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Every person is a collection of genetic puzzle pieces. On their own, those pieces can be hard to understand, but together, they form the picture that is you.

Sometimes, one of those pieces doesn't fit as it should. In genetics, even a small change can affect the bigger picture. That is how inherited cancer risk can work: A change in a person's genetic code can increase the likelihood of a life-changing diagnosis.

But what if you could predict your risk? Or know whether your child—and their children—would be affected by the same errant gene? Are there steps you could take to catch it early or even reduce the risk of getting cancer in the first place?

Those are the questions that inspired Project Inherited Cancer Risk (PICR), a clinical study out of the DanceBlue Pediatric Hematology & Oncology Clinic at Golisano Children's at UK. Advanced genetic testing identifies young patients with gene changes that increase their risk of cancer.

With that knowledge, providers can develop a personalized care plan for each patient and determine whether other family members carry a similar risk.

In 2018, shortly after he was named interim chief of pediatric oncology, John A. D'Orazio, M.D., Ph.D., noted an influx of inherited cancer referrals from Markey Cancer Center, UK HealthCare's NCI-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center, which has its own cancer genetic testing program.

"The children of patients at Markey had a gene finding—a variant, we call it—that put them at increased risk of cancer," said D'Orazio, now chief of pediatric oncology and the principal investigator of PICR.

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