September is Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month. Federation-supported organization Yodeah is helping Jewish women understand their cancer risk. The Miami-based, grassroots, volunteer organization is providing educational outreach programs and on-site, low-cost, saliva-based genetic testing for hereditary cancer mutations in the Jewish community.

One of every 40 Ashkenazi (Eastern European) Jews carries the BRCA genetic mutation,independent of a family history of cancer. Men and women who carry a BRCA mutation can have a markedly higher lifetime risk of breast, ovarian and other cancers and these cancers can develop at earlier ages.

To learn more about hereditary genetic cancer risk, please visit Yodeah.