Bita Nehoray, M.S., CGC

800-826-4673
Bita Nehoray Bio
Senior Genetic Counselor, Division of Clinical Cancer Genomics, Department of Medical Oncology & Therapeutics Research
Clinical Expertise
Clinical Cancer Genomics
Hereditary Cancers
Li-Fraumeni Syndrome
Pediatric Cancers
Clonal Hematopoiesis of Indeterminate Potential
Other Languages Spoken
Farsi
Spanish
Research Area
Cancer Genetics

Bita Nehoray, M.S., CGC, is a licensed, board-certified genetic counselor specializing in cancer genetics. She received her master's in human genetics and genetic counseling from Stanford University. Nehoray joined City of Hope's Division of Clinical Cancer Genomics in 2012, where she provides cancer genetics services for patients and families suspected of having a hereditary predisposition to cancer, focusing on Li-Fraumeni syndrome and clonal hematopoiesis of indeterminate potential. She is fluent in Spanish and Farsi and is committed to advancing the provision of cancer genetics services to medically underserved and culturally diverse populations.

Her current research projects include understanding cancer risk, penetrance, prevalence and clinical outcomes for individuals with TP53 pathogenic variants as part of the LiFT UP study, evaluating the spectrum of germline variants in Israeli breast cancer patients, and assessing community-based provider experiences with polygenic risk scores in genetic cancer risk assessment.

She also serves on the genetic counseling advisory committee for the Li-Fraumeni Syndrome Association, is a member of the ClinGen TP53 Variant Curation Expert Panel, and is faculty for City of Hope's Intensive Course in Genetic Cancer Risk Assessment. In addition, she is an active member of the National Society of Genetic Counselors, Southern California Genetic Counselors and the American Society of Human Genetics.

Education & Experience
Degrees
  • M.S., Human Genetics and Genetic Counseling, Stanford University, Stanford, CA
  • B.S., Integrative Biology, University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, CA
Professional Experience
  • July 2012-Present, Sr. Genetic Counselor, Division of Clinical Cancer Genomics, Department of Medical Oncology & Therapeutics Research, City of Hope, Duarte, CA
Awards & Memberships

Memberships

  • American Society of Human Genetics
  • National Society of Genetic Counselors
  • NSGC Cancer Special Interest Group
  • Southern California Genetic Counselors
Location
Publications

Publications

  • Blazer KR, Nehoray B, Solomon I, Niell-Swiller M, Culver JO, Uman GC, Weitzel JN. Next-Generation Testing for Cancer Risk: Perceptions, Experiences, and Needs Among Early Adopters in Community Healthcare Settings. Genet Test Mol Biomarkers. 2015;19(12):657-65. Epub 2015 Nov 5. doi: 10.1089/gtmb.2015.0061. PubMed PMID: 26539620; PMCID: PMC4677543.

  • Slavin TP, Niell-Swiller M, Solomon I, Nehoray B, Rybak C, Blazer KR, Weitzel JN. Clinical Application of Multigene Panels: Challenges of Next-Generation Counseling and Cancer Risk Management. Front Oncol. 2015;5:208. Epub 2015/10/21. doi: 10.3389/fonc.2015.00208. PubMed PMID: 26484312; PMCID: PMC4586434.

  • Ballinger ML, Best A, Mai PL, Khincha PP, Loud JT, Peters JA, Achatz MI, Chojniak R, Balieiro da Costa A, Santiago KM, Garber J, O'Neill AF, Eeles RA, Evans DG, Bleiker E, Sonke GS, Ruijs M, Loo C, Schiffman J, Naumer A, Kohlmann W, Strong LC, Bojadzieva J, Malkin D, Rednam SP, Stoffel EM, Koeppe E, Weitzel JN, Slavin TP, Nehoray B, Robson M, Walsh M, Manelli L, Villani A, Thomas DM, Savage SA. Baseline Surveillance in Li-Fraumeni Syndrome Using Whole-Body Magnetic Resonance Imaging: A Meta-analysis. JAMA Oncol. 2017;3(12):1634-9. doi: 10.1001/jamaoncol.2017.1968. PubMed PMID: 28772291; PMCID: PMC5824277.

  • Slavin T, Neuhausen SL, Rybak C, Solomon I, Nehoray B, Blazer K, Niell-Swiller M, Adamson AW, Yuan YC, Yang K, Sand S, Castillo D, Herzog J, Wu X, Tao S, Chavez T, Woo Y, Chao J, Mora P, Horcasitas D, Weitzel J. Genetic Gastric Cancer Susceptibility in the International Clinical Cancer Genomics Community Research Network. Cancer Genet. 2017;216-217:111-9. Epub 2017/10/14. doi: 10.1016/j.cancergen.2017.08.001. PubMed PMID: 29025585; PMCID: PMC5659836.

  • Slavin T, Neuhausen SL, Rybak C, Solomon I, Nehoray B, Blazer K, Niell-Swiller M, Adamson AW, Yuan YC, Yang K, Sand S, Castillo D, Herzog J, Wu X, Tao S, Chavez T, Woo Y, Chao J, Mora P, Horcasitas D, Weitzel J. Genetic Gastric Cancer Susceptibility in the International Clinical Cancer Genomics Community Research Network. Cancer Genet. 2017;216-217:111-9. Epub 2017/10/14. doi: 10.1016/j.cancergen.2017.08.001. PubMed PMID: 29025585; PMCID: PMC5659836.

  • Slavin TP, Van Tongeren LR, Behrendt CE, Solomon I, Rybak C, Nehoray B, Kuzmich L, Niell-Swiller M, Blazer KR, Tao S, Yang K, Culver JO, Sand S, Castillo D, Herzog J, Gray SW, Weitzel JN. Prospective Study of Cancer Genetic Variants: Variation in Rate of Reclassification by Ancestry. JNCI: Journal of the National Cancer Institute. 2018:djy027-djy. doi: 10.1093/jnci/djy027.

  • Weitzel JN, Chao EC, Nehoray B, Van Tongeren LR, LaDuca H, Blazer KR, Slavin T, Facmg D, Pesaran T, Rybak C, Solomon I, Niell-Swiller M, Dolinsky JS, Castillo D, Elliott A, Gau CL, Speare V, Jasperson K. Somatic TP53 variants frequently confound germ-line testing results. Genetics in Medicine: Official Journal of the American College of Medical Genetics. 2018;20(8):809-16. Epub 2017/12/01. doi: 10.1038/gim.2017.196. PubMed PMID: 29189820; PMCID: PMC5976505.

  • Solomon I, Rybak C, Van Tongeren L, Kuzmich L, Blazer K, Nehoray B, Niell-Swiller M, Bray S, Bray TH, Hurley K, Weitzel JN, Slavin TP. Experience Gained from the Development and Execution of a Multidisciplinary Multi-syndrome Hereditary Colon Cancer Family Conference. J Cancer Educ. 2018. doi: 10.1007/s13187-018-1430-9.

  • Chavarri-Guerra Y, Hendricks CB, Brown S, Marcum C, Hander M, Segota ZE, Hake C, Sand S, Slavin TP, Hurria A, Soto-Perez-de-Celis E, Nehoray B, Blankstein KB, Blazer KR, Weitzel JN. The burden of breast cancer predisposition variants across the age spectrum among 10,000 patients. Journal of American Geriatrics Society. 2019.

  • Weitzel J, Neuhausen SL, Adamson A, Tao S, Ricker C, Maoz A, Rosenblatt M, Nehoray B, Sand S, Steele L, Unzeitig G, Feldman N, Blanco A, Hu D, Huntsman S, Castillo D, Haiman C, Slavin T, Ziv E. Pathogenic and likely pathogenic variants in PALB2, CHEK2 and other known breast cancer susceptibility genes among 1054 BRCA-negative Hispanics with breast cancer. Cancer. 2019.

  • Qian F, Rookus MA, Leslie G, … Nehoray B, ... Rebbeck TR, Huo D. CIMBA. Mendelian randomisation study of height and body mass index as modifiers of ovarian cancer risk in 22,588 BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutation carriers. Br J Cancer. 2019.

  • Clark DF, Michalski ST, Tondon R, Nehoray B, Ebrahimzadeh J, Hughes SK, Soper ER, Domchek SM, Rustgi AK, Pineda-Alvarez D, Anderson MJ, Katona BW. Loss-of-function variants in CTNNA1 detected on multigene panel testing in individuals with gastric or breast cancer. Genet Med. 2020 May;22(5):840-846. doi: 10.1038/s41436-020-0753-1.

  • Blazer KR, Chavarri-Guerra Y, Villarreal Garza C, Nehoray B, Mohar A, Daneri-Navarro A, Del Toro A, Aguilar D, Arteaga J, Álvarez RM, Mejia R, Herzog J, Castillo D, Fernandez M, Weitzel JN. Development and Pilot Implementation of the Genomic Risk Assessment for Cancer Implementation and Sustainment (GRACIAS) Intervention in Mexico. JCO Glob Oncol. 2021 Jun;7:992-1002.

  • Herzog JS, Chavarri-Guerra Y, Castillo D, Abugattas J, Villarreal-Garza C, Sand S, Clague-Dehart J, Alvarez-Gómez RM, Wegman-Ostrosky T, Mohar A, Mora P, Del Toro-Valero A, Daneri-Navarro A, Rodriguez Y, Cruz-Correa M, Ashton-Prolla P, Alemar B, Mejia R, Gallardo L, Shaw R, Yang K, Cervantes A, Tsang K, Nehoray B, Barrera Saldana H, Neuhausen S, Weitzel JN. Genetic epidemiology of BRCA1- and BRCA2-associated cancer across Latin America. NPJ Breast Cancer. 2021 Aug 19;7(1):107.

  • Weitzel JN, Kidd J, Bernhisel R, Shehayeb S, Frankel P, Blazer KR, Turco D, Nehoray B, McGreevy K, Svirsky K, Brown K, Gardiner A, Daly M, Hughes E, Cummings S, Saam J, Slavin TP. Multigene assessment of genetic risk for women for two or more breast cancers. Breast Cancer Res Treat. 2021 Aug;188(3):759-768.

  • Castillo D, Yuan TA, Nehoray B, Cervantes A, Tsang K, Yang K, Sand S, Mokhnatkin J, Herzog JS, Slavin TP, Hyman S, Schwartz A, Ebert BL, Amos CI, Garber JE, Weitzel JN. Clonal Hematopoiesis and Mosaicism Revealed by a Multi-Tissue Analysis of Consitutional TP53 Status. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2022 Aug 2;31(8):1621-1629.

  • Coudert M, Drouet Y, Delhomelle H, … Nehoray B, … Stoppa-Lyonnet D, Lasset C, Colas C. First estimates of diffuse gastric cancer risks for carriers of CTNNA1 germline pathogenic variants. J Med Genet. 2022 Aug 29;jmedgenet-2022-108740.

  • Nehoray BN, Slavin TP, Sun CL, Hurley K, King E, Tsang K, Cervantes A, Mokhnatkin JV, Sand S, Mejia R, Reb A, Samimi G, Gray S, Blazer KR, Weitzel JN. Cross-sectional clinical cancer genomics community of practice survey analysis of provider attitudes and beliefs regarding the use of deceased family member tissue to guide living family member genetic cancer risk assessment. J Genetic Couns. 2022 Oct;31(5):1164-1172.

Review Article #2 

  • King, E.M. and Nehoray, B. Evaluating TP53 Mutations in Germline Genetic Testing. Feature, Advanced Practitioner Society for Hematology and Oncology. Vol 5 No 1, 2019.

  • King, E. and Nehoray, B.M. Hereditary Pancreatic Cancer Syndromes: Providing Care to At-Risk Families. Clin J Oncol Nurs. 2019 Dec 1;23(6):579-582.

Invited Commentary #1

  • Nehoray, B. Clinical e-newsletter. Menopause e-Consult, The North American Menopause Scoeity. January 2021 issue.