Meet Aeron Suarez, a neuro-oncology clinical nurse specialist at King’s College Hospital
Since moving to the UK in 2014, Aeron has been a nurse at King’s College Hospital, initially working in neurosurgery before moving into neuro-oncology five years ago.
Genomics wasn’t something that he knew much about and he certainly wasn’t confident in talking to patients about genomic testing. However, a few years ago King’s College Hospital started offering patients with brain tumours the option to have whole genome sequencing (WGS).
WGS for cancer patients involves looking at the entire genome of the tumour. This allows the medical team to better understand the cancer, enabling them to make more informed decisions about treatments.
In order to offer WGS testing to patients, the team at King’s needed someone to talk patients through the testing process. This is where Aeron plays a vital part in the service. Despite genomics being completely new to him, he decided to take on the challenge of this specialist role.
To do this Aeron had to upskill in genomics quickly. For him, learning directly from colleagues has been hugely helpful. For example, he shadowed a Genetic Counsellor and saw first-hand what a consultation looked like, which gave him an understanding of the consenting process and what questions patients might ask.
He also attended conferences and accessed various online resources, such as the Genomics Education Programme, which gave him the foundations he needed.
Initially, Aeron was talking to patients after their surgery, but this often proved to be a challenge as they were focused on their recovery or weren’t well enough to consent to genetic testing.
But now Aeron has a dedicated clinic where he meets with patients after their initial consultation to talk through the WGS test fully and consent patients before their surgery. By talking with people much earlier, Aeron has been able to dramatically reduce the waiting time for WGS results meaning patients can find out if they are eligible for treatment or clinical trials much quicker.
“What I love most is being able to provide holistic care to patients. Being able to speak to them about genetic testing before their surgery, provide care afterwards and talk them through their options is really rewarding”.
Some genetic results can find people who are eligible for clinical trials, such as the 5G trial. Funded by Cancer Research, this trial aims to find better treatments for a type of brain cancer called glioblastoma. The 5G trial is testing several medicines to see which ones work for different patients, based on their tumour’s mutations.
Other results may reveal a germline mutation, which means the genetic change affects reproductive cells and can be inherited. In these situations, Aeron works with Clinical Genetics to ensure genetic testing is offered to the family as well.
