Watershed DNA

View Original

Podcasts for the Genetic Counselor Audience

I don’t know about you, but I love a good podcast! It gives me something to listen to in the car when driving into the city for an appointment, while out for a neighborhood stroll with my youngest, or folding my family of five’s never-ending laundry piles. This is a reason I am PUMPED that the list of podcasts relevant to the genetics community continues to grow. With full transparency, I’ve been a guest on many of these shows. But that said, I wouldn’t have agreed to go on as a guest if I hadn’t thought these to be quality programming and worth the listen! Many of the episodes of these pods allow a window into the unique aspects of the work of genetic counselors. Read below to get a synopsis of each podcast and a link to get started listening.


The Beagle Has Landed by host Laura Hercher - https://beaglelanded.com/ - Listen to Laura and I chat last fall about various topics, including non-paternity disclosures and the impact of state licensure on my work.

DNA Today - https://dnapodcast.com/ - Kira and I chatted back before there was much in the news about genetic genealogy. My, how things change so quickly!

Grey Genetics’ Patient Stories - https://www.greygenetics.com/podcast/ - Eleanor and I covered an array of topics, but tried to focus our discussion about gifting DNA tests for holiday presents. It can be done, but should be done carefully and thoughtfully!

GenotypeCast - https://www.greygenetics.com/genotypecast-a-new-podcast-from-grey-genetics/ - This is another podcast produced by genetic counselor Eleanor Griffith, with focus on short discussions between genetics professionals about headlines and current events relevant to the fields of genetics and genomics.

Mendelspod - https://mendelspod.com/ - This podcast has a long and deep history of exploring EVERYTHING DNA, calling upon the well-known experts in sub-areas of genetics to comment and educate on topics like gene editing, precision medicine, and sequencing.

NSGC’s podcast - www.nsgc.org/page/podcasts - Brought to you by the National Society of Genetic Counselors, this professional issues podcast has covered topics like professional social media use, patient advocacy, and GC self-care.

Genetic Counselors and You - https://www.aboutgeneticcounselors.org/Genetic-Counselors-and-You-Webinar-Series - Also brought to you by the NSGC, with a general audience in mind. At-home testing has been a common topic of these podcast episodes so far!

GC Chat podcast - http://gcchatpodcast.libsyn.com/website - Now into it’s second season, GCChat is a podcast started by two genetic counsellors (Australian spelling intended) who invite other GCs to call in and discuss challenging cases and ethical dilemmas. Listening in is like being in a peer supervision group where you wrestle around with stories about the hardest of the hard situations you run into at work and realize you aren’t alone with the struggles of being a GC.

InThoseGenes - https://player.audiostaq.com/inthosegenes/scientific_sank - This is a science and culture podcast that hosts discussions about genetics that highlight the stories of American BIPOC and their histories through the lens of Black culture.


Genetic counseling is a broad term, and it means many different things. I’m so glad for these podcasters for starting what will turn into valuable repositories of experiences and discussions about the complexity of our work as GCs.

This list was updated on 7/14/20 to include a few more pods! Know of another genetic counseling-related podcast I haven’t listed here that you think is great listening for genetic counselors? Please leave a comment below!