One of the best parts about being a professor is having the opportunity to help students achieve their goals. This year, I was approached by two students who wanted to start a new club on campus to raise awareness of Huntington’s disease and other genetic disorders, and they asked me to be their faculty advisor. If you’re not familiar with Huntington’s disease, it is a tragic example of a disease caused by a dominant autosomal gene. In other words, if one parent has the Huntington’s gene, each child has a fifty percent chance of inheriting it, and inheriting the gene means you will get the disease. Typical onset of symptoms is usually in a person’s 40s, so many have already started a family. With genetic testing, people can find out if they carry the gene or not, but this capacity raises remarkable ethical considerations.
Janey Youngblom Describes Genetic Counseling
The new club got off to a bang today by hosting Dr. Janey Youngblom from CSU Stanislaus’ new MS in Genetic Counseling program. About 60 students listened to Dr. Youngblom’s description of the genetic counseling career, how students can best prepare for the career, and the features of her program. These are very hardworking students! The first semester is 16 units, and all students complete a research project and four clinical internships during the two year program.
As my biopsych students know, I am always trying to get students who have a scientific bend and an interest in counseling to consider careers in genetic counseling. With our exploding capabilities in genetic testing, we need trained people to translate for the general public, and guide us in making some very difficult decisions. Several former students have already begun their masters studies. It was helpful to hear Dr. Youngblom’s detailed descriptions of the different roles that genetic counselors serve.
It was great to see so many of my students in attendance, along with members of the Cal Poly Neuroscience Undergraduate Society (CPNUS, otherwise known as the “Brainiacs”). I’m looking forward to more activities like this one! Good job, officers!
The Officers of the Huntington's Disease Awareness Project
4 Comments
Asnyder · March 10, 2009 at 9:29 am
I think that Brie and Natalia are doing so well in thier new club. I am psychology major with a counseling concentration and i was excited to hear about genetic coundeling. I have always liked biology and i have always done well in my Bio classes. I think this could be a great opportunity to combine my two passions, working with people and studying science. It was cool to see that at their first event they had so many people come. I hope they continue to succeed and grow to bring more awareness to students and hopefully the surrounding community.
elliekrump · March 10, 2009 at 11:45 pm
Although I wasn’t able to attend the presentation on Genetics Counseling hosted by the Huntington’s Disease Awareness Project members last Friday, I think that it is so awesome that Cal Poly students have pioneered this club and are devoted to spreading awareness about this tragic disease. The short presentation given in my Bio Psych class by representative club members both inspired me and informed me. I am so grateful that we have such resources on campus!
Christinawright · March 13, 2009 at 10:10 am
I think it is amazing what Brie and Natalia are doing! I was not able to make it to this presentation, but found the one in my biopsych class very informative. To know that you have a 50% chance of obtaining this disease, must be extremely scary, but they are using it to make the public more aware. I don’t know if I was in that situation if I would choose to take the test and know, or not. It would definitely be a tough decision. I just really admire what they are doing, and really hope that they are extremely successful!
Mhusband · March 14, 2009 at 1:45 pm
I went to this presentation and thought it was really interesting! I’m glad to hear about careers like this for biology/psychology students. I dragged my roommate (who is a bio major) along because I didn’t want to go to the extra credit alone, and she had a revelation at the presentation and now wants to be a genetic counselor! So i was happy she finally found her perfect career! 🙂
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