We think of genetic testing as a tool with the power to pull a therapeutic roadmap out of our DNA. It can diagnose what ails us, and in turn point to how to fix that.
But in reality, the genetic information clinicians get back about their patients can be filled with uncertainty. That uncertainty fascinates Katharine “KP” Callahan, a neonatologist and ethicist at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.
“The relationship between the genetic results we get and the patients we see isn’t always clear-cut,” Callahan said.
Specifically, Callahan studies how genetic information is used in caring for critically ill newborns and the surrounding ethical issues. Some genetic testing results might provide a preview of a future disability, but can’t necessarily steer clinical decisions right now. In other cases, the test results can be correlated with a range of future outcomes. These are cases when having more information about a patient doesn’t necessarily lead to clearer decisions.
Callahan’s still an advocate for genetic tests, she stresses. But it’s how providers deal with uncertainty that drives her research — how the results are used, how they’re understood, and how they’re communicated to patients.
Callahan, who has two children of her own, splits her time between research and clinical care in the NICU — a balance she intends to keep going forward.
“In my heart, my job is to be a doctor,” she said. “I view my research as another way to forward ideas that I believe are useful in taking care of patients.”
— Andrew Joseph
