Job Postings

Dear SCGC,

The University of Southern California offers an internship for students interested in a career in genetic counseling. This 1-year program offers an immersive experience into the field of genetic counseling with direct clinical exposure, supervised by practicing cancer genetic counselors.

USC Norris and LAC+USC Cancer Genetics Overview

The Division of Medical Oncology offers cancer genetic counseling services at two sites, the USC Norris Cancer Hospital and LAC+USC Medical Center. Both serve as centers for cancer patients and their family members to participate in genetic evaluation, testing, prevention, and research. The two sites are staffed by multiple board-certified genetic counselors and are active clinical rotation sites for several master’s degree programs in genetic counseling. Over the past 10 years, these sites have supported dozens of students applying to genetic counseling training programs by including them in shadowing, case conferencing, pedigree data entry, and by fostering professional skills.

LAC+USC offers a unique opportunity to work with patients that are traditionally underserved in genetics. Given that most patients are Spanish-speaking, and the counselors are bilingual, interns at LAC+USC will gain exposure to Spanish-language genetic counseling and an improved understanding of providing genetic services to an underserved population.

Internship Goals

The primary goals of this internship are to:

· Develop knowledge of cancer genetic counseling

· Prime applicants for genetic counseling graduate programs

· Provide interns with valuable research experience

· Foster relationships with mentors in the field

· Support and learn from USC genetic counselors through clinical and research tasks such as data entry of family trees.

· Ultimately add to the diversity of clinicians and researchers in the field

Each year we will accept 2-3 interns at each site for a total of 4-6 interns at USC each year.

Internship Responsibilities:

Intern responsibilities include:

· Genetic pedigree data entry

· Attendance at genetic counseling case conferences

· Opportunity to shadow clinical genetic counseling

· Research activities such as data abstraction and entry, literature review and manuscript preparation, registration of participants on research protocols

· Final presentation on cancer genetics related topic

Commitment and Schedule

This internship generally begins in the summer and continues to at least the next summer, with extensions typically allowed. Interns should expect to dedicate 10 hours per week, with a flexible schedule, allowing work to be done on different days of the week. Some of the work may be done remotely, but in-person attendance is typically expected at least one day per week. Attendance is also expected at each weekly genetic counseling case conference which is held by Zoom.

Qualifications

· Applicants must have the intention of applying to genetic counseling graduate school

· The ideal candidate would have already graduated from college and have a flexible schedule, but we will consider undergraduate seniors who can commit to 10 hours per week.

· Spanish speaking applicants are strongly preferred, but not required at LAC+USC

· Applicants must have a GPA of 3.0 or higher

Compensation

This role is currently served on a volunteer basis. If funding sources become available, we will notify current and prospective interns.

Equal Opportunity Employer

The University of Southern California is an equal opportunity educator and employer, proudly pluralistic and firmly committed to providing education and employment opportunities to outstanding, qualified individuals with diverse backgrounds and experience.

Application Process

Submit the following to GCinternship@med.usc.edu

(1) A cover letter detailing the applicant’s interest in, motivation for, and commitment to applying to genetic counseling training programs

(2) Curriculum Vitae

(3) College transcript

April 15 is the deadline for priority consideration. Interviews will be conducted in late April and decisions will be made early May.

Contact information

For additional questions please contact the team at GCinternship@med.usc.edu.

USC Genetic Counselors:

Emmeline Chang, MS, LCGC

Jacob Comeaux, MS LCGC

Julie Culver, MS, LCGC, CCRP

Daisy Hernandez, MS, LCGC

Charité Ricker, MS, LCGC