Season 1
Episode 5: Informed Consent & Prenatal Genetic Testing
Blair Stevens MS, CGC
Episode Summary
“Informed consent” has long been held up as the gold standard of patient care in Western medicine. A prenatal genetic counselor dives into what that means when it comes to making hundreds of choices about genetic testing around pregnancy.
Episode 4: Cancer Risk & Genetics: Understanding Testing, Prevention, Treatment & Advocacy
Lisa Schlager
Episode Summary
In this episode, Lisa Schlager, the Vice President of Public Policy at FORCE, a national advocacy organization, discusses genetic testing, prevention, treatment, and legal protections for people at risk for hereditary cancer.
Episode 3: Prenatal Genetic Counseling Unlike Therapy in Any Other Setting
Kendra Schaa, ScM, LGC
Episode summary
In this episode, Kendra Schaa, ScM, LGC, a prenatal genetic counselor at a major medical center talks about the importance of the therapeutic model in meeting patients where they are. She also discusses how prenatal genetic counseling is influenced by the profession’s roots in biology over psychology, the skyrocketing number of genetic tests, and the overturning of Roe v. Wade.
Episode 2: How DNA Testing is Shaking Up the Sperm Banking Industry
Katie Lee Hornberger, CGC
Episode Summary
In this episode of Genetic Frontiers, Katie Lee Hornberger, a certified genetic counselor with the Seattle Sperm Bank talks about how genetic testing has shaken up the sperm banking industry. DNA testing has changed everything, forcing the industry to move from a paradigm that prized anonymity towards one of greater transparency about biological relationships, genetic risks, and family medical history.
Episode 1: Finding Meaning in Life & Genetics
Nerine Gregersen, MD
Episode Summary
In this episode, Nerine Gregersen, MD, a former pediatrician, clinical geneticist, and logotherapist, discusses how learning genetic information about oneself can have profound emotional and existential impacts.
She talks about how logotherapy, a form of psychotherapy that emphasizes finding meaning as people’s primary motivation, can help support people navigating difficult diagnoses or profound life shifts triggered by genetic discoveries.
Episode 0: Living At Risk
Susanna Smith, MPH
episode summary
In this episode of Genetic Frontiers, host, Susanna Smith, shares her personal story of living as a previvor of an incurable, genetic disease, which is part of the impetus for the podcast and at the center of a book she is working on.