationships.”
Swati Pothukuchi presented her research on Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) research today.
Swati is a undergraduate researcher in the Carvajal-Carmona Lab. For the past year, she has been working independently on her own project to assess the prevalence of pathogenic variants within minority populations.
The project was prompted by Hugo Campos, a community Participant Ambassador for NIH All of Us program. Hugo is an advocate for HCM and has been wanting to address the research disparity in HCM for minorities. The NIH All of Us program provides researchers the ability access to explore next generation datasets for over 500K individuals.
Swati is currently working to identify known pathogenic variants and potentially pathogenic variants in participants with HCM and similar diseases. This research will assess the prevalence of known variants in minority populations and work to identify previously unknown potentially pathogenic variants that could help improve diagnosis of HCM.
She is utilizing existing clinical database such as ClinVar, OMIM, ClinGen to assess known pathogenic/likely pathogenic variants that have been clinically validated. She is also using whole genome sequencing datasets from All of Us to identify variants of unknown significance (VUS). VUSs will then be evaluated to identify computationally predicted pathogenic variants. Computational predictions will be based off current variant effect predictor software and databases (ie. AlphaMissense, CADD, Polyphen2, among others).
Cancer center seeks to understand cancer burden of Northern California’s Indigenous peoples
Many Indigenous communities, including Native Americans in California, suffer from significant cancer health disparities, which are evident in high rates of death from colon, kidney, and stomach cancer. UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center recognizes the unfair cancer burden shouldered by Indigenous peoples and the unique combination of risk factors that may be contributing to the inequity.
Diets lacking fresh produce and other healthful foods, as well as limited access to health care screenings and care, increase the cancer risk. This is particularly true for rural communities that make up a significant proportion of tribal lands. Environmental exposures and genetics also can play a role in the cancer risks threatening Native people.
The cancer center wants to understand these disparities, so its Center for Advancing Cancer Health Equity created a new tribal community engagement liaison role. UC Davis Genome Center postdoctoral researcher Nicole Halmai was appointed to the position and is working to identify cancer health priorities for Indigenous peoples in the northern and central parts of California. She is also seeking to better understand the factors that might influence their willingness to take part in cancer precision medicine research.
Halmai’s current research is focused on the development of pre-clinical cancer models and epigenomic data from racial/ethnic minority populations to advance cancer health equity.
“Before we do anything else, we need to build partnerships with Indigenous communities and tribal leadership to guide cancer disparity research.”
Nicole Halmai, UC Davis Genome Center Postdoctoral Researcher
Personal connection
Halmai is passionate about building relationships with Native communities. That’s because she is Diné, a citizen of the Navajo Nation. Her mother grew up on the Navajo Nation, located in the Four Corners region of the Southwest.
Growing up in Phoenix, Arizona, Halmai spent every summer with her maternal grandparents on the family’s 1,650 acres in the Navajo Nation. Halmai still visits her family’s land, where she and her husband were recently married in a traditional Navajo wedding ceremony.
New tribal outreach begins with building trust.
“California has the largest population of Native Americans in the country, but there is a certain level of distrust when it comes to medical care and biomedical research, given historical mistreatment of Native peoples and misuse of samples and data,” Halmai said. “Before we do anything else, we need to build partnerships with Indigenous communities and tribal leadership to guide cancer disparity research.”
Halmai said she feels building an advisory board is critical. She is hopeful that suggestions from the Native communities will eventually lead to community-driven research projects that will both help to improve Native representation in cancer precision medicine research and rectify cancer health disparities experienced among Native communities.
Along with recruiting for the advisory board, Halmai is generating commentary from community members by attending talking circles at local tribal events and health fairs, and asking people to take part in health surveys to help identify what is important to them.
“We are also working closely with Native community-focused health care providers to support cancer health and research education,” Halmai said. “Ultimately, one of our main goals is to support capacity-building efforts for tribal nations, allowing them to expand their own health care infrastructure and improve cancer care for their citizens.”
