• Cancer

    Pharmacogenomics testing / hazards of household cleaners / cancer journey changes perspective: Mayo Clinic Radio

When prescribing a medication, your health care provider considers many factors, including your age, sex, weight and current health conditions. Now, you may be able to add your unique genetic characteristics to that list. Pharmacogenomics is a term used to describe the use of genomic information to select the right medication for patients. Finding the right drug can maximize treatment benefits or avoid harmful, sometimes life-threatening side effects.

On the next Mayo Clinic Radio program, Dr. Timothy Curry, education program director at the Mayo Clinic Center for Individualized Medicine, will discuss pharmacogenomics testing. Dr. Curry will be joined by Dr. Michael Stephens, division chair of Pediatric Gastroenterology and Hepatology at Mayo Clinic, to share how his own pharmacogenomics testing revealed some surprising results. Also on the program, Dr. Clayton Cowl, division chair of Preventive, Occupational and Aerospace Medicine at Mayo Clinic, will explain the hazards of household cleaners. And Dr. Rozalina McCoy, a primary care physician at Mayo Clinic, will share how her personal cancer journey helped her better understand patient fears.

Listen to the Mayo Clinic Radio podcast.