Virtual Doctor Visits Gaining Steam in “Geneticist Deserts”

In Alaska patients are more likely to find an astronaut than a geneticist. William Oefelein, who piloted the space shuttleDiscovery, retired there, but the state of more than 700,000 people does not have a single medical geneticist to call its own. Instead, patients must wait until one flies in from Oregon around 4000 kilometers away. Six times a year a geneticist or two comes to Alaska and visits a few clinics, seeing about eight patients a day, diagnosing genetic causes for developmental delays such as fragile X syndrome or discussing hereditary cancer risk. Read more.