Radio Program 'In Your Right Mind' Explores Genetic Testing for Personalized Medicine in a New Broadcast on 790 AM KABC

LOS ANGELES, Dec. 20, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- "In Your Right Mind," a weekly radio program that features in-depth roundtable discussions of today's behavioral health headlines, aired a provocative show, "Genetic Testing for Personalized Medicine" on Sunday, November 12, at 5 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time on TalkRadio 790 KABC-AM.  The program focused on a relatively new form of genetic testing called pharmacogenetics testing, which is used by health care providers to determine how a person will respond to a particular treatment or medication. The show was hosted by Tonmoy Sharma, M.B.B.S., M.Sc., founder and Chief Executive Officer of Sovereign Health, who provides an in-depth medical and clinical expertise, and co-host Stefanie Wilder-Taylor.

The show featured an internationally acclaimed neurologist, author and keynote speaker Jay Lombard, M.D., as a panelist. He is also the co-founder, chief scientific officer and medical director at Genomind, a personalized medicine company that uses genetic testing to improve neuropsychiatric treatment of conditions such as depression, Alzheimer's disease and autism. The other panelist on the show was Stephen M. Stahl, M.D., Ph.D., a professor of psychiatry at the University of California, San Diego and an honorary visiting fellow at the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom. Dr. Stahl is an internationally recognized authority in psychiatry, having published more than 500 scientific papers, written 35 text books, edited 12 textbooks and is recognized as the world's leading expert in training psychiatrist on proper psychopharmacology practices.

In recent news, the Food and Drug Administration approved a DNA-altering medication that can reverse an inherited form of progressive blindness. This makes Luxturna, a treatment for retinal dystrophy caused by a specific genetic mutation, the first gene therapy cleared for use in the U.S. to treat a genetic disease other than cancer.

"People often don't understand what genetic testing is about, and it somehow takes on a morbid feel to it, especially when parents ask, 'are you going to do a genetic test on my child?'" Dr. Sharma commented.

Dr. Lombard added, "People fears are not their misconception about what genetic testing can do, but what it can do to help us to refine how we treat patients with psychiatric disorders. What it can't do and most likely never does, is to make a deterministic diagnosis about a psychiatric disorder."

In July 2015, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Society of Human Genetics and the American College of Medical Genetics released a statement regarding genetic testing in children. According to the statement, pharmacogenetic testing in children can be justified to alleviate substantial psychosocial distress, potentially improve drug efficacy, and reduce adverse events, and is acceptable when used for therapeutic purposes with the permission of parents and guardians, and the child's assent when appropriate.

Psychopharmacology medications profoundly alter brain chemistry. Understanding the role of genetics in the efficacy of those drugs is important as they are likely to produce very severe side- effects that may otherwise go unrecognized.

"There's a lot of discrimination against psychiatric disorders', treatments and stigma; the idea is that we should be able to treat these disorders the same as anything else. It is also true that the new medicines are discriminated against more in psychiatry than they are in any other field," Dr. Stahl said.

To access the broadcast, the show is available on demand at www.InYourRightMind.com. For questions, contact [email protected].

About Sovereign Health
Sovereign Health's mission is to provide a broad spectrum of high-quality behavioral health treatment services for adults and adolescents, including support services for family members. One factor that differentiates Sovereign from other treatment providers has been the company's ability to offer separate mental health and addiction or dual diagnosis treatment programs at its facilities. For more information, visit www.sovhealth.com.

About "In Your Right Mind"
"In Your Right Mind" is a weekly behavioral health radio show that covers various topics each week, including mental health disorders such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and addiction/dual diagnosis disorders. Dr. Tonmoy Sharma and Kristina Kuestner are the hosts of the show. In addition, each program will feature guest speakers throughout the United States participating in a roundtable discussion about headlines in behavioral health. The mission of "In Your Right Mind" is to raise awareness about behavioral health issues that get people talking. The hour-long show airs every Sunday at 5 p.m. PST on Talk Radio 790 KABC Los Angeles. "In Your Right Mind" is produced in conjunction with Sovereign Health, a leading national provider of behavioral health treatment services. For more information, visit www.inyourrightmind.com.

SOURCE In Your Right Mind

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