Educating and Engaging: Exploring NEHA’s Partnership with Boston University’s Genetic Counseling Program
Educating and Engaging: Exploring NEHA’s Partnership with Boston University’s Genetic Counseling Program
Written by Interview with Lillian Sosa, MS, CGC.
Posted: December 10, 2024. This article was originally shared in our Winter 2024 Newsletter.
Lillian Sosa, MS, CGC, is a licensed genetic counselor at Boston Medical Center. She is also the Assistant Director of the Boston University Chobanian and Avedisian School of Medicine MS Genetic Counseling Program. Thanks to her efforts, along with the support of their program’s director, Kathleen Swenson, we have been thrilled to host an intern from BU’s Genetic Counseling Program since 2017.
Below is an interview with Lillian to help you better understand the work the interns do, and why this experience is so mutually beneficial to the interns, and to our community.
When did BU's partnership with NEHA begin, and how many students have interned through this collaboration?
Students in BU’s MS Genetic Counseling Program are required to take part in a variety of learning experiences, like clinical genetic counseling, research, and community-based fieldwork during their two years in the educational program. This helps give them knowledge from a variety of vantage points, and helps them gain real experience and interactions with people they can come in contact with as a genetic counselor, or in whatever medical field they pursue in their future.
We have sent a student annually to NEHA for an internship every fall, since 2017. Our students have always loved working with Rich and the rest of the NEHA team, and we really value their partnership and rich training of future genetic counseling providers.
How does interning at NEHA intersect with the education your interns receive in the classroom?
It is one thing for students to learn about an inherited condition from a textbook or listen to a lecture. It is another thing entirely to learn from individuals affected by a condition, their families, caregivers, and community members. In addition to learning about people with bleeding disorders, NEHA has also allowed our interns to educate the bleeding disorders community about genetic counseling! Over the years, our interns have presented to adults at FallFest, hosted webinars, created fliers and brochures, and even worked to educate younger kids about genetics.
Our students who have interned at NEHA have always brought their newfound knowledge back to their peers, and also to their faculty, which helps us teach more updated and informed content in the classroom setting. In addition to the one student per year who interns at NEHA, a handful of students often volunteer at NEHA events, like the Annual Unite for Bleeding Disorders Walk. We are also proud to have a Walk Team to help raise funds for the bleeding disorders community.
An Intern's Perspective: Kai Blumen, Fall 2024
“Interning with NEHA has been such a fantastic experience for me to apply what I’ve learned in the classroom to helping the bleeding disorder community in ways outside of the clinic. I now have friendly faces to attach to conditions that I had previously only learned about through words. During this experience, I have had the opportunity to develop resources to help the community, which has allowed me to improve on my science communications skills. I have also been able to join in for fun and exciting events like the Unite for Bleeding Disorders Walk and FallFest, which have taught me how to be a meaningful advocate. NEHA has such a warm and electrifying energy that serves as a reminder of the vibrant communities that I can serve as a genetic counselor. Genetic counseling is a versatile role, and this internship has shown me the important work that we can do to support advocacy organizations, like NEHA!”
An Intern's Perspective: Abby Gregg, Fall 2023
“My internship experience with NEHA was unforgettable. From singing the national anthem at the annual Walk to teaching breakout sessions about genetics, there is truly something for everyone who gets involved. I was also able to help NEHA with some of their events, like volunteering in the youth room at FallFest, manning the sign-in booth and getting to meet and direct people to different sessions, creating my own breakout session based in genetics and genetic counseling, and bringing in fellow BU classmates to volunteer for the Walk. This is such a great organization and community and I am honored to have been a part of it.”
Where are they now?
We are happy to report that many of our interns have now graduated and are working as genetic counselors across the country—in places as far away as Colorado, and as close to home as Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Maine Medical Center.
Photo caption: Our interns, Abby (Fall 2023) and Kai (Fall 2024), alongside other BU Genetic Counseling students, volunteering at our Walk in September 2023.