Faculty Spotlight: Christine Munro

Christine serves as the Director of Recruitment and Admissions at the Pitt Genetic Counseling Program and as a genetic counselor with the UPMC Primary Care Precision Medicine Clinic.  We asked her some questions about her and her role, and here are her responses.

1. How did you find out about genetic counseling?

During my undergraduate degree, genetic counseling was briefly brought up in a genetics class. After doing some research on my own it truly felt like the perfect merge of my interests but I had always thought I would apply for a public health degree as my next step. When I learned of  the University of Pittsburgh’s dual degree option in Public Health Genetics and Genetic Counseling, I could not have been more excited and knew that is where I wanted to land.

2. What does your current role in the program entail?

My current role is Director of Recruitment and Admissions for the Genetic Counseling program. I lead the holistic applicant review process with the program’s admissions committee and develop recruitment strategies. I am also involved with students through research mentorship and I work as a clinical site supervisor in our Primary Care Precision Medicine rotation.

3. What made you decide to work to develop the Primary Care Precision Medicine Clinic?  What is the mission of this clinic?

The Primary Care Precision Medicine clinic was created to bridge a current gap in genetic service delivery. There is an increasing awareness and uptake of genetic testing and Primary Care clinics find themselves at the forefront of genetic risk assessment and appropriate triage but physicians have expressed a lack of confidence in their genetics knowledge. Genetic counselors (GC) embedded in primary care is one potential solution to scale genetic services. When we take a look at the services that primary care physicians (PCP) provide in areas like preventative care, prescription management, routine screenings, prenatal care, newborn care, and chronic disease management, there is a great deal of overlap and connection with subspecialty genetic services such as risk assessment, pharmacogenomics, cancer risk assessment, prenatal carrier screening and testing, newborn screening, and polygenic risk scores. This highlights the potential for a complimentary relationship between PCPs and GCs. Additionally, individuals will have genetic needs throughout their lives and a single genetics visit is unlikely to be enough. There are multiple points where an individual might require genetics care and this unique clinic model allows for that follow-up loop. Lastly, we know there are barriers to appointments and disparities in referral practices. This clinic model has the potential to decrease logistical barriers, meet patient’s where they are at, ensure appropriate referrals for all, decrease wait times for specialty clinics and reduce costs for specialty appointments. The goal of this clinic is not only to scale genetic services but to improve equitable access to these services. I am very proud to work with such an amazing and innovative team. I am also so happy our genetic counseling students get an opportunity to rotate with us in this unique space.

4. What does your role in clinic look like?

In my clinical role, I work with a multidisciplinary team seeing patients for a variety of indications. We also work on research projects and genetics education initiatives for physicians.

5. What is your favorite part of your job?

It is really difficult to choose one “favorite” thing about my job so I will list a few: the field of genetics is constantly evolving which is stimulating,  the ability to mentor students and witness their progress and contributions is so rewarding, and lastly the opportunity to guide and advocate for patients and families during a difficult time is extremely fulfilling work.