What is the role of the genetic counselors at the Genomic Medicine Institute?
Dr. Eng: Yes, that is a very interesting question. Genetic counselors – many people will say: “what are genetic counselors? I never heard of them.” And genetic counselors are our partners. We are medical geneticists, and there are so few medical geneticists that genetic counselors are usually Master’s level people who’ve gotten their basic degree in human or molecular genetics, go on two years to genetic counseling school and actually get a Master’s of Genetic Counseling. They are board-certifiable. So after one year or two years, they will sit for the boards just like us, and get board certified. I think, in the simplest terms, genetic counselors interpret the very difficult language of medical genetics — or even translate research to the patient, to the families, and even to the healthcare provider who referred the patient and our family in. So often they will go in and take a rudimentary personal and family history. They will educate them in genetics 101 – so that the patient has a
