Graduate Program in Genetic Counseling

What's Yours?

Whether it is the individuals and families with a genetic condition or disability, the professionals who serve them, or the students who have made genetic counseling their calling, everyone in our program has a story to share.

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A Program Is Born

When Judith Tsipis joined the Brandeis faculty in 1976, her son Andreas had delays in his development, later diagnosed as Canavan disease. This personal experience inspired her to start the genetic counseling program to help families like hers.

Finding Her Footing at Brandeis

As a child, Ana Sarmiento had to translate and interpret many complex documents for her Spanish-speaking mother. That ability to distill and present complex topics has served Sarmiento well in her genetic counseling work today.

An Unfortunate but Lifesaving Discovery

The detection of a pathogenic variant in the CDH1 gene, which causes Hereditary Diffuse Gastric Cancer, was the beginning of Beth Lambert and her family's journey confronting this genetic disease.

Important Program Update

The Master’s Program in Genetic Counseling will remain on admissions hiatus in the fall of 2022 while a recommendation is made through university governance structures to close the program. It is anticipated that the class of 2023 will be our last group of graduates. We realize this will be disappointing news to prospective students as it has been for us as well. We will take this time to focus on our current students. This decision does not affect current students' training nor will it affect our ACGC program accreditation status.

Pioneers in Genetic Counseling Education

As the oldest program of its kind in New England, the Brandeis Graduate Program in Genetic Counseling was the first to harness the clinical and research communities in Greater Boston to provide training for future genetic counselors.

Today, our program and its nearly 250 graduates continue to play a pivotal role in the growth of the genetic counseling profession and the evolution of the genetic counselors' contributions — not only in the clinic, but also in research, education and industry.

Our students are intelligent, insightful and motivated to learn. They come to the program with a strong science background and experience in providing counseling to people in times of crisis. They leave with the skills and knowledge to combine the two, and provide meaningful and effective genetic counseling to patients under a wide variety of circumstances and from all walks of life.

A Disability-Focused Curriculum

As the mother of a child with a genetic condition, our program's founding director was the first to incorporate a strong focus on disability awareness into the training of genetic counselors.

Learning from individuals and families who are touched by disability or genetic disease is at the core our of students' education. From their community placements, to spending time with families, to hearing and reflecting on individual stories, our students gain valuable insights that we are confident will positively influence how they practice as genetic counselors.

discover how disability awareness is incorporated into our curriculum

Commitment to Diversity

Brandeis University is passionate about social justice, diversity, equity and inclusion at both the undergraduate and graduate levels — and our program's values align closely with this mission. In times of racial division in our society and our profession, we are reminded that there is still work to be done and we pledge to do our part.

We continue to adapt our curriculum to foster a rich and inclusive learning environment for students from all backgrounds, cultures and experiences. Our students are trained to recognize the specific needs of different patients and families; acknowledge and address health care disparities; and work to provide genetic counseling services to all who would benefit from them.

What Makes Our Program Distinctive

Our campus is ideally situated not only near Boston, a major city with world-renowned research institutions and hospitals that provide exceptional clinical care, but also top-notch medical centers in Providence, Rhode Island; Worcester Massachusetts; and southern New Hampshire, as well as an ever-expanding list of diagnostic laboratories and a wealth of services for individuals with disabilities or genetic conditions.
Our program incorporates individual and family stories throughout many aspects of the curriculum and places strong emphasis on an appreciation of the individual, both as a patient and a provider. This allows our students to not only better understand the varied perspectives patients may bring to the table, but also gain insight into their own contributions to patient encounters.
Through their work both in and outside the classroom, our students forge strong and lasting connections with program leadership, faculty members, research advisers and genetic counselors in the community.
Our expansive alumni network throughout the United States serves as a great resource for professional introductions, job leads, career advice and much more!