Khamani Fox was always curious about genetics while in nursing school, but never quite got around to taking a course in it.

Her friend did.

“Afterward she would talk about some of the content and I was always really interested,” Ms Fox said.

Her friend urged her to take the class also, but Ms Fox did not picture herself working in genetics.

Life has a way of taking unexpected turns. A decade later, she became the first Bermudian nurse to train in genetic recruitment, after working in nursing at King Edward VII Memorial Hospital, in private practice and in the community.

She is now clinical operations manager at CariGenetics. The firm on Gorham Road in Hamilton is led by Bermudian scientist Carika Weldon. After doing studies on cahows and corals, they are doing their first human project, “Get in The Ring”, looking at breast cancer.

As part of the certification process, Ms Fox did a course with Dr Weldon at the Bermuda College, and 67 hours working with a genetics recruitment nurse in the United Kingdom.

She watched the nurse do interviews with potential study recruits, before the tables were turned and her mentor monitored her as she did the same.

“She was making sure I was getting the correct information to the client and did not leave anything out,” Ms Fox said. “Recruitment is about a lot more than just getting people to sign a consent form.”

Ms Fox had to effectively answer participants’ questions, particularly about the legal aspects of taking part.

“We have to make that people are fully versed in what their participation means, and what the study is actually doing,” she said. “I also have to be able to convey information in a way that is easily understandable.”

“Get In The Ring” is attempting to figure out why Black women, particularly those of Caribbean ancestry, face a higher risk of breast cancer, and a greater chance of developing other cancers after treatment has been declared successful.

Other researchers have found that BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes dramatically increase the likelihood of developing breast cancer.

“Studies done in the 1990s found these genes in the Ashkenazi Jewish population,” Ms Fox said. “People with these specific genes have a 98 per cent chance of developing breast cancer, so they are put on a very proactive screening regime.”

But the population CariGenetics is looking at often does not have these genes. They are looking for other genetic underpinnings.

To be part of the study you must have four grandparents from the Caribbean, which includes Bermuda.

“Some people say, we are looking for Black people, but that is not entirely true,” Ms Fox said. “Someone can look Black, physically, but their genomics say something completely different.”

Volunteers receive an analysis of their risk profile for cancers such as breast, bowel, bone, endometrial, cervical, brain and prostate.

“Now participants can make more informed decisions about their health,” the nurse said. “Based on your genetics, you know what you should and should not do. Whether or not you do those things is entirely up to you.”

During the research DNA is extracted from blood samples, sequenced, mapped and analysed.

“We are comparing those who have had breast cancer to those who have not,” Ms Fox said. “We cannot say this is a new gene if we have nothing to compare it to.”

Ms Fox has conducted more than 62 interviews, and has about 20 more to go. She is going into her third round of recruitment.

Ms Fox has found the work intriguing. She also enjoys the work-life balance and flexibility at CariGenetics. She often works from home.

“However, because we are a start-up we do work extremely hard,” she said.

There is also a lot of travel involved to the Caribbean. Combining that with being a mother takes some finesse.

“I got my nine-year-old son a phone so he can message me when I am overseas to make it easier on him,” Ms Fox said. “It is definitely challenging in ways I did not think would be challenging so early on, but it is working out so far.”

She has found working in operations to be completely different from the other types of nursing she has done.

“You are taking more of a helicopter view and looking at how each piece builds into the next,” she said. “It is different, but I am not throwing my nursing experience to the side. I am now able to bring a new perspective into it.”

Through the work she has learnt that Bermuda’s population is very interesting.

“Everyone has a story,” she said. “I have come to learn a lot about people, their backgrounds and their families. A lot of families do not realise they are related.”

They have had some delays in the project. One was owing to the Government computer hack a few months ago.

“That impacted a lot of people besides the Government,” Ms Fox said.

They have also had some equipment malfunctions.

CariGenetics is trying to recruit a few more study candidates.

“We are on track to conclude in March,” Ms Fox said.

As a youngster she became the youngest EMT in Bermuda, at age 18.

“I was also very creative,” she said.

She gained admission to the prestigious Savannah College of Art in Design in Savannah, Georgia, to do fashion. However, her mother convinced her that going into medicine would be more stable.

“I was on the premed track at the Bermuda College,” Ms Fox said. “I did all the science classes for that.”

Talking to doctors at the hospital changed her mind.

“I thought if I got halfway through and did not finish, I would have nothing to show for it,” she said. “I switched to nursing. Then they said nursing was ranked number four in toughest degrees to obtain. Nursing took a lot out of me.”

To make things more challenging she found out she was pregnant in her last year of nursing school.

“I did my NCLEX exam just a few months before my son was born,” she said.