Feature: Peering Into My Genome

Rarely could I be described in a headline in The New York Times, which explains why I lingered over one earlier this fall. “Study of Jewish Women Shows Link to Cancer Without Family History,” announced the 5 September story. Uneasily, I read on: “Women of Ashkenazi Jewish descent who tested positive for cancer-causing genetic mutations during random screenings have high rates of breast and ovarian cancer even when they have no family history of the disease, researchers reported Thursday.”

Hmmm.

Science has been my professional home for the past 13 years, and in that time I’ve written extensively about genetic testing and spoken with dozens of experts at the field’s cutting edge. I’ve chronicled the scientific advances, the ethical quandaries, the lives testing saves, the angst it ignites. I had never turned the lens on my own DNA.

Abruptly, there was no escaping it. My parents are both of Ashkenazi descent. To my knowledge, no one on either side of my family has ever had breast or ovarian cancer. But suddenly I saw how a mutation in the genes...