Milwaukee Jewish Genetics Program
offers education and screenings

One of every five people of Ashkenazic Jewish descent is a carrier of a gene for at least one genetic disorder. “It’s important to get that information out there,” said Dania Stachiw, genetics associate at Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin.

On March 19 at Congregation Shalom, Stachiw will participate in a free educational program combined with free screenings, aimed to help 18-35 year olds discover if they are carriers of genes linked to genetic disorders common among descendants of Ashkenazic Jews.

Hosted by the Milwaukee Jewish Genetics Program, the program will focus on five of “the most common and most severe” of the genetic disorders associated with Ashkenazic Jews — cystic fibrosis, Tay-Sachs disease, Canavan disease, Fanconi anemia and familial dysautonomia.

All these conditions are caused by “recessive” rather than “dominant” genes. Since all genes come in pairs, that means that if a person has the recessive gene for the condition but also has the dominant gene that overrules it, that person won’t develop the disorder.

However, if two carriers of one disorder-causing recessive gene conceive a child together, that child has a one-in-four chance of receiving two recessive genes, which will cause the child to develop the disorder.

Calling these the “Jewish genetic disorders” means that the disorder occurs relatively more frequently in that group than in larger populations.

Stachiw said, for example, that about 1 in 30 people of Ashkenazic Jewish descent are carries of the Tay-Sachs gene, compared to 1 in 170 in the general Caucasian population.

Chicago inspiration

This program is the result of inspiration from Milwaukee’s big city neighbor, Chicago. It began at Congregation Shalom, according to Sally Lyne, now vice president of development and communications for Jewish Family Services, but formerly director of development and synagogue relations at Shalom.

“The leadership at Shalom recognized there was a need in the community” for this sort of project, Lyne told The Chronicle in a telephone interview. “We’re a large synagogue, and we felt we had the resources to make it happen.”

Moreover, “we felt there was a need in the community to be able to offer the education sessions and genetic screenings similar to what other Jewish communities do across the country, and especially our neighbor to the south, Chicago,” Lyne said. “Chicago was definitely an inspiration for this.”

In fact, the program’s brochure “gratefully acknowledges the support of the Chicago Center for Jewish Genetic Disorders and thanks them for the use of their materials and their guidance.”

Stachiw also has a Chicago connection. She received much of her training in Chicago, and while there worked on gene carrier screening for Jewish couples and shared an office with a counselor who “runs the Chicago Jewish screening program.”

On March 19, Shachiw will give a presentation covering basic genetics and the more common Ashkenazi Jewish genetic disorders. She said she will also “be in charge of receiving all the results” of the screenings “and then discussing those results” with the participants.

Admission is free; however, people should pre-register and indicate whether they want to be screened, which is optional and will be done on a first come-first served basis.

A second such session is scheduled for Sunday, May 7, 2 p.m. at Shalom. Moreover, Lyne said that JFS will eventually be taking over administration of this project from Shalom on grounds that it “would be better served by a community agency rather than a synagogue.”

The program is now co-sponsored by Shalom and JFS, along with the Medical College of Wisconsin and Children’s Hospital; and funding has come from the Helen Bader Foundation and the Jewish Community Foundation, the endowment development program of the Milwaukee Jewish Federation.

For more information or to register, call Abby Habush Schroeder at Congregation Shalom, 414-352-9288.