Honors Projects

Abstract

Adoption has been increasingly common in the United States, with more than 7.8 million people in the United States adopted (Wexler et al., 2025) and over 280,000 children in the United States adopted internationally (Orr et al., 2024). Despite this, those who are adopted, especially internationally, often face medical disadvantages compared to those biologically related to their family. The differences in treatment between adoptees and those who are biologically related are largely due to the knowledge, or lack of knowledge, of the individual’s family medical history and genetic information. Genetic or inherited disease screening is often only completed or covered by insurance when the patient has a family medical history of the disease or condition. Therefore, without a family medical history, providers are less likely to order genetic screening, recognize risks, or detect inherited conditions early on. In addition, Asian individuals may have a harder time with diagnoses due to the limited research available on conditions specific to the Asian population. This project’s purpose is to identify the barriers Asian adoptees face in screening for inheritable conditions due to a lack of family medical history. The research objectives for this study include 1) determining the inheritable diseases that lead to poor outcomes that genetic testing can identify and prevent or mitigate; 2) identifying the barriers that limit genetic testing that can potentially lead to poor health outcomes due to genetic diseases; and 3) discussing the need for genetic testing for Asian adoptees to prevent delayed or missed diagnoses.

Department

Public and Allied Health

Major

Medical Laboratory Science

First Advisor

Emily Barnes

First Advisor Department

Public and Allied Health

Second Advisor

Amber Copa

Second Advisor Department

Social Work

Publication Date

Spring 4-27-2026

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