Arcadia Celebrates Inaugural Genetic Counseling Awareness Day

By Caitlin Burns | November 3, 2017

Arcadia will celebrate the inaugural Genetic Counseling Awareness Day at the 21st Annual Supervisor’s Workshop on Nov. 9. The event is sponsored by GeneDx, a company that specializes in genetic testing.

The event, held in the Commons Great Room, will feature a screening of the documentary “Rarefied: The Search for the Genetic Why,” followed by a panel and discussion with the director Wil Weldon, featured parent Sandra Sermone, and genetic counselor Brenda Finucane MS, LGC. The viewing of “Rarefied” and the panel is from 7 to 9 p.m. and is open to the public.

Finucane will also give the keynote speech of the event, which will discuss working with families for promotional materials, understanding the impact of the diagnostic odyssey, and educational planning for children with genetic disorders. Her speech is open to supervisors.

Finucane is known for developing the groundwork for understanding the conditions fragile X and Smith-Magenis syndrome. She now researches cognitive and behavioral phenotypes of neurodevelopmental disorders at the Autism and Developmental Medicine Institute at the Geisinger Health System.

The purpose of Genetic Counseling Awareness Day is to raise awareness to the importance of understanding inherited disorders and family planning.