Overview of MS in Genetic Counseling Track
The curriculum consists of 43 semester hours: 25 semester hours of didactic coursework and 7 semester hours of research. Additionally, there are four 8-week clinical rotations, one 2-week laboratory rotation and one 6-week summer clinical rotation required of all students, which provide an additional 11 credit hours. Courses include material covering basic genetics concepts, embryology, medical genetics, biochemical genetics, molecular genetics, cytogenetics, genomics, cancer genetics, population genetics, genetic counseling principles, human development, psychosocial issues, interviewing techniques, and ethical and professional issues in genetic counseling.
Clinical rotations include one intensive two-week laboratory rotation in the Cleveland Clinic Pathology & Laboratory Medicine Institute. There are four 8-week clinical rotations in the second year, during which students obtain clinical experience in General Genetics (children and adults) Prenatal Genetics, and Cancer Genetics. These rotations take place at The Center for Human Genetics at University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center, the Center for Genomic Personalized Medicine at the Cleveland Clinic, the MetroHealth system, Akron Children's Hospital and Promedica in Toledo. Students also will have the opportunity to pursue two elective rotations with specialty clinics or intern with genetic counselors working for commercial testing companies. Additionally, there is one immersive 6-week summer rotation held at Akron Children's Hospital, MetroHealth or the Cleveland Clinic. Some students may opt to do a summer rotation closer to home - and we will make every effort to arrange this for students when needed. Moreover, students rotate through the Cleveland-based institutions for weekly observational experiences starting early in year 1 of the program.
Students are also required to attend and participate in several other activities such as weekly Clinical Patient Conferences, Genetics Grand Rounds, Departmental Seminars, Professional Issues Seminar and fieldwork processing groups. Finally, all first-year students participate in interprofessional education sessions. These seminars occurring throughout the first year of the genetic counseling program allow students to work with other healthcare professional students from dental medicine, nursing, medicine, psychology, physician assistant, speech-language pathology and social work, among other disciplines.
Students also participate with the doctoral graduate students in the Department of Genetics and Genome Sciences' annual retreat and present their research projects during the department’s Research poster sessions. Students also have an opportunity to give educational talks to local schools, participate in undergraduate teaching and volunteer at community events.