I'm Martha Thomas. I'm a licensed genetic counselor. I work in oncology so I work
with patients and families that are at risk of having a genetic predisposition to developing cancer. So I walk them through sort of the genetics of hereditary cancer, testing options that are available, and then help them interpret the results when we get those back. I've always been interested in genetics. In 5th grade I did a project where it was, "What do you
want to be when you grow up?" and I said a geneticist. So there's just something innate
about genetics that I've always loved and being able to share that passion with patients that really need the expertise is just a wonderful intersection of my interest. Being able to work
in a bunch of subspecialty clinics here at UVA has been a wonderful experience. I helped found the Li-Fraumeni clinic here at UVA. I also have the opportunity to work in a high-risk breast ovarian clinic, a high-risk pancreatic clinic, and a Von Hippel-Lindau clinic. And being able to work with patients that have very unique diagnoses and to create a medical home for them is a really rewarding part of my job. I'm passionate about just helping people and making sure that families get the information that they need to make good decisions regarding their cancer risks and making sure that people are following through with their screenings and recommendations so that we hopefully never have to see them as a cancer patient.