Category: genetic counseling

How Accessible Are Genetics Providers and How Can Access Be Increased?

The increase in clinical genetic testing, as well as direct-to-consumer testing, means a growing demand for genetic counseling services, which are often provided by genetic counselors. If patients are referred for genetic counseling, what barriers might they face in accessing these services? How can genetic counselors help address these barriers? Lack of State Licensure Currently, Read More >

Posted on by Tatiana Garrison, Genetic Counseling Training Program Class of 2021, Emory University School of Medicine, Tina Truong, Genetic Counseling Training Program Class of 2020, Emory University School of Medicine, and Ridgely Fisk Green, Office of Genomics and Precision Public Health, CDCLeave a commentTags

Genetic Counseling in the Time of COVID-19

a hand magnifying DNA on COVID-19 with cellphones, tablets and laptops being connected by figures

Genetic counselors play an important role in clinical genetics by helping patients understand their genetic health risks. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, most clinics and hospitals have restricted in-person delivery of non-essential healthcare services, including genetic counseling, to slow the spread of the virus. However, delaying genetic counseling can be problematic, for example, when genetic Read More >

Posted on by Katie Bruder, Genetic Counseling Training Program Class of 2020, Emory University School of Medicine and Ridgely Fisk Green, Office of Genomics and Precision Public Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GeorgiaLeave a commentTags ,

How Genetic Counselors are Dealing with Direct-to-Consumer Genetic Testing

a genetic counselor talking to a client with DNA in the background

After receiving ancestry information from a direct-to-consumer (DTC) genetic testing company, Ellen Matloff, a certified genetic counselor and frequent writer about the limitations of DTC tests, downloaded her raw data file from their website for interpretation by a third party service. She was shocked to see that her raw data included a variant for Lynch Read More >

Posted on by Suzy Cahn, Guest Blogger, Genetic Counseling Training Program Class of 2019, Emory University School of Medicine and Ridgely Fisk Green, Office of Public Health Genomics, Centers for Disease Control and PreventionLeave a comment

Satisfying Popular Curiosity: What Is Genetic Counseling?

a crowd asking What is Genetic Counseling with a double helix

As 2018 comes to a close and the data comes rolling in, it can officially be said that “genetic counseling” was the most popular search term in the Public Health Genomics Knowledge Base (PHGKB). Genetic counseling is one of the fastest growing careers in the country, with a growth rate of 29% since 2016, according Read More >

Posted on by Georgia Loucopoulos, Guest Blogger, Genetic Counseling Training Program Class of 2019, Emory University School of MedicineLeave a comment

From Genetic Counseling in Individuals to Cascade Screening in Populations: An Emerging Role for Public Health Practice

genetic counseling

There are more than 2500 diseases for which genetic testing is currently available. Most of these diseases are individually rare conditions but collectively affect millions of individuals and families worldwide. Genetic diseases are usually caused by mutations in one or a few genes that may confer a high risk of illness, disability and early death. Read More >

Posted on by Muin J Khoury, Director, Office of Public Health Genomics, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention1 CommentTags ,