#221 Genetic Counseling in South Africa with Samantha Bayley and Tina-Marié Wessels

In this episode we are chatting about the genetic counseling field in South Africa! Joining us for this discussion are two guests from the University of Cape Town (UTC), current student, Samantha Bayley, and UCT-professor, Tina-Marié Wessels. Special thanks to our social media intern, Kajal Patel, for recommending Samantha and Tina for this episode!Samantha Bayley is currently a second-year student in the MMedSc Genetic Counselling Program at the University of Cape Town. Originally from Johannesburg she moved to the Western Cape for her tertiary education. Samantha completed a BSc in Human Life Sciences with Psychology (2016-2018), BSc Honours in Human Genetics (2019) and MSc in Human Genetics (2020-2021), all at Stellenbosch University. Her honours and masters research focused on a rare condition called Mabry Syndrome, including identifying a novel deleterious variant in the gene PGAP3 and determining this variant to be a likely founder effect in the Xhosa population for Mabry Syndrome. This year Samantha will do a minor dissertation on 'Investigating the Opinions on Telephonic Advanced Maternal Age Genetic Counselling'. She created the @samthegc Instagram page to share her experience as a Genetic Counselling Student and raise awareness for the profession in Africa.Dr. Tina-Marié Wessels is an associate professor in the genetic counseling program at the University of Cape Town, where she has worked since 2014! Prior to teaching at UTC, Tina worked as a genetic counselor at the National Health Laboratory Service and the University of the Witwatersrand, where she received her MSc(Med) and PhD in genetic counseling.She conducted her PhD in association with the Health Communications Project and examined the communication aspects of the genetic counselling process in an antenatal multicultural context. Tina joined the Division of Human Genetics at UCT IN 2014 as senior lecturer in Genetic Counselling. Together with Prof Jacquie Greenberg, she runs the Masters programme in Genetic Counselling where she is involved in undergrad and postgraduate teaching. In addition to her academic role, she is involved in clinical service and counsels patients from Groote Schuur and Red Cross Children’s Hospital.On This Episode We Discuss:Genetic counseling in South AfricaFactors that limit expansion of the genetic counseling field in South AfricaHow we can raise awareness in South African healthcare for genetic counselors and their services so that there is an increased amount of referralsPaying for genetic counseling consults in South AfricaRelationships with patient advocacy organizationsGenetic counseling degree programs in South Africa and how to applySam’s experience as a genetic counseling student (which she shares on her Instagram!)Job requirements of being a genetic counselor in South AfricaAvailability of genetic counseling positions and paid internshipsThe process to order genetic testing in South Africa Public sector versus private sector How they envision the field changing in the next five yearsTo learn more about genetic counseling in South Africa, check out this blog post from My Gene Counsel which features genetic counselors from South Africa as Trailblazing genetic counselors! You can also follow Sam’s Instagram account @samthegc, to learn more about the day-to-day life of a genetic counseling student in South Africa! Kira also mentioned a couple other episodes during the recording…#117 Dr. Janina Jeff (In Those Genes Podcast) on African Genomes#216 African American Ancestry with Nicka SmithShoutout to our Social Media Intern, Kajal Patel, for introducing us to Samantha Bayley and making this episode happen! Stay tuned for the next new episode of DNA Today on February 3rd, 2023 where we are kicking off our rare disease awareness month celebrations by discussing Wilson’s disease with Naseem Amin of Orphalan! New episodes are released every Friday. In the meantime, you can binge over 220 other episodes on Apple Podcasts,