Meet Genetic Counselor Matthew Thomas, ScM, CGC
Matthew Thomas, ScM, CGC, is a cardiovascular genetic counselor and founder of the first cardiovascular genetics program in Virginia.
Find out more at: https://uvahealth.com/findadoctor/Mat...
Transcript
My name is Matthew Thomas. I'm a cardiovascular genetic counselor here at the University of Virginia. I would say I'm most passionate about two things. So the first is using genetic testing, genetic counseling, my specialty, to help people find answers for why they have the condition they have. The second thing I am passionate about is providing information about diseases that are unfamiliar to most patients, and sometimes even their providers or their doctors.
So people will often come to see us for an inherited heart disease that may be as rare as one in a thousand or one in 5,000 or one in 10,000. It's a privilege to be able to work with people who are facing these difficult situations, and I am grateful to have the opportunity to do it.
If a patient has an inherited heart disease or they're concerned that they have an inherited heart condition, the reason they should come to the University of Virginia is because they're being seen by a team. I am one member of that team that can handle the genetic aspect of the appointment. We also have teams of cardiologists, cardiology nurses, cardiothoracic surgeons, and other specialists who are experts in the condition that these patients have, and we do whatever we can to see patients together at one visit as convenient as possible.