A Graduate Certificate Program in Public Health Genetics/Genomics: Interdisciplinary Education of Healthcare Professionals

Clinical and public health challenges of the 21st century, and improvements in genome sequencing and information technology, are converging to make it possible for genetic and genomic information to inform fundamental public health practices. For this promise to become a reality, however, the workforce must have interdisciplinary training in genetics and public health. Sarah Lawrence College has responded to this need by developing a Public Health Genetics/Genomics Certificate Program offered to to working professionals from a range of disciplines. The program's curriculum is focused on three areas of Public Health Genetics/Genomics: translational research, testing, and policy and practice. Ethical, legal, social and financial issues are discussed within each module. In addition the program includes information about developing career opportunities in Public Health Genetics/Genomics. Overarching themes are used to knit the curriculum together and the interdisciplinary perspectives of attendees help to build the creative requisite for bringing this emerging field to the next level. Those who have completed the certificate program are diverse: genetic counselors, Public Health professionals, college professors, physician assistants, nurses and attorneys. This session will describe the program and how it has continued to evolve in response to changes in the field and attendee evaluations; summarize data about how the graduates have applied the skills gained in the program; and provide a typology of professional opportunities at the intersection of public health, genetics, and genomics as of 2010.