-: So, I think, for me, my background was in lab research,
so after Pomona, I did take a lab bench research job,
and then I moved to clinical research,
but my background's in research,
and what I always felt is that there wasn't enough
of a one-on-one human contact for me.
In science, we can make differences in peoples' lives,
in so many ways, but for me it's really meaningful
to actually meet with the individual whose live
is being affected by the science you're doing,
and so, I really like that we have the,
you know, the schedules and the type of job
where we can really get to know patients,
and get to know how they're feeling
and how their health condition affects them
or how their genetic test results affects them,
and their family, and we get to listen
to patients' stories, often, in the medical field,
there's not time any more to sit and really truly listen
to the patient's side of things, and it helps inform
all of our work, even if we're not in the clinic.
So many genetic counselors, then, end up taking roles
in research or with laboratories,
and that's another reason I love the field
because there's flexiblity, and there's a lot
of emerging opportunities, which are very interesting
and, it allows you to take what you know about the
one-on-one patient experience and really make a difference
in for example, a pharmaceutical company that's researching
rare disease, the genetic counseling perspective
of someone who knows what the patient is going through
can really help that pharmaceutical company market
towards those patients, and create
a strong relationship with those patients.
I think for a lot of genetic counselors,
this is an emotional field, it's emotionally draining
at times, to be in that counseling role as well,
our patients share a lot with us, but that means
some of us also hold that information,
and go home feeling, you know, a lot of things,
whether or not that's grief, or sadness,
or positive emotions too, with our patients,
but I think genetic counselors are often
pretty empathetic individuals, because of our role,
you know, sitting with patients through good and bad times,
and talking through information with them
and developing connections with them,
sometimes it can be hard to, you know, find a way
to not always take that home with you,
and let that affect you as you move on.