14 | DECEMBER 16 • 2021 

J

Family, a program of 
the Jewish Community 
Center of Metropolitan 
Detroit in West Bloomfield, is 
lowering the financial barrier 
to those who want to learn 
if they are genetically predis-
posed to certain hereditary 
cancers or diseases through its 
new JScreen Detroit program 
that launched Nov. 6. 
Without health insurance, 
costs of reproductive genetic 
and cancer screening can run 
as high as $600. But thanks 
to generous grants and other 
funding, the JScreen Detroit 
program will heavily subsidize 
the processing costs of the test 
kits, which are sent to JScreen’s 
headquarters at the Emory 
School of Medicine in Atlanta. 
For those who have any 
health insurance, a $149 
reproductive genetic screen-
ing will cost $18; $199 cancer 
screening will cost $36. The 
two tests, which normally 
cost $299, will cost $54 with 
the JScreen Detroit program. 
JFamily will work with those 
without health insurance to 
apply for financial aid. 
A JScreen Detroit screen-
ing is as easy as depositing 
saliva into a cup provided 
by a mailed kit. Samples are 
mailed to Emory University 
and screened for more than 
200 genetic diseases, including 
those commonly found in the 
Jewish population (Ashkenazi, 
Sephardic and Mizrahi), as 
well as other populations. 
 Testing may reveal that you 
may be at risk for developing 
symptoms of a 
genetic condition. 
Stephanie Erez, 
director of young 
children and fam-
ily engagement 
at the JCC, said 
JScreen Detroit is 

backed by a committee whose 
members are well-versed in 
reproductive, genetic or cancer 
screening due to their profes-
sional background or personal 
experience. In the first 18 
months of the program, Erez 
hopes to complete screening 
for 500 people, and the pro-
gram is spreading the word 
to local Jewish agencies and 
congregations. 
“JFamily is there for the 
community during life’s most 
beautiful and most challeng-
ing times,
” said 
Mikki Frank, 
JFamily senior 
director. “We 
provide support, 
education and 
connection. 
Providing this 
resource for health screening, 
and then putting those who 
did the screening in touch 
with additional resources after 
they receive those results, fits 
within that lane.
”
Erez added that the screen-
ing is only the beginning. 
JFamily can be a guide to 
seeking additional educational 
and support resources for 
those who received positive 
test results, such as designating 
genetic counselors, she said. 

HEIGHTENED BREAST 
CANCER RISK
Dana Zakalik, the corpo-
rate director of the Nancy 
and James 
Grosfeld Cancer 
Genetics Center 
at Beaumont 
Health and an 
oncologist with a 
specialty in breast 
cancer and can-
cer genetics, said among 
Ashkenazi Jews, there is a one 
in 40 chance that a person 
carries either the BRCA1 or 

JScreen Detroit offers affordable 
genetic screening for cancer, 
diseases and more. 

Armed with 
Knowledge

Stephanie 
Erez

STACY GITTLEMAN CONTRIBUTING WRITER

OUR COMMUNITY

Dr. Dana 
Zakalik

Mikki Frank 

