He is a consultant in laboratory medicine and pathology at the Mayo Clinic Comprehensive Cancer Center and holds the Zbigniew and Anna M. Scheller Professorship in Medical Research in Honor of Dr. Thomas J. McDonald. Earlier this year, Dr. Couch and other co-authors published a study in Nature, which included one of the most comprehensive functional maps to date of the BRCA2 cancer risk gene. By testing nearly every possible change in this gene, Mayo Clinic researchers can identify which patients are more likely to benefit from targeted cancer therapies. The work reclassifies previously uncertain genetic test results, helping care teams individualize cancer screening, prevention, and treatment. Together, it shows how Mayo Clinic is turning complex genetic data into information clinicians can use now, a central goal of precision medicine.
     —Please visit https://newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org/discussion/mayo-clinic-researcher-brings-new-clarity-to-breast-cancer-risk-through- genetics-research/ to read more.