An excerpt of the joint letter is below. You can find the complete letter on our website.

Alzheimer’s disease is a tragic neurological condition that affects many of our family members, friends, parents and grandparents. An estimated five million Americans are living with Alzheimer’s disease. For every individual with Alzheimer’s, an entire community works to support them in their daily lives.

Alzheimer’s disease is marked by loss of memory, speech, judgment, sense of direction and other brain functions. While currently no cure exists, three risk factors play an important role in your susceptibility.

George, who has a Ph.D. in molecular genetics, was profiled alongside the likes of San Francisco Giants pitcher Tim Lincecum and Ning co-founder Gina Bianchini, to name a few.

“What’s ‘hot’?” the 7x7 editors mused in describing their selections. “A pitcher with a killer arm, tech wizards bringing Wi-Fi to the world or a gender-bending performance artist? One thing’s for sure: Everyone below is under 40 and has a sense of self that belies their years. We’re just lucky enough to benefit from it.”

Although many women have long feared they are destined to develop breast cancer – one of the leading causes of death among American women – getting exercise, maintaining a healthy weight, limiting alcohol consumption and breastfeeding their children can protect many women from this common disease, the analysis determined.

The potential benefit is staggering. In all, more than 70,000 U.S. breast cancer cases could be avoided every year, determined researchers at the American Institute for Cancer Research and the World Cancer Research Fund, which published the report.

“Some studies have suggested that for every person who has been diagnosed with celiac disease, there are likely 30 more who have it but are not diagnosed,” said Mayo gastroenterologist Dr. Joseph Murray in a written release. “And given the nearly quadrupled mortality risk for silent celiac disease we have shown in our study, getting more patients and health professionals to consider the possibility of celiac disease is important.”

The senator was not only a tireless advocate for health issues, but a leader who embraced health innovation. Years ago, he recognized the growing importance of genetic technologies in our lives, and worked to help pass one of the most important recent laws protecting our genetic information, the Genetic Information Nondiscrimation Act, or GINA.

As a physician, I’m often asked which diet works best.

Carbs or protein? Liquid only? A “cleanse” diet?  Mediterranean? Grapefruit only?

Many people want to know whether any of them even work at all.

Scientific research has been focusing more and more on weight loss, as a record number of Americans – more than one-third of adults – can now be considered clinically obese. Evidence shows that you can lose weight on some of the popular diet programs.

Which ones?

Dr. Jack Lord, CEO of Navigenics, is featured at number 19 for his commitment to quality improvement in health care. Dr. Lord discusses the importance of Navigenics’ genetic testing services in the future of health care. “These are all progressions on the same basic track of getting people to a place of sovereignty over their healthcare—putting them on the same level as their doctors in the decision-making. Navigenics represents the next step. We provide people with a science-based view of their future risks, then give them resources to understand how they might impact those risks.”

“My analysis was mostly reassuring, but showed two areas of increased risk,” he said. “One was for prostate cancer, which was not a surprise since my father died of prostate cancer. The second was celiac disease, which was a surprise. Although in retrospect, I had some subtle signs and symptoms which could be attributed to celiac disease: Poor digestion of fatty foods, low serum cholesterol, a mysterious skin rash, and recurrent aphthous ulcers,” or canker sores.

He followed up on his Navigenics results by getting two diagnostic tests for celiac disease—a blood test that looks for celiac-related factors and an upper endoscopy, which allowed his doctor to see inside his digestive tract and look for the tissue damage caused by celiac disease.

Both tests were positive, and showed that he already had a moderate to severe form of the disease.
From there, William knew that he could use his genetic test results to take action.

Navigenics has reduced the cost of our comprehensive genetic testing services to $999.

Our Health Compass test identifies your genetic predisposition for a wide variety of common conditions such as colon cancer, breast cancer, Alzheimer’s disease and type 2 diabetes, among others.

Not only do you get results, you get a plan of action and guidance to take the next steps.  Our board-certified Genetic Counselors are available to help you understand your results and how you can work with your doctor to minimize your individual risks.