2015 NSGC Presidential Address: Gifts of genetic counselors: life's leadership lessons.

Abstract

Good morning everyone. It is a pleasure to be here with all of you and an honor to be the incoming President of NSGC. The theme of my speech is leadership so it is really special for me to have Jay Flanagan introduce me. There is nothing better for a mentor than to share the podium with a former student who is about to assume his own leadership role in the AEC subcommittee! Congratulations Jay! There are times that I still need to pinch myself to believe that it is true. I am in awe at the amazing skills, energy, resources, and talks shared with us over the course of the conference. Thank you to the presenters for sharing their experiences and making the conference a huge success and thank you to the AEC subcommittee for the countless hours of hard work over the course of the year to provide us with this fantastic opportunity. NSGC was built on a strong foundation, which is a true credit to the vision and perseverance of our founding members. For the past 20 years, I have watched NSGC mature and grow into an influential organization that has a seat at important tables. Genetic counselors are an important part of medical care. What is nice about this statement? Others agree! We have made some incredible strides and should be proud of our efforts. I would like to share a little bit about myself and share some highlights from the path I followed. Then I’d like to share with you my vision for the coming year. I graduated in 1995 from Sarah Lawrence with a talented group of classmates; many of whom have gone on to hold their own leadership roles in the profession. During the first year of my career, I like many of you, was busy learning the responsibilities of a new job, planning a wedding and studying for the boards. However, at the AEC in 1996, I listened to the presentations with a different ear, because all of the items from the previous year were under my belt and I could start to envision what my career might look like long term. It hit me that I worked really hard to complete my training, pass the board exam, and enter a profession that I had really grown to enjoy in such a short time. I had a lot of years ahead of me to practice as a genetic counselor and I wanted to get involved so that I could contribute to the growth of the profession. In turn, this would ensure that the profession continued to fuel the spark that had intrigued me so much in the first place and took a direction that would fuel my passion over the course of my career. As luck would have it, BRCA1 and BRCA2 were found while I had been in my second year of graduate school. The handful of us practicing in cancer genetics at the time met under the leadership of Rob Pilarski, Cate Walsh-Vockley, June Peters, and Mary Ahrens to discuss the issues we faced. Through the vision, need for support in a new sub-specialty, and the need to develop a protocol for counseling families with a potential inherited cancer predisposition, the Cancer SIG was born and became a model for other SIGs to follow. That pivotal development happened because a group of people who were struggling to find the best way to care for our patients in this new era put an idea into motion. I was also working in Iowa at the time, which did not have many genetic counselors. It was extremely important for me to network at the AEC so I could bring ideas back to the state and attempt to stay abreast of the new trends. I volunteered early on with the education committee and practice issues committee. I volunteered to chair a subcommittee inside of the Cancer SIG, which became the start of my leadership tract. As the needs of our profession grew, my interests became more diverse. I volunteered to work on the projects that interested me and were in some way pertinent to my job (frankly all of the tasks were relevant). The volunteer time Presented at the 2014 National Society of Genetic Counselors Annual Education Conference; September, 2014