NSGC

“It’s been a crazy time,” says Gillian Hooker, of the first 5 weeks of her year as President of the National Society of Genetic Counselors. NSGC is attempting to rally support around HR3235, a long-discussed and long-promised federal bill that would permit CMS to recognize genetic counselors as medical caregivers for the purposes of billing, that FINALLY made it to Congress in 2019. A possible wrench in the gears? ACMG announced last month that it cannot support the bill as written.

Why not? Will it matter?

Gillian comes on The Beagle to answer our burning questions (and to tell us to play nice…).

Everyone says we need more genetic counselors, but few people have put as much time and effort into creating them as MaryAnn Campion, current co-director of the Master’s Program in Human Genetics and Genetic Counseling at Stanford University. MaryAnn has a doctorate of Educational Leadership and Policy from Boston University, where she was also the founding director of the BU genetic counseling program.

So it comes as a bit of a surprise that MaryAnn does not think we need to be so aggressive about growing the field.

She is thinking about what it will mean to lead the NSGC in the politically tumultuous climate of 2020. Will NSGC get involved in political battles if the outcome will affect access to care? MaryAnn claims that they have been and will be “strategic.”