Winter conference, Spring baseball

It has been a very busy time in the GCP! We have been putting lots of energy into our interview season! First years had a very busy winter quarter, and second years are wrapping up their thesis projects. It's hard to believe that in only 8 weeks, the year will be over!

In March, a few of the first years volunteered for a BRCA conference for those in the community that have a mutation and may have had breast cancer. It was an awesome day organized by fellow GCs at Children's and St. Elizabeth Hospital sponsored by Check Your Genes. There were several speakers that came to talk to attendees including surgeons, radiologists, survivors, and of course - genetic counselors. There were also breakout sessions where people could learn more about BRCA, discuss telling their families about their mutation, understand how this may change sexuality, etc.  It was a very long day, but it was SO interesting to be around our potential patients in Cancer Clinic all day and hear all the information they had to give. In thinking about all the doctors that were there, it was interesting to also hear about all the other members of the medical community that GCs need to work with to truly understand the impact of BRCA mutations on our patients.

 

Although it's been a busy few weeks, it hasn't been ALL work. The baseball season started and some of us girls headed to see the Cincinnati Reds on opening night to help donate to the Fetal Care Center at CCHMC.  It was a beautiful evening and there were fireworks after! Luckily the Reds won. It's so fun to be able to enjoy each other's company outside of school and to be able to keep discovering Cincinnati together. There were a total of 10 of us at the game - and I'm sure we'll be going to a few more before we all leave for our summer rotations!

Speaking of summer rotations, some of the first years have nailed down where they will be! We will be heading to Charlotte (NC), Las Vegas, Cleveland, Washington DC, Denver, Newfoundland (Canada), Atlanta, and three will be heading to Nashville! Almost everyone has the details smoothed out, and are rotating in prenatal and/or cancer rotations. We are all very excited for our summer sites!

The second years are also very excited as they are beginning to get jobs! One has a cancer job in Atlanta, one establishing genetic counseling in Illinois, one in Kentucky -- and several more are within the last stages of interviews! It is a very exciting time for the program & my classmates.

It is my effort to keep this more up-to-date this quarter prior to heading to summer rotations! We are very excited to welcome a new class here in a few weeks, and I am sure all of the details will be posted in short time. As a first year, it is hard to imagine that only a year ago, we were all interviewing. We've learned SO much since then - in classes, clinic, with our thesis. It is mind-boggling to think that this time next year, we will almost be graduates! We couldn't be more excited to enter the GC field :)



Posted by Leslie Gress, First Year Student

Hustle & Bustle in the GCP!

It's a busy time of year for the students and staff here at the program!

First years have begun their clinic rotations and are about to wrap up their first quarter of classes. We just had a big Molecular Genetics test on Monday, and finished a few weeks with what seemed to be endless assignments for other classes. It's nice looking at the rest of our "to-do" list: only a few exams and we are onto Christmas break! Although, I think the lesson a lot of us are learning in our first few weeks here at UC is that the "to-do" list is surely going to be never-ending over the next two years! The "buzz" around us is all about thesis topics - we submitted our choices to Melanie on Monday and are waiting to hear back which project we will be devoting endless hours to over the rest of our time here. We were really lucky to have great choices to pick from, and I think most of us would be happy with whatever we get! Updates on that are sure to come!

Second years are deep into their research for their Thesis projects. In talking with a few of them, it seems they are really enjoying their classes, especially Advanced Genetic Counseling and Teratology. Also they are seeing more patients on average because several of them are in a specialty clinic setting. Even though I'm just a first year, I get the feeling that the second years really enjoyed their summer rotations, but are glad to be back at Children's and UC and wrapping up their time on the way to graduation in June!

The program staff is also busy! Like I said, Melanie is matching students for thesis projects which I'm sure is keeping her busy. Katie is preparing the rest of the clinic schedule for the first years, and Kathleen and Carrie are always busy as well! I think we are all VERY thankful for our program coordinator, Bette Young, who joined the program staff in September. Speaking from experience, if there is a superhero out there - it IS Bette! She is such a pleasant woman and can get anyone whatever information you need. She also keeps little treats for us - like pretzels, or cough drops when you're ill, and recently hand lotion has made an appearance since winter is approaching!

I'd say generally all is good and happy here at the GCP. I'm working on some more specific blog posts about clinic experiences, classroom experiences, and other things - just waiting for some feedback from my classmates to be able to post! :-)

Thanks for joining us on our blog-endeavor! Remember, you can e-mail us gcgradstudent@cchmc.org or comment below. Have a great day!


Posted by: Leslie Gress, First Year

Hello & Welcome!

Welcome to the official blog for the Genetic Counseling Program of the University of Cincinnati in association with Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center. We are looking forward to keeping in touch with alumni and sharing with prospective students through the experiences of our current students and staff that will be shared here!

More to come shortly!



LAG