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A Commentary on Opportunities for the Genetic Counseling Profession through Genomic Variant Interpretation: Reflections from an Ex-Lab Rat

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Journal of Genetic Counseling

Abstract

The genetic counseling profession continues to expand and respond to the changing landscape of genomic medicine. “Non-traditional” genetic counseling roles have become more commonplace and the transferability of the genetic counselor skill set has been widely acknowledged, particularly in genetic laboratory settings. As these expanding roles continue to mature, all genetic counselors can benefit by learning and adopting clinically relevant skills, such as genomic variant interpretation, which can be applied to direct patient care. These skills can enrich our patients’ understanding of their test results, help ensure quality patient care, and could be useful in positioning genetic counselors as critical members in the medical team as we continue to fully transition into the genomic medicine era.

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Funding

This publication was supported by the National Human Genome Research Institute of the National Institutes of Health under grant number 1U41HG006834-01-A1.

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Correspondence to Karen Wain.

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Conflict of Interest

Karen Wain is a member of the ClinGen Education Workgroup and chairs the Variant Interpretation Subgroup.

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This article does not contain any studies with human participants or animals performed by the author.

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Wain, K. A Commentary on Opportunities for the Genetic Counseling Profession through Genomic Variant Interpretation: Reflections from an Ex-Lab Rat . J Genet Counsel 27, 747–750 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10897-018-0247-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10897-018-0247-3

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