Summary

The Neurogenetics Laboratory at the Duncan Neurological Research Institute (NRI) of Texas Children’s Hospital is seeking a Research Genetic Counselor.  The Research Genetic Counselor serves as a liaison between patients, families, research, and clinical teams. The neurogenetics research utilizes cutting-edge genomic technologies to diagnose and characterize rare disease, implement equitable genomic medicine, and understand the genetic basis of epilepsy, autism, neurodevelopmental, neuropsychiatric, and neurodegenerative disorders. The Research Genetic Counselor will have a unique opportunity to collaborate with a diverse array of research, laboratory, bioinformatics, and clinical faculty, while simultaneous interfacing with rare disease community through counseling and outreach. The primary responsibilities of the Genetic Counselor will be project design and management, patient advocacy and engagement through clinical and preclinical studies, obtain and perform medical record reviews, consult with other genetic counselors and researchers, counsels on test indications, assists researchers with interpretation of genetic and genomic test results, gathers statistics on outcomes, conducts data analysis, and participates in academic research. The position is comprised of 75% research effort in the laboratory at the Jan and Dan Duncan Neurological Research Institute and 25% clinical effort at Texas Children’s Hospital. This role offers the opportunity for professional growth with mentorship from world-renowned scientists, as well as clinicians, geneticists, and a network of more than 50 genetic counselors throughout the Baylor College Medicine (BCM) and Texas Children\'s Hospital (TCH) institutions in the Texas Medical Center. Flexibility with occasional evenings and weekend schedules (study visits and counseling may need to be coordinated with participant hospitalizations, research and family conferences, or provider availabilities).

This position is fully on-site and will entail working at the Duncan NRI, main BCM, and TCH clinical facilities in the Texas Medical Center.

Work space will be in a cubicle in open office area in a research laboratory and will require walking to on campus Texas Medical Center research and clinical locations. Meeting rooms are available for study participant and patient calls at the Duncan NRI.

Job Duties

• Utilizes genetic counseling expertise to optimize study outcomes.
  • Identifies, recruits, and consents families to genomic research projects.
  • Documents family history information.
  • Collects necessary records, such as previous genetic testing results, medical records, imaging studies, and HIPAA authorizations.
  • Provides counseling regarding genetic findings and risk of occurrence or recurrence of genetic condition within the family in inpatient, outpatient, or meeting settings with pediatric or adult populations.
  • Interprets genetic test results.
  • Coordinates research study genetic testing and maintain documentation.
  • Communicates with study participants, research investigators, healthcare providers, and genetic testing laboratories.
  • Conducts interviews for data collection, provide test resulting calls and counseling, develop and conduct surveys for data collection and analysis.
  • Collects, analyzes, and interprets clinical, neuropsychological, neuroimaging, and genetic sequencing findings.
  • Develops and maintains study participant databases and study documentation.
  • Participates in multidisciplinary neurogenetics and rare diseases clinics.
• Develops and facilitates preclinical and clinical research studies.
  • Works closely with basic, translational, and clinical research investigators.
  • Develops data collection instruments and outcome measurements.
  • Prepares figures, abstracts, and presentations to disseminate research findings.
  • Designs, drafts and edits original research manuscripts with the study teams.
  • Develops Standardized Operating Procedures (SOPs), develops and maintains electronic databases and records.
  • Teaches new or less experienced trainees, genetic counseling colleagues, study team members, and collaborators.
  • Participates and presents in lab meetings, journal clubs, family centered conferences, meetings, and teaching less experienced research personnel.
• Provides genetic counseling for clinical care of pediatric patients in inpatient settings.
  • Reviews, elicits, and interprets family, medical and psychosocial histories.
  • Coordinates the genetic testing process with laboratory, physicians, and patients/families.
  • Work closely with geneticists, nurses, dieticians, social workers, and other genetic counselors to coordinate patient care.
  • Participates in multidisciplinary clinics, departmental conferences, meetings, and student/resident teaching.
• Other duties and responsibilities as determined by supervisor.

Minimum Qualifications

• Master\'s degree in Genetic Counseling.
• No experience required.
• Board-eligible or Board Certified Genetic Counselor (CGC) by the American Board of Genetic Counseling (ABGC).

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in clinical research and statistical analysis.
• Experience with human-centered design, neuropsychology, genetics, neuroscience, or implementation science.
• Experience with online database management systems, including RedCap.
• Experience using online genomic databases such as gnomAD, UCSC Genome Browser, ClinVar, OMIM, etc.
• Bilingual in English/Spanish.
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office (Excel, Word, Powerpoint) and Electronic Medical Record systems (e.g. EPIC).
• Ability to lift 25 pounds and walk 0.5 to 1.5 miles to on campus locations in the Texas Medical Center.
• Flexibility with occasional evenings or weekends (may need to collect biospecimens and data, participate in study visits, or attend conferences and meetings that may fall outside the 8 am to 5:30 pm M-F window).

Work Space

• Cubicle in open office area in a research laboratory and will require walking to on campus Texas Medical Center research and clinical locations. Meeting rooms are available for study participant and patient calls at the Duncan NRI.