The GC program will draw upon a unique variety of clinical rotations at Stanford (including Lucille Packard Children’s Hospital, LPCH), Kaiser Permanente (a large HMO setting), and at other San Francisco area genetics centers.  Rotations will provide all students with exposure to reproductive genetics, pediatric and adult genetics and specialty clinics, and cancer genetic counseling settings, serving a range of socio-economic and cultural backgrounds.  Students who wish to become proficient at genetic counseling in Spanish, French, German, Cantonese or Mandarin Chinese will have the opportunity to train at sites with genetic counselors who can mentor these skills.  There may also be opportunities to counsel in Vietnamese.  Beyond these traditional learning experiences, students will also have opportunities to spend time in non-clinical areas, learning about the expanding roles of genetic counselors.  These experiences may include working with a pharmacogenomics project, working alongside genetic counselors employed by a genetic testing company, or in a laboratory setting (research or clinical) learning about the various roles and skills that many new genetic counseling positions require. 

Students will begin in the fall of the first year with clinical observations and role plays, and will complete 10 week clinical rotations in the winter and spring quarters of the first year, primarily at Stanford and nearby hospitals.  Students will complete full time internships during the intervening summer (either in the Bay Area or elsewhere at an ABGC accredited training site).  After an assessment of skills, interests and experiences in the fall of the second year, students will have the opportunity to select specific training experiences to add higher level expertise and/or experience non-clinical genetic counseling roles across the Bay Area.  In total, students will complete no less than 50-55 weeks of clinical training.  We will also take advantage of Stanford’s Standardized Patient Training facilities to work with trained actors in a videotaped setting, providing students with an independent learning and assessment experience at various points in their training. 

Stanford Children's Health: Genetics Clinic

Stanford Children's Health: Metabolic/Biochemical Genetics Clinic

Stanford Children's Health: Center for Down Syndrome

Stanford Children's Health: Perinatal Diagnostic Centers

Stanford Cancer Center Genetics Program

Stanford Center for Inherited Cardiovascular Disease: Genetic Counseling

Stanford Health Care: Neuromuscular Program