About the Program

From the beginning, the Genetic Counseling Graduate Program (GCGP) was envisioned as an interdisciplinary effort that would span the University at Buffalo (UB) campuses and schools, leveraging strengths from across the university. It was developed through the Genome, Environment and Microbiome Community of Excellence (GEM), whose mission is to advance understanding of the genome, the microbiome and their interaction with the environment, and to use this knowledge to benefit humanity in a just, broad-based and responsible manner. In 2018, the Provost’s office facilitated a meeting between GEM co-director, Jennifer Surtees, PhD and the deans from eight academic units. Each dean also selected a faculty member from their unit to be part of the discussion. At this initial meeting, the plan for a GEM offshoot, UB’s Institute for Genomic Literacy (IGL) was presented, of which the GCGP would be a key element. All eight deans committed to the IGL and development of the GCGP in the spring of 2018.

A faculty steering committee for the GCGP was formed with representatives from Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, School of Law, Graduate School of Education, School of Nursing, School of Social Work, College of Arts and Sciences, and School of Public Health and Health Professions. This team, led by Dr. Surtees, began meeting in August 2018 to work in earnest on curriculum development.

A key contributor was the clinical and academic genetics expertise of Dr. Carolyn Farrell, a PhD in Healthcare Genetics, certified genetic counselor, and adjunct faculty in the School of Nursing. She collaborated on creating the program structure, developing new courses, and adapting existing courses to align with the instructional content areas from the Accreditation Council for Genetic Counseling (ACGC) Standards of Accreditation. Dr. Farrell was instrumental in connecting with other genetic counseling (GC) training program directors and potential fieldwork sites. She attended annual meetings of the Association of Genetic Counseling Program Directors (now the Genetic Counselor Educators Association), visited two existing GC programs, and brought best practices in GC education to attention as a member of the steering committee.

By the end of 2019, the proposed graduate degree program was ready for external evaluation, as required by The State University of New York (SUNY). Dr. Farrell enlisted Barbara Biesecker, PhD, MS, CGC, Distinguished Fellow, RTI International and Melanie Myers, PhD, MS, CGC, Director of the Genetic Counseling Graduate Program at the University of Cincinnati to review the materials. Their feedback was incorporated into the final proposal that was submitted to SUNY in early 2020 and approved in December. The new master’s degree was registered with the New York State Education Department in April of 2021.

In the Fall of 2021, a Genetic Counseling Working Group was established to discuss the logistics of implementing the program. It consisted of two clinical geneticists, four clinical genetic counselors and IGL faculty from the Jacobs School, pharmacy and social work. The group met monthly through the end of 2022 to consider things like initial cohort sizes, faculty appointments, and professional development for genetic counselors. Simultaneously, starting in January 2022, Dr. Surtees and Dr. Farrell convened monthly meetings of additional genetic counselors from the community who weighed in on fieldwork plans.

The search for a program director with the qualifications required by ACGC began in 2022. Lindsey Alico was recruited in 2023 to implement and lead the first Master of Science in Genetic Counseling degree program in the SUNY system. Ms. Alico brings a wealth of experience as a genetic counselor and administrator, especially from her previous role as co-director of the Joan H. Marks Graduate Program in Human Genetics at Sarah Lawrence College, the oldest and largest genetic counseling training program in the world. As an Orchard Park native, Ms. Alico is eager to expand access to clinical genetic services for patients in upstate and western New York, beginning with increasing the local genetic counseling workforce.