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Personal Genomics is Booming, But There's a Nationwide Shortage of Genetic Counselors Who Can Make Sense of that DNA Data (wired.com)
An anonymous reader shares a Wired report: When Dan Riconda graduated with a master's degree in genetic counseling from Sarah Lawrence College in 1988, the Human Genome Project was in its very first year, DNA evidence was just beginning to enter the courts, and genetic health tests weren't yet on the market. He found one of the few jobs doing fetal diagnostics for rare diseases, which often meant helping young families through the worst time in their lives.
What a difference 30 years makes. Today, with precision medicine going mainstream and an explosion of apps piping genetic insights to your phone from just a few teaspoons of spit, millions of Americans are having their DNA decoded every year. That deluge of data means that genetic counselors -- the specialized medical professionals trained to help patients interpret genetic test results -- are in higher demand than ever. With two to three job openings for every new genetic counseling graduate, the profession is facing a national workforce shortage.
[...] Pharmaceutical and lab testing firms are routinely hiring genetic counselors to make sure new screening technologies for these targeted drugs are developed in an ethical way. According to a 2018 survey conducted by the National Society for Genetic Counselors, a quarter of the workforce now works in one of these non-patient-facing jobs. A smaller study, published in August, found that one-third of genetic counselors had changed jobs in the past two years, nearly all of them from a hospital setting to a laboratory one.
What a difference 30 years makes. Today, with precision medicine going mainstream and an explosion of apps piping genetic insights to your phone from just a few teaspoons of spit, millions of Americans are having their DNA decoded every year. That deluge of data means that genetic counselors -- the specialized medical professionals trained to help patients interpret genetic test results -- are in higher demand than ever. With two to three job openings for every new genetic counseling graduate, the profession is facing a national workforce shortage.
[...] Pharmaceutical and lab testing firms are routinely hiring genetic counselors to make sure new screening technologies for these targeted drugs are developed in an ethical way. According to a 2018 survey conducted by the National Society for Genetic Counselors, a quarter of the workforce now works in one of these non-patient-facing jobs. A smaller study, published in August, found that one-third of genetic counselors had changed jobs in the past two years, nearly all of them from a hospital setting to a laboratory one.
Analyst I'd understand but why would genetic data need counseling? [/stupid]
Now I need to keep all my relatives on a short leash just because I value my privacy.
Do we need a lot of genetic counselors? Can computers not do this for us more accurately?
"That's the way to do it" - Punch
it's our spirit that defines us.. cease fire stand down,, there are mothers & children in every town the world around.. thanks again..
Gotta break some eggs to make that tasty omelette. Waiting for ubermensch.
Here's how it works.
You will end up looking a lot like your mother or father, depending on your birth gender.
You will have the problems your parents have (propensity for dementia, alcoholism, diabetes, cancer, etc.).
If your grandparents live past 80 take care of yourself and you can too (eat well or exercise, one or the other works, generally). Pay attention to dementia, get your paperwork in order depending on how you want to handle that, just in case.
If you want, ask potential child-birthing partners about their family history. I wouldn't suggest this, let love lead the way and have a good time.
BlameBillCosby.com
"Looking at your family photo and medical history, you're gonna be a fat bald diabetic loser. That'll be $2,000 cash - insurance won't pay. Have a nice day!"
No really, my wife got one of those as part of some study and was told we wouldn't be billed. Guess what? The $3,000 - now a $2,000 bill is coming in and they are demanding payment. I'm lawyering up!
And the medical community bitches about the lawsuits. They ask for it.
Sad to see that the trolls now have mod points.
It always intrigues me how the job market is considered to have 'shortfalls'. There is no shortfall of genetics councillors. There is a shortage of genetics councilors at the current market price for them.
It's also funny how this sort of thing only applies to the little guys. I'm yet to hear a politician or business leader suggest that rising CEO/banker wages are a sign of a lack of competition for executive jobs, and that policies should be taken to increase supply in those professions.
I thought the FDA already stepped in on this years ago and said 'No' to the idea of blanket DNA test result counseling/analysis (for good reasons too)?
They did recently clear a specific test, but there won't be much counseling required for those results?
She didn't lie, the results are out. Shes 1/32 to 1/512 Native American. ... Depending on how you read the results.
DNA counselors sounds like a terrible idea. I don't trust them to get it right for right reasons or wrong reasons.
We need to make kawaii cat-girls a reality!
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Itâ(TM)s a fake profession like chiropractors. Just look up the gene yourself and how it works.
A few years back I was doing my law degree at a large public university (top-20 program) and a few elective health-law classes were combined with students in the genetic counselor program. The course content and the professor who taught the class was low quality. The students were not impressive; a few of them seemed to have joined the program to further their goals of preventing abortions by counseling people away from them. One hopes that eventually that sort is weeded out.
Genetic testing is pretty awesome, I took full advantage of it when having my kids. It required meeting with a genetic counselor who added little value but added cost and wasted time.
She didn't lie, the results are out. Shes 1/32 to 1/512 Native American. ... Depending on how you read the results.
DNA counselors sounds like a terrible idea. I don't trust them to get it right for right reasons or wrong reasons.
Bullshit.
She "consultant shopped" until she found a shill willing to pimp himself out and give her the answer she wanted.
Instead of finding a recognized geneology expert, she used a non-expert who was on the Harvard faculty with her. Why not use a real genealogist?
Why did Harvard drop mention of a Native American faculty member when Fauxcahontas's lies were exposed?
Why did Fauxcahontas herself claim that she knew she was Native American only because of her "high cheekbones" if she wasn't lying to Harvard in order to get ahead?
Why won't Fauxcahontas answer questions about whether or not she's ever used other DNA services if she didn't go "DNA shopping"?
She didn't lie, the results are out. Shes 1/32 to 1/512 Native American. ... Depending on how you read the results.
DNA counselors sounds like a terrible idea. I don't trust them to get it right for right reasons or wrong reasons.
Fauxcahontas speak with forked tongue:
Meanwhile, the Globe has also obtained a portion of Warren’s 1973 application to Rutgers, where she attended law school. That document specifically asks: “Are you interested in applying for admission under the Program for Minority Group Students?’’ Warren answered “no.’’
In addition, a newly unearthed University of Texas personnel document shows that Warren listed herself as “white’’ when she taught at the law school there from 1981 to 1991.
Hell, The Boston Globe even admits there's no evidence that Warren is 1/32 Cherokee - like she used to claim, until it was debunked.
And is almost certainly the box Fauxcahontas checked to get listed as a "Native American" at Harvard
Note well: "A person having origins in any of the original peoples of North America and maintains cultural identification through tribal affiliation or community recognition"
Even if Fauxcahontas is 1/32 Native American, she never "maintain[ed] cultural identification through tribal affiliation or community recognition".
No matter how you put it, she LIED to game the racial preference system.
Zero guarantees it doesn't end up in a Government or Law Enforcement database, or at the very least bought up by the likes of insurance companies, so they can find some excuse to jack up your rates or flat-out deny you coverage.
Also, reminder:
GATTACA
Don't fall for it, folks.
"Pharmaceutical and lab testing firms .... make sure new screening technologies for these targeted drugs are developed in an ethical way. "
Pharmaceutical companies ensure ethical anything? Now that's specious horseshit if ever there was some. The corruption of the early curiosity and drive to alleviate maladies has been subverted and consumed by the insidious need to turn everything into a profit maximisation scheme.
Kellyanne Conway says they are junk science... And throw out all the convictions, empty the jails!
She didn't lie, the results are out. Shes 1/32 to 1/512 Native American. ... Depending on how you read the results.
She "consultant shopped" until she found a shill willing to pimp himself out and give her the answer she wanted.
Instead of finding a recognized geneology expert,...
Wow, that has me laughing out loud. Carlos Bustamante (who's lab did the analysis) is one of the best geneticists in the world with exactly the relevant expertise. The report is actually really good. Very much worth a read. They found five segments of Native American ancestry in Elizabeth Warren's genome. The largest is a 4.7 megabase segment on chromosome 10 - which is really pretty big (i.e. very unlikely they got it wrong).
"Instead of finding a recognized geneology expert, she used a non-expert who was on the Harvard faculty with her. [stanford.edu] Why not use a real genealogist?"
You mean somebody from a _good_ school, instead of these 3rd rate Harvard and Stanford ones?