The Warren Alpert Foundation is pleased to announce a $9.5 million grant that will fund continuing education efforts for genetic counselors, to ensure opportunities for continued training that will keep them on the leading edge of their profession interpreting genomic data and explaining its implications to patients.
Spearheaded by genetics researchers and faculty members in the Perelman School of Medicine (PSOM) at the University of Pennsylvania, the WAF-Career Ladder Education Program for Genetic Counseling program will allow genetic counselors to continue their education and learn about new and emerging research trends. Penn will lead these efforts, in close collaboration with four other leading institutions: Baylor College of Medicine, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, and the University of Washington School of Medicine.
The WAF-Career Ladder Education Program for Genetic Counseling (CLEP-GC) will be designed to meet the post-graduate training and education needs of genetic counselors by providing focused online continuing education courses for GCs, creating Advanced Training Certificate Program in Genetic Counseling (ATCP-GC) in three tracks: bioethics/ELSI, research training, and genomic technology; and exploring the pathways for GCs to become faculty, including laying the groundwork for the creation of a Ph.D. program targeted toward practicing genetic counselors.