Cancer Genetics Services Across the Care Delivery Continuum : Challenges and Opportunities

Dr. Pal is a board-certified clinical geneticist based at the Vanderbilt University Medical Center, and is the Associate Director of Cancer Health Disparities at the Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center. Her research is focused on identification of genetic risk factors that place individuals at a higher risk for cancer, as well as strategies to reduce this risk. These efforts have included a focus on underserved populations, particularly young Black women with breast cancer. She has also led multiple efforts to better understand the provision of clinical cancer genetic services across diverse populations, healthcare settings, and providers, at both the patient and provider level. The focus of her clinical activities has encompassed evaluation of patients referred for genetic risk assessment for inherited cancer predisposition. She has served as a panel member of the NCCN guidelines committee (for hereditary breast/ovarian cancer) since 2009 as well as a member of the NCI Cancer Genetics PDQ.