About Us

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Vision: To educate and advocate for the genetic counselors and genetics professionals in the state of Ohio

Mission Statement:

To develop and sponsor activities that will promote professional development of the career of genetic counseling

To support and conduct education to increase public awareness of genetic counseling

To encourage communication and alliances that will facilitate access to genetic counseling services and genetic counseling education in the state of Ohio

To promote collaboration amongst Ohio GCs who wish to take action on issues relevant to our profession

To foster professional growth and continuing education in the field of genetics

To provide a centralized location for relevant information regarding genetics in Ohio

The 2022 BOD held first in-person BOD meeting with great success! (top row from left to right: Megan Bergman, Paul Hudson, Jackie Riley; bottom row from left to right: Lindsey Byrne, Meghan DeBenedictis)

Board of Directors

President: Victoria Klee, MS, CGC

Victoria is a licensed and board certified Genetic Counselor and Assistant Professor at The Ohio State University. She received both her Bachelor of Science in Neuroscience and Masters in Genetic Counseling at OSU. Her clinical time is devoted to Neurodegenerative conditions including young-onset and hereditary dementias such as Alzheimer’s and Frontotemporal Dementia, Huntington’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, and complex movement disorders. She provides genetic counseling as a part of the PD GENEration clinical trial and is a part of the Huntington Disease Center of Excellence at Ohio State. 

President-Elect: Elianna Miller, MS, CGC

Elianna is a licensed and board certified genetic counselor who earned her undergraduate degree in psychology and molecular genetics, as well as her Master’s in Genetic Counseling (class of 2022) from the Ohio State University. Since graduation, she joined the team at the Center for Human Genetics at University Hospitals in Cleveland, Ohio in a split clinical position. Her clinical duties span across cancer genetics, prenatal genetics, and preconception genetics. Her position has allowed her to expand genetic services into the reproductive endocrinology and infertility space helping patient who are going through the in-vitro fertilization process, which is fulfilling a longstanding desire. When she is not in clinic, she is passionate about supporting future genetic counselors, and providers who may encounter individuals with genetic disease risk; this has been possible through guest lecturing, meeting with learners one-on-one, and supervising genetic counseling students, residents, and fellows.

Immediate Past President: Paul Hudson, MS, CGC

Paul is a licensed genetic counselor who received his undergraduate degree in Zoology from The Ohio State University in 2016 and graduated from The Ohio State University Genetic Counseling Graduate Program (OSU GCGP) in 2018. After graduation, he worked in his hometown of Dayton, OH at Miami Valley Hospital’s Department of Maternal Fetal Medicine, Ultrasound and Genetics as a prenatal genetic counselor for four years. In 2022, he started a new role as a Medical Science Liaison with BillionToOne and the Unity test. He still works closely with the OSU GCGP as a course instructor. His hobbies include traveling, cooking, and gardening.

Committee Director: Carolyn R. Raski, MS, CGC

Carolyn is a licensed, board-certified genetic counselor at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago. She completed a Bachelor of Science in Cell and Molecular Biology at the University of Cincinnati and a Master of Genetic Counseling at the University of Michigan. Carolyn, working closely with a team of scientists and clinicians, has dedicated her career to supporting families with rare genetic diseases by meeting them at the intersection of clinical care, research advancements, and advocacy. Carolyn spends much of her time caring for patients with RASopathies, mTORopathies, lysosomal storage disorders, and connective tissue disorders. She served as the program coordinator for the Cincinnati Children’s RASopathy Program and has continued this role at Lurie Children’s. Her advocacy efforts have included working closely with many family groups and hosting international, virtual family meetings. Carolyn’s research efforts include implementation of a gene therapy trial in lysosomal storage disorders along with other clinical trials, implementation of federally funded research, developing a biorepository, and contributing to rare-disease manuscripts. Carolyn is enthusiastic about supporting fellow and future genetic counselors through engagement with genetic counseling training programs as a course coordinator, thesis advisor, and clinical supervisor.

Secretary/Treasurer: Sarah Mazzola, MS, CGC

Sarah is a licensed genetic counselor at the Cleveland Clinic in general genetics. She graduated from University of Michigan’s genetic counseling program in 2017. Sarah’s clinical interests include pediatric genetics with participation in various multidisciplinary clinics including hearing loss, Klinefelter’s syndrome, and renal genetics. Sarah is active with both Case Western Reserve University and University of Michigan’s training programs in supervising genetic counseling students, serving on thesis committees, and lecturing.

Communications Director: Erin Crist, MMSc, CGC

Erin is a licensed and board-certified genetic counselor at CooperSurgical. She received her Bachelor’s degrees in Animal Sciences and Molecular Genetics from The Ohio State University. Erin graduated with her Master’s degree in Genetic Counseling from Emory University. After graduation, she worked as a neuro/research genetic counselor at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio. She then transitioned to preconception genetic counseling. Erin currently works as a laboratory genetic counselor for CooperSurgical with their preimplantation genetic testing patient population.

Committees

Education

Responsibilities:

  • Organize and plan annual education meeting
  • Administer scholarship funding and application process for GC research projects and student theses
  • Develop educational and outreach activities in the state of Ohio

Co-Chairs:

Sarah Aufmuth

Julia Cooper

Cortlandt Meyers

Membership and Outreach

Responsibilities:

  • Maintain membership directory
  • Learn interests of GCs to inform organization goals and address concerns
  • Answer questions about organization

Co-Chairs:

Brandie Leach

Kara Vitalone

Public Policy/Professional Issues

Responsibilities:

  • Collect institution specific information including credentialing practices, billing practices, career ladders
  • Create guides for new GCs in Ohio on how to obtain licensure, specialists to refer to in the area

Co-Chairs:

Katie Carlotti

Deanna Leingang

Membership

We are excited that you want to be an OAGC member! There are three classes of members: full members, associate members, and student members.

Full Member

  • Any masters-level trained health professional who is either board eligible or board certified in genetic counseling and/or licensed by the Ohio State Medical Board in genetic counseling
  • Eligible to hold a position on Board of Directors or chair a Committee
  • Voting Member

Associate Member

  • Any individual with a professional interest in genetic counseling who shares the Mission and Vision of the OAGC
  • Includes: non-certified/non-board eligible GC, genetic counseling assistant, nurse in genetics, etc
  • Not eligible to hold a position on Board of Directors or chair a Committee
  • Can be a committee member
  • Not a voting member

Student Member

  • Any student enrolled in an accredited genetic counseling program in the state of Ohio
  • Not eligible to hold a position on Board of Directors or chair a Committee
  • Can be a committee member
  • Not a voting member
Cost of Joining

Membership is free!

To learn more about membership, please email [email protected] with the subject line “Membership Inquiry”.