Genes affect your development before you're even born and play a role in everything from your appearance to your personality. Genes contain information about your racial and ethnic background and your risk for certain health conditions. Understanding your genes is part of understanding yourself, and you can use information about genetics to make decisions in your daily life.

Whether you’re interested in learning about your own health or understanding a loved one’s condition, you will find a range of information and resources here to help you. You can start by learning about the importance of your own family health history or jump to learning about inheritance patterns.