Student Spotlight - Rebecca Oberschmidt

During my undergraduate time at Pitt, I stayed in Pittsburgh for one summer and learned about all the events and things there are to do during the summer in Pittsburgh.  I am so excited to spend another summer here during graduate school, and here are some highlights.  

My classmates and I went to a Pirates game one weekend and got to see some fireworks afterwards (pictured below).  It’s a short ride on public transit, and the view from the stadium is amazing, as it has been called one of the best places to see a baseball game.  The fireworks are set off from the Allegheny River just outside the stadium so the breeze feels nice in the summer.  In Shadyside, Walnut Street is a great area with restaurants, bars, and shopping.  Throughout the summer, they have events like the Arts Festival and Jam on Walnut, an outdoor concert series which was our first hangout as a class last August.  There are several large events that take place over the summer, with my favorite being Picklesburgh.  You guessed it - the theme of this event is all things pickles!

Pittsburgh’s many parks have tons to take advantage of during the warmer months.  There are disc golf courses, hiking trails, and great picnic spots to enjoy that are just a walk or bus ride away.  Lots of events happen in them too, from live music concerts to movie screenings.  Pitt offers discounted tickets to different shows and events in the Cultural District.  I went to see the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra recently and we got great seats to a great show.  During the school year, a lot of the museums and other spots (like Phipps Conservatory, and our trip there is pictured below) that require admission fees are free for Pitt students.  There are outdoor concert venues in the city and a short drive out of the city.  My classmate Madalyn and I saw the Jonas Brothers when they came to the Pavilion at Star Lake last year, and it was such a great night!  My parents and I also took a trip to Fallingwater and Ohiopyle, which are about an hour outside the city.  Fallingwater is one of the houses designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and is built on a waterfall, so it was beautiful with such interesting architecture.

All in all, Pittsburgh is a great place to live, and with some more time on our hands and the weather in our favor during the summer, we get to enjoy more of what the city has to offer.  There are so many things to take advantage of as a Pitt student, so I am happy that I got another chance to check some things off my Pittsburgh bucket list!

Student Spotlight: Ariel Breeze

Transitioning into clinical rotations has been a component of the program I have been looking forward to since as early as the application cycle. I started my rotation block with pediatrics at the Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, which has proven to be an incredibly rewarding experience in such a brief period. Prior to rotations beginning, I was paired with a genetic counselor working at the hospital who has provided me with significant guidance throughout the rotation, helping me to find certain types of conditions and appointments to shadow or participate in and helping to build my confidence and comfortability.

Pediatrics at the Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh provides a truly unique experience with a host of opportunities outside of the typical clinical indications you anticipate seeing. Specifically, everyone who rotates at Children’s is given the opportunity to see three specialties beyond typically pediatric cases: inborn errors of metabolism (IEM), lysosomal storage disorders (LSD), and inpatient. The IEM component of the rotation involves seeing patients with a physician, a nurse specialized in metabolic genetics, a dietician, and a genetic counselor depending on the indication. You may also observe an abnormal newborn screen if the opportunity arises while in this portion of your clinic experience. As each student is provided with the opportunity to choose an optional rotation experience, I have elected to pursue mine in the newborn screening and IEM space especially given my interest in public health screening initiatives as a dual-degree student. The LSD component of the clinic allows students to see these patients both in an outpatient setting and while they are receiving enzyme infusions, one of the treatment types that works most effectively in these patients. We also spend two weeks seeing inpatient cases, which involve patients having been admitted to the hospital that have had genetic consults requested. These cases arise spontaneously and are both fascinating and rewarding. I have had the opportunity to observe one inpatient case during my rotation block thus far, and the entirety of the session feels vastly different than a typical outpatient case from the pedigree creation process to the discussion of genetic testing. Parents are exhausted and, understandably, scared, and this provides an opportunity to really put those counseling skills to work and help these patients as much as possible despite the tense environment.

Additionally, any students interested in other opportunities can spend their time at Children’s seeing patients in the pediatric cardiogenetic clinic, the pediatric cancer predisposition clinic, or at satellite clinics serving Plain communities in Hermitage or other hospitals in Wexford and Monroeville. Personally, I have made time in my rotation block to see pediatric cardiogenetics patients considering my wide interest in cardiovascular conditions. I learned so much during these cases, and despite being a pediatric case at Children’s as well, the workflow for these cases looks vastly different than what you will see with typical outpatient experiences. Generally, these patients enter will enter their appointments already aware of the sort of condition they likely have, allowing for more tailored sessions of the genetic condition being considered and the inheritance pattern of these conditions (for example, Long QT syndrome).

Transitioning from a full class load into full-time rotations has certainly been an adjustment. While I find myself as busy as ever, looking through my patients’ medical histories in preparation for sessions feels important and rewarding. Though I have just started my rotations, I have already learned so much and my supervisors have provided me with several tips to help me hone my genetic counseling skills. The types of indications you will see in pediatrics is so broad that you end up learning so much simply by talking to your patients that you would not necessarily read about otherwise. Rarely does the amount of time spent feel like a chore when there is so much to look forward to during these rotation blocks. Pitt offers a rich variety of clinical rotation experiences even housed within the typical core rotation blocks, and so there is truly something for everyone throughout your time spent in the clinical setting.

Student Spotlight: Elise Williams

I am a dual degree student in the Genetic Counseling and Public Health Genetics programs and in addition to the offering the dual degree plan option, I was drawn to the Pitt Genetic Counseling program’s model of clinical preparation called the “Confidence-Building Model”. We go from in-class learning and observing patient sessions to having simulated patient sessions before we start our clinical rotations. I have recently started summer clinical rotations and I have been reflecting on just about how far my class and I have come in less than a year!

The confidence building model is an educational framework that gradually provides us with skills and the space to try new things as we get more comfortable with transitioning from classroom learning to clinical work. We focus on classroom-based learning our first semester, transition to clinical education and simulations in our second semester, and then start clinical rotations in the summer before our second year. Starting with classroom learning gave us an educational foundation of genetics. As we all come from different backgrounds prior to joining the program, these courses helped us have a good starting baseline knowledge of genetic counseling.

In the second semester of the first year, we start observational rotations where we can observe pediatric and cancer genetic counseling sessions. Being able to observe these sessions helped me learn some things that are difficult to learn in a classroom, such as the structure of the different sessions, what the flow of a clinic looks like, and where I can keep my lunch! During the last month of our second semester, we also had an amazing opportunity to have simulated patient sessions. Each week for four weeks, we have the patient actors simulate a genetic counseling session. We divide the session up among a group of students to practice our genetic counseling skills and have the chance to ask them questions. These simulated patient sessions helped me feel more confident about presenting genetic information and helped me learn how to co-counsel with my classmates, which will be important in clinical rotations as we work with other genetic counselors to complete a patient session.

Our clinical rotations start in the summer, so I am currently in my third week of rotations (ever) in Prenatal genetics. Each day, I am learning new ways of counseling and given opportunities to try new things in patient sessions. Yesterday, I was discussing how a session had gone with a genetic counselor mentor. I told them that I felt I could have done a better job explaining a topic but that it was the first time I had discussed that topic with a patient. “You did fine!” they said, “that’s genetic counseling; you just practice, and practice, and you will change things a little bit each time you meet with a patient.” So, when will I have enough confidence to complete the model? This conversation made me realize that when you choose a career in genetic counseling, there is no end to the confidence building model! With constant adaptation of counseling styles as we have new experiences and learn new things about genetics, we will always be growing and changing to have the privilege of helping meet our patients’ needs.

Student Spotlight: Carolyn Maxwell

Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental and Related Disabilities (LEND) is a graduate-level interdisciplinary training program focused around improving the health of people with disabilities. I have always been interested in how interdisciplinary teams work together to provide the best care for a patient, and I thought of LEND as an excellent opportunity to learn from other healthcare providers' perspectives.

I was interested in LEND, but I was also worried about overloading my plate. I am a dual degree student, and I have a job as a clinical research assistant; suffice to say, I am busy enough. When Jodie discussed these opportunities through LEND, she explained a new program they were piloting called the Medium Term Traineeship (MTT). The MTT would allow me to pick LEND learning modules I was interested in and participate in a long-term project. To complete the MTT, you participate in at least 40 hours of LEND events and attend two monthly MTT meetings.

I completed the MTT through LEND this year, and it was such an impactful experience. I entered the MTT expecting to learn about interdisciplinary teams and their perspectives to enhance my practice. What I actually learned about were transdisciplinary teams, in which the family and their input are integral in all health decisions. In LEND, there are trainees such as speech-language pathology, occupational therapy, and many more health care disciplines. Importantly, families are also trainees in LEND who attend all the classes and participate in the events. These families have a child with a neurodevelopmental disability or themselves have a disability. The family's perspectives challenged how I approached problems and enhanced my understanding of the challenges and the joys of having a child with a neurodevelopment disability. The MTT enhanced my knowledge of so many topics we discussed in our coursework and will impact my understanding in clinical as well.

For more information about the LEND program, check out:
https://www.lend.pitt.edu/

Q&A: Elena Kessler, Pediatric Genetic Counselor

 

Elena Kessler is a graduate of the Pitt Genetic Counseling Program and now works at the Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh (CHP). In addition to seeing regular pediatric patients, she began the Pediatric Cancer Predisposition Program and sees many oncology patients. Pitt genetic counseling students have the opportunity to rotate through this program during their second year!

 

Why did you decide to become a genetic counselor?

I was in my junior year of college taking a genetics class as a bio major, and at the time I had no idea what I wanted to do after graduation. I loved all my psych classes, and considered some jobs in that realm, but I was deep into the bio path at that point. I considered physical therapy and athletic training, but after shadowing those professionals, the careers did not click for me. I really liked my genetics class, and one day we learned about the field of genetic counseling. We were assigned a case to present to the class, and I played the role of GC with my lab partners playing a couple with a family history of fetal alcohol syndrome. Everyone’s cases were really interesting! After class, I asked some questions and my professor told me more about the field. He mentioned that he knew a GC in my hometown of Youngstown, Ohio, and thought it could be a career for me to consider. After learning more about peds genetics, I thought back about many kids and families I spent time with as a child while my parents officiated the Special Olympics. I knew I wanted to work with and help people in some way, and many aspects of the field achieve that, so I found my path towards GC!

 

Why did you decide to specialize in pediatric genetic counseling?

After completing my rotations in grad school, I had interests in both peds and oncology. I spent the first 3 years working in the GI genetics clinic, and then moved to CHP when a position became available. I love that in peds specifically, you often have a long-term relationship with the family and can continue helping them and updating them for years.

 

What is an average day like for you?

Fast-paced and unpredictable. I see patients 2-3 days per week, and other days are spent calling out results, and doing other patient-centered tasks.

 

What is your favorite part about being a genetic counselor?

Helping families understand the child’s test results and connecting them with valuable resources. Many of the conditions we deal with are ultra rare, and newly discovered. We have a unique role to empower families in this learning process with us. I think I learn something new every day in this job

 

What inspired you to develop the Pediatric Cancer Predisposition program, and what has that experience been like?

After my experience working in adult genetics, I naturally became the point person at CHP for oncology cases. But we rarely saw the oncology patients in genetics, both due to low referral rates and the numerous other priority visits these families frequently have. And many oncologists weren’t as up to date on pediatric cancer syndromes, so they didn’t think genetics was needed. Our currently graduating hem/onc physicians are trained extensively on genetics, mostly due to the many somatic changes that occur in tumors. One day, I had the opportunity to present at the hem/onc staff meeting about genetics, which was great, and physicians would periodically contact me about patients, but it was still rare. Over the years, more large institutions developed pediatric cancer genetics clinics, so I expressed interest to Dr. Vockley in teaming up with hem/onc to see these patients. In 2016, the hem/onc department hired a new physician, Dr. Wendy Chang, and she had experience during her fellowship working with genetic counselors. We started from scratch developing every aspect of the clinic until we launched officially in 2017. We presented information about our new clinic and gave an educational seminar to 7 different departments around the hospital, and we created pamphlets for the hem/onc waiting room and survivorship clinic appointments. Currently I run the program with Dr. Julia Meade, who is a neurooncologist. I now spend the majority of my time in oncology, with a few patients in medical genetics every week or so. In the next year or two, I will likely move over there full time!

 

Is there anything that surprised you when you first started working as a genetic counselor?

You can be as knowledgeable and prepared for a case as possible, but psychosocial issues and unexpected questions will continue to challenge you. Those are fun things though 😊

Student Spotlight: Madalyn Charnego

 

    When I received my offer to join the Pitt master’s of public health program for fall of 2020, I was a few short days away from Match Day. At that same time, I was coming to terms with the fact that I had lost the end of my undergraduate career to the COVID-19 pandemic. The blur of excitement that should have been the spring of my senior year was overtaken by virtual classes, virtual interviews, and lost opportunities. When Match Day came, I was left without a program and unsure of where my next chapter would take me. Looking for a sense of purpose, I chose to accept the offer from Pitt’s MPH program.

              Receiving my MPH was always something that I had been interested in and was a big factor of why I had applied to Pitt in the first place. The chance to learn more about how genetics impacts populations was intriguing. I knew that there would be a lot of new opportunities for me that would open up by completing an MPH. I was still thinking that genetic counseling was the career for me but starting this MPH would give me the chance to explore some more avenues. Although this was not the path I had intended for myself originally, I tried hard to keep myself focused on the positives. I had a new plan of action and was excited to get started.

              When the fall semester began, I was immediately shocked by how supportive and welcoming the School of Public Health and the Human Genetics Department were—even over Zoom! I fell in love with the department and the culture at Pitt. I broadened my horizons from genetics into health equity and health literacy. I was able to take classes that explored those topics on a deeper level. Through my MPH coursework, I found a new passion for advocating for better access to health care information and materials written and presented at appropriate levels for all patients, instead of only for individuals with high health literacy. I ultimately chose this topic to focus my thesis around.

              As the application cycle for 2021 began to open up, I struggled with what to do. I knew I wanted to finish what I had started with the MPH, but I knew that genetic counseling was really where my career goals were. I chose to apply to only Pitt for the 2021 cycle. Although applying to one school could be considered a gamble, it was a chance I was willing to take. Similarly, I found comfort in the fact that no matter what, I could always apply again, and I was still going to finish my MPH. I updated my application materials to reflect all that I had accomplished since starting the MPH program and spent time learning more clearly what the Pitt GC program had to offer. The application cycle moved fast, and soon I was interviewing and submitting my very short rank list. When Match Day brought me the news that I was going to finally accomplish my dream of not only becoming a genetic counselor, but also receiving my MPH at the same time, I was overjoyed.

              Matching meant I get to stay in Pittsburgh for three years total, instead of only two. With this comes extra time to complete my thesis, more chances to take courses in areas that interested me, and more opportunities to explore the city I now call home. On top of all of this, completing a full year of course work before starting the GC program proved to be incredibly beneficial to my success. Because I had already been in many of the courses that first year GC students take, I was able to focus more effectively on the GC-specific courses that I still needed to take. Plus, I could use the knowledge I had already acquired the year before to inform my learning in other classes. While this path is not necessarily the ideal for everyone, it has turned out to be the perfect fit for me. Taking three years to complete my two degrees has given me space to follow my passions and grow as both a student and a future genetics provider.

-Madalyn Charnego

Student Spotlight: Lucy Galea

 

When I was furloughed at the beginning of the pandemic, in March 2020, it was a time for me to reflect on where I was in life and reassess where I wanted to be heading. Genetic counseling had been on my mind for a little while, but the pandemic granted me the time to do a deep dive on the profession and see if this was the career for me. I decided that it was! I quickly found out, though, that shadowing opportunities were unavailable in Pittsburgh, understandably due to the pandemic, which meant that all my genetic counseling exposure came from other forms of experiences.

Informational interviews were a big part of me learning about genetic counseling. I used the Find a Genetic Counselor search function on the NSGC website to see which genetic counselors in my area were interested in speaking with students. Plenty of emails were sent, and six genetic counselors from all different fields found time to speak with me and answer my very long list of questions, for which I will always be grateful for.

There were a couple of different series on YouTube that I watched, that helped me see for myself what a genetic counseling session would often look like. The NSGC Master Genetic Counselor Series and the Genetic Counseling in Action video series were great ways to see what genetic counseling involves with a patient. Over time, I went back to the sessions and watched them again and as my exposure to the field grew, I could point out different elements and aspects of the appointment. Another series that I watched was the Voices of Genetic Counselors video series. These videos were very useful in seeing the impact that genetic counselors could have on their patients and the impact that patients have on genetic counselors’ lives.

A silver lining of the pandemic was that a lot of exposure days and genetic counseling conferences went online, which meant that I was able to attend these events from all over the country without having to leave my home. Some of the annual education conferences I attended were hosted by the Pennsylvania Association of Genetic Counselors, Southern California Genetic Counselors, Michigan Association of Genetic Counselors, and Canadian Association of Genetic Counselors. I attended prospective student days online including Brigham and Women’s Hospital’s Genetic Counseling Virtual Career Day, the DNA Sample Day with Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, and the Geisinger Genetic Counseling Open House. The Twitter and Instagram genetic counseling communities were also great at promoting these kinds of events, so following relevant accounts that promoted virtual events was helpful (these change cycle to cycle, so search to see who has an active account currently). Webinars for professional development also took off in 2020 and these were a great opportunity to get a short insight into a particular topic.

Listening to genetic counseling podcasts on long walks really helped to cure my pandemic cabin fever! There are some fantastic genetics specific podcasts out there, including from the perspective of the genetic counselor, the patient perspective and about current professional issues. Patient Stories with Grey Genetics had a big impact on how I started to think about genetic counseling, because it really opened my eyes to the patient’s side of the story and the impact that genetic diagnoses can have on a patient and/or family. The NSGC Podcast Series gave me a great view into the life of a genetic counselor. Recently I have been listening to The Beagle Has Landed and GC Chat, which both give thought provoking perspectives on topical professional genetic counseling issues and recently seen cases.

Finally, I would like to highlight how helpful it was to meet with Pitt’s faculty during virtual appointment hours that were specifically dedicated for prospective students. These sessions really helped me to get a feel for the program and the faculty involved, and I got vital feedback on how my application was progressing.

In some ways, I am thankful that my exposure to the genetic counseling field began during the pandemic because I believe it truly broadened my view of genetics and genetic counseling. It made me seek out of different ways to gain exposure to the field, which ultimately allowed me to see and hear presentations about topics that I would never have otherwise been able to.

-Lucy Galea