Genetic Counseling – Brooke Dunleavy
Brooke Dunleavy is another NDB Alumni who came to talk to my AP Bio class about her job as a genetic counselor. Graduating NDB in 2011, Brooke then went to college and graduate school before starting her career as a genetic counselor. She currently works at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital and works in pediatrics.
After Quinlyn’s presentation, I was very interested to learn more about genetic counseling and to hear more about certain cases. One thing that I appreciated about Brooke’s presentation is that she was able to give more insight into the career itself, being that she has been in the field longer than Quinlyn. I was very interested to hear about what her average work week consisted of. Brooke said that normally, she is in the clinic 3 days a week and other days she is either supervising students, teaching, or doing her own research. I was surprised when Brooke mentioned how much energy and time goes into each appointment because I had never thought of the prep a genetic counselor would have to do to be informed case to case.
One case Brooke shared with us was about two sisters from the congo. They were in their late teens/early 20s and had not gotten their periods. After medical and genetic testing, it was discovered that they had Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome. In short, they had the genetic makeup of a man but since their bodies couldn’t respond to androgen, they physically presented female. This was very interesting to me because I didn’t realize it was possible for somebody to have a condition like this and not know about it for so long. Brooke also touched briefly on seeing cystic fibrosis patients/families, which was cool to hear a bit about after my teams genetic symposium project.
I really enjoyed Brooke’s presentation and found that it really sparked my curiosity regarding genetic disorders. While genetic counseling is not for me, the career seems very fascinating and like a very fun (but also hard) job.
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