The M.Sc. Genetic Counselling Program includes a research project as a graduation requirement. The purpose of the research requirement is for each student to have the opportunity to gain experience in study design, research methods, academic writing, and self-directed education. This requirement is meant to be an introduction to the area of research in genetic counselling and is not a formal Master’s thesis requirement.
Examples of Directed Study Projects, 2025-2020 :
Nadia Dingelstad. CDKN2A Carriers’ Perceptions of Pancreatic Cancer Surveillance (2025).
Cristina Fodor. Empowering the Empowerers: Evaluation of Empowerment of Genetic Counsellors in Patient-Facing Roles in Canada (2025).
Lauren Jennings. Exploring the parent-reported utility of diagnostic whole exome sequencing for school-age children with intellectual disability (2025).
Claudia Pfeifer. Exploring perceptions of “want” and “need” for genetic testing within a publicly funded healthcare system (2025).
Madison Plante. Exploring the Experiences of Patients with Skeletal Dysplasias and their Families: A Mixed Methods Study (2025).
Mikayla Poloz. Patient Perspectives of MET (2025).
Ellie Storm. Navigating adolescent capacity to consent to genetic testing: A discursive analysis of genetic counselling practice (2025).
Shelby Thornton. Perspectives and experiences in accessing hormone replacement therapy following risk-reducing surgery for individuals with hereditary ovarian cancer risk (2025).
Sophie Albert. Clinical Outcomes of Non-Diagnostic Prenatal Whole Exome Sequencing: A Retrospective Chart Review (2024).
Kelvin Chang. Exploring Genetic Counselors’ Perspectives on Family Group Appointments for Genetic Testing (2024). – Published in Journal of Genetic Counseling 34(3). https://doi.org/10.1002/jgc4.70041
Mitch Hendry. Autistic Perspectives on the Moral and Ethical Considerations of Genetic Testing for Autism (2024). – Published in European Journal of Human Genetics https://doi.org/10.1038/s41431-025-01862-5
Tessa Kolar. Evaluating Family-Centered Care at BC Children’s Hospital: Healthcare Providers’ Perspectives (2024). – Published in Journal of Evaluation in Clinical Practice 31(1). https://doi.org/10.1111/jep.14187
Yvette Kuo. Exploring the potential usefulness of the GCOS-16 for expanded applications – triage and comparison of outcomes between GC and other interventions (2024). – Published in European Journal of Human Genetics 33(5), 642-648. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41431-025-01830-z
Sydney Schulz. Methods of clinical supervisor evaluation in North American GC programs (2024).
Daniel Abd Assamad. Adolescents’ and their Parents’ Experiences & Perspectives of Genetic Testing and its Personal Utility (2023).
Rebecca Candlish. Exploring Canadian genetic counselors’ perspectives and experiences with discussing medical assistance in dying (MAiD) (2023). – Published in the Journal of Genetic Counseling 33(4), 1297-1311. https://doi.org/10.1002/jgc4.1843
Patricia Gombas. Utility of a Genomics Results E-Booklet for Parents of Pediatric Neurology Patients following Genomic Sequencing (2023). Published in Journal of Genetic Counselling 34(4). https://doi.org/10.1002/jgc4.70095
Lauren Piers. Non-Genetic Healthcare Providers’ Experiences and Perspectives with Rapid Genome-Wide Sequencing in Canadian Neonatal Intensive Care Units (2023). Published in Children 11(8). https://doi.org/10.3390/children11080910
Ege Sarikaya. Parental perspectives on family-centered care in pediatric neurology: An explanatory sequential mixed-methods study (2023). Published in Developmental Medicine & Child Neurology 67(10), 1340 – 1353. DOI: 10.1111/dmcn.16275
Jared Warden-Joseph. A cross-sectional survey-based exploration of diversity in the admissions committees and student cohorts of genetic counseling programs over time (2023). Published in Journal of Genetic Counseling 34(2). DOI: 10.1002/jgc4.1969
Update to Melissa Cornthwaite:
Melissa Cornthwaite. Evaluating the clinical utility of prenatal exome sequencing for fetal anomalies (2021). – Published in Prenatal Diagnosis 42(12), 1514-1524. https://doi.org/10.1002/pd.6232
Jacob Coleman. Exploring factors affecting genetic counselor’s career preferences: a discrete choice experiment (2022).
Loryn Byres. Exploring autistic adults’ perspectives on genetic testing for autism spectrum disorder (2022).
Ann-Marie Peturson. Investigating the relationship between therapeutic alliance and patient outcomes of genetic counselling (2022).
Kiara Lowes. A Qualitative Study Exploring the Consumer Experience of Receiving Self-Initiated Polygenic Risk Scores from a Third-Party Website (2022). – Published in Journal of human genetics, 2022.
Emma Cunningham. Exploring Genetic Counsellors’ Experiences with Disclosure of Misattributed Paternity (2022).
Manraj Randhawa. Exploring the Experiences of Patients with Skeletal Dysplasias and their Families: A Mixed-Methods Study (2022).
Amy Ho. “How do I tell my sister?” Exploring patient experiences on family mediated cascade screening and alternative approaches for inherited arrhythmia conditions. (2021). – Published in Journal of genetic counseling, January 2022.
Courtney Cook. Caregivers’ perspectives, experiences and need for support when communicating with their children about the psychiatric manifestations of 22q11.2 deletion syndrome (2021). – Published in Journal of community genetics, 13(1), 91–101. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12687-021-00558-9.
Melissa Cornthwaite. Evaluating the clinical utility of prenatal exome sequencing for fetal anomalies (2021).
Julia Heaton. Serving the Whole Family: Experiences and Unmet Needs of Siblings of Children with Genetic Conditions (2021). – Published in Journal of genetic counseling, 2022.
Faith Cheung. Understanding the experience and impact of receiving incidental findings from genome-wide sequencing (2021). – Published in Journal of genetic counseling, 31(4), 887–900. https://doi.org/10.1002/jgc4.1558.
Vivian Cheng. Investigating behaviour change, acceptance and integration of illness as outcomes of psychiatric genetic counselling (2021).
Amy Cutts. The Current Landscape of Consent Forms in Hereditary Cancer Clinics In Canada: Tool or Burden? (2020).
Caitlin Aldridge. A retrospective study of parental experiences with rapid genome-wide sequencing in a neonatal intensive care unit: A GenCOUNSEL sub-study (2020). – Published in Journal of genetic counseling, 30(2), 616–629. https://doi.org/10.1002/jgc4.1353.
Erica Peacock. Neurologists’ use of genetic testing in Parkinson disease: knowledge, attitudes and behaviours (2020).
Brianna van den Adel. An internship with the Adapt clinic: Impact on genetic counselling graduate’s comfort with psychiatric genetic counselling and future career direction (2020). – Published in Journal of genetic counseling, 2022.
Areesha Salman. Personality and Genetic Counselling: How patient personality types and coping styles alter genetic counselling outcomes (2020). – Published in Journal of genetic counseling, 2022.
Noura Osman. Autism Community Connects: A Co-Design Web-Platform to Facilitate the Uptake of Research Evidence by Families (2020).
Larissa Peck. Polygenic risk scores (PRSs) for common complex disease in consumer genomics: Exploring motivations, perceptions and reactions in users of a third-party analysis tool (2020). – Published in European journal of human genetics : EJHG, 30(1), 81–87. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41431-021-00929-3.
Heather Barnes. Trans-Inclusive Genetic Counselling Services: Recommendations from the Transgender Community (2019). – Published in Journal of genetic counseling, October 2019.
Taylor Costa. Genetic Counselling Workforce Trends in Canada: Employer Practices and Perspectives (2019). – Published in Journal of genetic counseling, 2020.
Brittany Gillies. Study of Employment for Recent Canadian Genetic Counselling Graduates (2019). – Published in Journal of genetic counseling, 2020.