Carrie L. Atzinger, MS, CGC

My primary role is in education, as co-director of the joint Cincinnati Children's/University of Cincinnati Genetic Counseling Graduate Program. I am also a faculty member for the Cincinnati Children's Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental and Related Disabilities (LEND) program. As co-director of the Genetic Counseling Graduate Program, I teach, advise students and perform research in addition to my administrative responsibilities. As a genetic counselor who previously held clinical roles and currently works in teaching and research, I developed an interest in how genetic counselors learn clinical teaching methods and how we can be most effective in teaching students clinical skills. The field of genetic counseling is relatively new and developing an evidence base to support our practice and educational methods is critical to this field's future.

Together with my fellow genetic counselors Katie Wusik and Sarah Caldwell, counseling psychologist Geoffrey Yager and statistician Hua He, we developed and validated the Genetic Counseling Self-Efficacy Scale. This scale has been used to measure educational outcomes in several research studies and has the potential for application in future research and education.

In addition to my research interests and education roles, I am interested in public policy related to genetics and genetic counseling. I was elected secretary/treasurer of the National Society of Genetic Counselors and served in this role from 2018-2019. I have over 16 years of experience and have worked at Cincinnati Children's since 2006. I received my certification from the American Board of Genetic Counseling in 2005 and am a licensed genetic counselor in the state of Ohio.