Guest: Bob Resta, Genetic Counselor, Swedish Medical Center
Chapters:
3:45 Bob abandons anthropology for genetic counseling and starts his GC career as a “schlep.”
5:16 On being a man in a ‘women’s field’ (No complaints, except for that one conference where the women took over the men’s room…).
9:01 Bob investigates the whitewashing of the Darwin pedigree and what that says about our eugenic past, provoking the ire of Darwin’s great-great-great-great grandson.
12:34 How making prenatal testing routine changed pregnancy, and altered our perception of prenatal testing and what it meant.
17:03 Bob ponders the possible impact of Mary Claire King’s proposal to test every woman for breast cancer susceptibility genes at age 30. “Historical experience makes you realize it never plays out like it’s supposed to.”
Welcome to Episode #1.
Bob Resta turns an anthropologist’s eye on genetic counseling, from the arrival of amniocentesis to current issues stemming from routinized testing and conflict of interest. He’s not the Founder of Genetic Counseling, but he may be the field’s foremost Grumpy Uncle.