Genetic Counseling Profession

Genetic counselors are Master's-trained health care professionals who combine their knowledge of basic science, medical genetics, epidemiological principles, and counseling theory with their skills in genetic risk assessment, education, interpersonal communication, and counseling to provide services to clients and their families for a diverse set of genetic or genomic indications.

Genetic counselors are employed in many settings such as university medical centers, community clinics, physician offices, health maintenance organizations, advocacy organizations, governmental agencies, public health departments, and biotechnology companies.

Genetic Counselors in clinical practice provide education and counseling in such areas as reproductive genetics, pediatric genetics, newborn screening follow-up, cancer genetics, neurogenetics, and cardiovascular genetics. Many genetic counselors are also actively involved in teaching and clinical research.

The genetic counseling profession is growing rapidly with the number of certified genetic counselors increasing over 100% since 2006.

Job satisfaction is high in genetic counseling. Almost 90% of genetic counselors reported that they were satisfied or very satisfied with their job in a recent survey.