Due to the increased incidence of early onset cancers in Qatar, the high prevalence of consanguinity, and founder effects, the cancer genetics program, the first and only program in Qatar, has been established and incorporated into routine cancer services at the NCCCR on March, 2013 under the direction of Dr. Salha Bujassoum Al‐Bader, director of the program and assisted by Dr. Reem Alsulaiman, consultant board certified genetics counsellor, in addition to a comprehensive team of medical oncologists, genetic counsellors, assistant genetic counsellors, specialized nurses, and supported by advanced molecular laboratory. Other experts who support the program include psychologists, and dedicated experts in related specialties such as surgery, plastic surgery, gynaecology, gastroenterology, endocrinology, urology, dermatology, and other specialties.
The program aligns with Qatar's 2022 vision of achieving excellence in cancer care and is recognized at the country's national cancer framework as one of the dedicated services to serving cancer patients and healthy individuals with family history of cancer who are at risk of cancer.
We work in a multidisciplinary fashion with several experts to assess high risk cancer patients and asymptomatic individuals with family history of cancers for familial and hereditary cancers and offer them personalised management and risk reducing strategies accordingly. Recognizing patients and families at risk for hereditary cancer can make a significant difference in their lives through providing them with more personalized management and preventative strategies thus reducing cancer morbidity and mortality in those patients, their families and the future generations.
The clinical services we offer at the cancer genetics and high-risk programs include:
- Genetic counselling and risk assessment
- Sophisticated genetic testing for eligible patients and interpretations of results
- Assessment in high-risk clinic for familial risk if not indicated as hereditary risk
- Guide personalised treatment and management, eligibility to targeted therapies, and risk‐reducing strategies for patients and their families including:
- Surveillance
- Chemoprevention
- Prophylactic surgeries
- Premarital screening for high-risk families
- Reproductive options (preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) for families with known mutations
- Dedicated high risk MDT and established clinical practice guidelines based on the local data registry and clinical experiences
