What keeps you interested in being a Genetic Counselor?

“You’re never done learning. It seems like I learn something new every single day; whether that’s about genetics, healthcare/medicine, patient experiences and interactions, or even about myself. This is definitely not the area of healthcare or the profession to feel like you’re done learning after graduate school. Grad school gives you the information we have to-date and helps you identify the tools available to you to keep yourself updated, but it is not the end to your education.”

What do you love most about your job?  What do you feel are your biggest challenges in your position?

“I love the flexibility of both genetic testing sales and private practice, as well as being able to be a GC yet work from my small hometown.  However, that flexibility can also be a challenge!  In order to thrive in these types of roles, you have to be a self-starter, able to balance multiple duties, and still meet the overall goals of the company/practice.  For me, it is an honor to not only be the genetics expert for my rural patient demographic, but also be the genetics expert for the various clinicians that I'm educating on when/why/how to order appropriate genetic testing.  I feel as though my combination of roles is a very effective and well-guided way of increasing access to genetic testing for underserved areas.” 

What do you feel is a big topic in our field that genetic counselors should be discussing and involved in right now?

“As a profession, we need to address the ways that we are conducting research within academic centers, private institutions, and within student research projects. It is no secret that the sample genetics researchers are most often publishing on are homogeneously white, able-bodied, cis, and heterosexual individuals. Continuing to research and publish data on this group of humans is only perpetuating the idea that people who do not carry those identities should be continuously medically marginalized. Genetics researchers and genetic counselors may not hold that belief, but the current state of genetics literature perpetuates this concept and is only getting worse with each new publication. We need to become more comfortable in having this conversation, particularly around student research projects aiming to be published work. We cannot continue to educate generations of genetic counselors who do not have this understanding.”