In an Australian-first, a clinic at Canberra Hospital will be screening people for genetic changes, which can lead to illnesses such as cancer and heart disease, and educating people on how they can manage their risk and, ultimately, prevent disease.
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00:00 Look, we know that as people get older, their blood stem cells accumulate mutations,
00:05 and we know that those mutations are one of the most powerful drivers of diseases that are common in older people,
00:10 like cancer and cardiovascular disease.
00:13 One of the things we're hoping to do in our new clinic at Canberra Hospital
00:17 is identify people who are at high risk of having those mutations, those abnormalities in their blood stem cells,
00:23 offer them specialised testing if they choose,
00:26 and offer them some counselling around their results that helps them modify their risk of cancer and cardiovascular disease.
00:32 And the big goal for us is preventing cancer, preventing heart attacks, and ultimately keeping people out of hospital.
00:38 In parallel with that work, which is really about information and understanding risk,
00:43 we're beginning work in clinical trials where we can help people who are at the highest risk of those problems
00:49 modify that risk and hopefully prevent some of the most complicated consequences of that, like cancer and heart disease.
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