Welcome from the Director and Co-Directors

Judith Tsipis, Director

It is with a renewed sense of purpose that we enter the 19th year of Brandeis' Genetic Counseling Program – and my 19th year as Director of the program I helped start back in 1992. While many things have changed, our priorities remain the same: providing students with a first class education in both the classroom and the clinic; empowering students with the skills that will allow them to grow and adapt along with the demands of the profession; and increasing students' exposure and commitment to working with children and adults with disabilities.

Our alums now work all over the U.S. and the world. The majority work in major urban centers on the East and West coasts but several work in more exotic places like Alaska and Hawaii. We also have alumni working in Canada, England, Israel and Germany. Most of them are in clinical practice, but many of our more recent graduates work in diagnostic laboratories or clinical genetics research groups.

As an educator, it is my responsibility to surround our students with a talented and dedicated faculty. We take pride in their many accomplishments and contributions to the program and I am especially pleased that Brandeis has recognized our two Co-Directors, Gretchen Schneider and Beth Rosen Sheidley, by promoting them to the rank of Professor of the Practice - quite an accomplishment in the academic world.
I look forward to another interesting and challenging year and to working closely with both the students and program faculty – all in the comfort of our wonderful "home."

We encourage you to look through our website and we welcome any questions you might have about Brandeis or our program. Our students are a diverse group and we strongly encourage applicants from all walks of life to apply: those who might be making a career change; those who want to re-enter the work force in a new field; those who have always wanted to be a genetic counselor; or simply those who have just discovered the field and feel it's the right match and career for them.

Gretchen Schneider, Co-director, Clinical Placements

The profession of genetic counseling evolves every year in a variety of ways. Genetic counselors continue to branch out beyond the traditional clinical and more recently established research roles to become increasingly involved in areas such as industry, education and public health. New genetic counselors are more frequently opting to take the certification exam upon graduating and are becoming certified more quickly than ever before. And the number of states that have licensure for genetic counselors has increased to eleven, with Massachusetts just completing its first two year cycle and renewing licenses for over 120 genetic counselors. As a genetic counselor in the field for almost 20 years, the changes in my profession never cease to amaze me.

It is hard to believe that I have already completed three years as Co-Director of Clinical Training here at Brandeis. At the same time, the sense of belonging and inclusion here is so strong for both the faculty and the students that I feel as though I have been doing this forever. I have been accepted as a valued faculty member, called upon for guidance as a colleague and appreciated as a teacher and mentor. It is a truly special environment to work in and one in which the students thrive as well.

At a recent meeting with the new Brandeis University President, Fred Lawrence asked what, as faculty members of the Genetic Counseling Program, excited us. For me, this was easy to answer. My two main roles here are teaching and arranging the students' clinical internships. Both of these take time and patience and require constant revision in content and approach. And while each of these is satisfying, what I like best is when I see the two come together. As the students return from the summer and their first internship, the change in them is palpable. All of the information we have imparted to them makes sense because they have put it into practice. They get the process of genetic counseling because they have done it. What the risks mean to patients is clearer after having actually counseled them. They get the entire process of genetic counseling since they have done it. It is this transformation in the students as they each begin to take shape as a new genetic counselor that excites me. This in turn, reaffirms my commitment to this program and the profession every year.

Beth Rosen Sheidley, Co-Director, Research and Professional Development

It is difficult to believe that is has been seventeen years since I graduated from the Brandeis Genetic Counseling Program as a member of the first class of 1994, and began my professional journey that spanned 3 cities and 4 genetic counseling positions before returning to Brandeis in 2005 to join the faculty. Looking back on the last 6 years as a faculty member in the Genetic Counseling Program, I am amazed at how the Program has grown and changed since it began in 1992, at the educational opportunities afforded to its students, and at the accomplishments of its graduates.

And yet, I am also pleased to find that at its core, the Brandeis Program remains what I remembered it to be: a program that puts an emphasis on exploring all perspectives, including those of individuals and families living with disability and chronic illness. Throughout their training, Brandeis students learn directly from those dealing with disability and illness. They work with disabled children and meet with adults and families living with disabilities in both institutional and home settings, and participate in social activities as well. At Brandeis we also prioritize inviting speakers to campus to share their personal stories. The spring semester of 2011 featured the parents of a child with Tay-Sachs disease, a brother and sister with hereditary stomach cancer, and the adult child of a parent with Alzheimer's disease. Each of these parents spoke candidly of their experiences and left lasting impressions on the students and faculty.

Much of my role at Brandeis centers on the process of developing and carrying out master's thesis projects. Through coursework and individual meetings, I help each student design and implement an original research project. Since many projects involve the recruitment of human beings as research participants, we spend considerable time on the importance of human subjects protection in research. This past year, the publication of "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks", by author Rebecca Skloot, serves as confirmation that our classroom exercises have very real applications for the research our students conduct and the "outside world" as well. With more and more genetic counselors working in research roles, this book is an invaluable reminder to our profession, and the scientific research community as a whole, about the responsibilities we have to individuals who volunteer to participate in research.

Our students continue to shine when it comes to their individual research projects. Among the Class of 2011, 8 students will be presenting their work at the upcoming National Society of Genetic Counselors Annual Education Conference in San Diego. All of the students in the class of 2011 were awarded research funding by the Brandeis University Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, and one student was awarded the National Society of Genetic Counselors Pediatric Special Interest Group Student Research Grant for her project, "The Impact of Genetic Testing for Rett Syndrome: An Assessment of Parents' Experiences". A current student, and member of the class of 2012, has been awarded a National Society of Genetic Counselors Jane Engle Memorial Fellowship Student Research Award, for her project, "Cystic Fibrosis Carrier Screening: Current Practices and Challenges in Genetic Counseling". Her research, and that of the rest of the Class of 2012, will no doubt influence the field of genetic counseling, as has been the case with research performed by students before them.

Finally, having myself returned to clinical work in October of 2010, after a several year hiatus in which I focused on teaching and clinical research, I continue to be astounded at the rapid pace of change in clinical genetic testing and the challenges that clinical counselors face in translating the meaning of technological advances for their clients. I also continue to be convinced of the importance of genetic counselors, and their role in supporting families.