You might have a gene that gives you a 50 percent chance of developing uterine cancer. Should you be tested for the disease? Should you have preventive surgery?
There's a lot of information from the human genome to sort through these days, and different options to consider in making decisions about medical treatment. Increasing numbers of patients turn to genetic counselors for help.
"Sometimes we give bad news and support patients through that process," says genetic counselor Kelly Ormond. ?But a lot of time, we give good news, so it can be very rewarding."
Ormond came to the Farm in September, after directing the genetic counseling program at Northwestern University for eight years. She is organizing Stanford?s two-year master?s degree program in human genetics and genetic counseling. Applications for the first six openings are due January 15, and classes start in September.
Some 200 students are trained each year in the nation?s 29 genetic counseling programs, and Stanford?s will be one of three programs in California. Ormond plans to spend this year talking with career advisers at the state's universities. "A lot of times students will start out as premed majors, and decide that's not a good fit," she says. "But they like working with people, and like the feeling that they?re making a difference in someone's life. We want those students."
