Grant: Team Gr.: Strength the Health Workforce for Sys. Transf.:Cancer Health Workforce

Genetic counsellors are Master's trained healthcare providers with the expertise needed to integrate genomics into all areas of medicine. Representing the "front line" of medical genetics, genetic counsellors support patients, educate them, and help them to make values-based, autonomous, informed healthcare decisions. However, there are only about 500 genetic counsellors in Canada, and the five Canadian genetic counsellor training programs only graduate ~25 counsellors/year. With the advent of precision health, there has been a rapid increase in the uptake of genetic testing across all medical specialties. As a result, there is an increased demand to see a genetic counsellor, in some areas the wait times are greater than one year. In this project, we will integrate innovative methods for deploying elements of genetic counselling by using digital tools and integrate genetic counsellors into different clinical environments where they do not currently practice enhancing the multidisciplinary healthcare workforce.