How Does Family History Impact My Risk for Diabetes?

Genetic Counselors and You

The CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) estimated last year that around 1 in 10 Americans has diabetes. And since November is a time when we often get together with relatives, some of you may be wondering, “How worried should I be about Diabetes based on my family history?” This episode will help to answer some of those questions.

In this episode, we invited Dr. Toni Pollin to share her thoughts. Dr. Pollin is an Associate Professor in the Department of Medicine, Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Nutrition and in the Department of Epidemiology and Public Health at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, where she also leads a PhD/MS Track in Human Genetics. She is a board-certified genetic counselor and has a PhD in human genetics. For over 20 years, she has studied the genetic factors and their interaction with lifestyle, pharmaceutical, and environmental factors in type 2 diabetes and related cardiometabolic traits as well as conducted translational studies in how to identify, diagnosed, and promote individualized therapy for highly genetic diabetes subtypes known as monogenic diabetes. Her work has been funded by the American Heart Association and several NIH institutes, and she has authored or co-authored over 100 peer-reviewed publications.