Genetic Counselling

Alison McEwen: UTS and the Graduate School of Health recognised that genetic counseling is a growth area at the moment and that's really because genomic technology is meaning that we have increasing access to more and more genetic and genomic information.

Chris Jacobs: It is a time of huge change for Genetic Counselling, it's a time of huge change for health care and the huge impact that genomics and genetics are going to make for people in terms of understanding disease, treating disease and preventing disease.

Alison McEwen: Quite a few things make this program different from other genetic counselling programs. I really felt that it was really important that we had a course that was accessible and so because of that we're offering this program in our blended mode utilising zoom to have an online classroom.

Chris Jacobs: Teaching students online is very engaging and it's almost like having everybody in the front row because you can see everybody, everybody's engaged, everybody's participating and you very quickly, once you start teaching online, you forget that you're online.

Alison McEwen: It's really an exciting environment. It's just like being in a physical classroom except that we're on a screen.

Gabrielle Flemin: It's just been a really good fit for me personally with the self directed learning I'm really able to take advantage of my time.

Courtney Katrina: It's also an interesting way of learning because we get through the material first and then we can go over the main points.

Erin Turbitt: UTS is the best place to study Genetic Counselling because the academic staff bring a variety of different experiences and knowledge and have worked with world leaders in Genetic Counselling, education and research.

Megan Williams: Girra Maa works with genetic counselling to ensure that indigenous ways of knowing and being and doing are woven into every element of the coursework as possible. Because genetic counselling is taught online, I could be doing teaching while I was out on the country of my ancestors and students wouldn't get that experience to hear from me what that means if we weren't in that online environment.

Alison McEwen: International students can come and study and we really welcome applications and interest from students, particularly I guess from countries where genetic counseling is developing.

Maggie Law: We don't have a master of Genetic Counselling in Hong Kong. We only have the Palmer course for Genetic Counselling. If I want to study master of Genetic Counselling, the most closest place to study is Australia.

Alison McEwen: Graduates of the UTS master of Genetic Counselling will be extremely competent counsellors and really able to go out there and work alongside and empower clients and families as they come to learn about genetic and genomic information in their families.

Chris Jacobs: There are lots of jobs around at the moment for genetic counsellors because there was an expansion of genetics and genomic testing, so there are more and more people wanting genetic counsellors, but I think there's gotta be lots of new roles that emerge over the next year and a half that we don't even know exist yet.