The organizations Beyond Celiac, Thermo Fisher Scientific and Dr. Schar USA have awarded Winston-Salem, N.C.-based Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center a $20,000 grant to fund a celiac disease pilot program.
Here's what you need to know:
1. The grant helps to fund a one-day family screening event for the biological relatives of celiac disease patients on Sat., Oct. 22.
2. These relatives will be offered free blood-based colorectal cancer screening tests, which detect DNA markers in a patient's blood sample.
3. Those who receive positive blood tests will be referred to a gastroenterologist for additional testing with an upper gastrointestinal endoscopy.
4. Elizabeth T. Jensen, PhD, and Anca Safta, MD, are leading the research component of this pilot project.
5. The program will use Beyond Celiac's "Seriously, Celiac Disease" communication intervention to recruit study participants. The intervention educates those diagnosed with celiac disease on how to discuss genetic risk with their family members.