Background

Direct-to-consumer (DTC) genetic and genomic testing services have sky-rocketed in popularity and employers are taking note. We are beginning to see employers offering genetic or genomic testing services within their health packages; yet, the research behind voluntary workplace genomic testing (wGT) is minimal. Our team is here to change that. We are utilizing a comprehensive multi-step approach of quantitative and qualitative analysis (including surveys and interviews) to gather employee and employer perspectives, as well as workshops with stakeholders to illuminate what our findings mean for policy changes and the future of wGT.

Study Aims

The study aims to: (1) Examine the factors driving employers’ decisions whether or not to offer wGT, (2) Examine how employees view and respond to wGT, and (3) Assess the ethical, legal, and social implications of wGT from multiple stakeholder perspectives.

Funding Source

The INSIGHT@Work study has been funding by an R01 grant (HG010679) from the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) within the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Key Personnel

Scott Roberts, PhD, Site Principal Investigator; overall project Multiple Principal Investigator

Kayte Spector-Bagdady, PhD, Co-Investigator

Wendy Uhlmann, MS, CGC, Co-Investigator

Rebecca Ferber, MPH, site Project Manager

Study Website

For more information about this study, visit the study website at: https://www.jax.org/research-and-faculty/resources/workplace-genomic-testing#

Study Publications

Sanghavi K, Cohn B, Prince AER, Feero WG, Ryan KA, Spector-Bagdady K, Uhlmann WR, Lee C, Roberts JS, Mathews DJH. (2022, Jan 20). Voluntary workplace genomic testing: Wellness benefit or Pandora’s box? NPJ Genomic Medicine, 7(1):5.

Sanghavi K, Feero WG, Mathews DJH, Prince AER, Price LL, Liu ET, Brothers KB, Roberts JS, Lee C. Employees’ Views and Ethical, Legal, and Social Implications Assessment of Voluntary Workplace Genomic Testing. Frontiers in Genetics. 2021 Mar 17;12:643304.