LabCorp's first genetic counselor honored with UNCG award

Published: Saturday, June 29, 2013 at 04:06 PM.

At the time of Adams’ pursuit, there were only two schools in the United States that offered a degree in the field, the University of California at Berkeley and Sarah Lawrence College in New York. Even if Adams, a mother of two, had known about their degrees she didn’t have the option of going to either one of them.

“She had to familiarize herself with the other programs and present it to the faculty so it matched these two programs,” said Nancy Callanan, director of the MS Genetic Counseling Program in the School of Health and Human Sciences at UNC-G. “It was incredibly creative and showed a lot of initiative.”

Four years after beginning her graduate program, Adams received her MS degree in 1977 in biology with a focus on human and medical genetics.

Following graduation, Adams was employed in the Division of Genetics and Metabolism at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Her academic achievements and experiences there enabled her to pass the first certification exam ever given for genetic counselors in December 1981, thus becoming the first certified genetic counselor in North Carolina.

The role of a genetic counselor is to sort through three to four generations’ worth of a family history to discover if an abnormality is a result of genetic syndrome.

“Genetics is the ultimate preventive medicine,” Adams said. “As genetic counselors, we act as a bridge between tests done in a laboratory and the patient.”

A genetic counselor looks at the family history and medical records to see if anything looks like a genetic syndrome. They then must sort which labs do which tests, send the blood work to the correct lab and explain the results to their patients, which can sometimes be a whole family. Armed with that info, a patient and their physician, who works in tandem with the genetic counselor, can then discuss, for example, options to reduce their risk of developing certain diseases.

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