Program in Genetic Counseling

Become a genetic counselor with compassion, a sense of self, and the skills to be a leader in genetic and genomic health care. The Columbia University Genetic Counseling Graduate Program curriculum combines basic science and clinical medicine with humanism and professionalism. Choose a one-size-fits-you experience with research endeavors, university-wide electives, and the VP&S Club: the broadest student activities organization for the arts, athletics, and community outreach in American medical education.

We are part of the Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons (VP&S) at Columbia University Irving Medical Center, which is situated on a 20-acre campus in Northern Manhattan. Our mission is to prepare emerging leaders in genetic counseling with a strong foundation in the genetic and genomic sciences, precision medicine, humanistic counseling, and ethical inquiry. We celebrate the rich complexity of the human experience and advocate for the use of genetics and genomics to promote social justice in health care. The educational experience we offer is enhanced by an expansive curriculum, exposure to world-renowned faculty and clinical investigators, and our focus on compassion and listening.

Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons (VP&S) is guided by the principle that medical education is university education. The acquisition of knowledge and skills is important in professional education, but far more vital is a profound understanding of the science, the art, and the ethic within which both knowledge and skill are applied. As a part of Columbia University, the College builds its curriculum, selects its officers of instruction, and marshals its enormous resources of equipment and clinical experience to develop in the student this understanding of medicine.

VP&S is part of a unique collection of health sciences schools that make up the Columbia University Irving Medical Center, an integral part of the Washington Heights community in upper Manhattan—one of New York City's most diverse neighborhoods. Every day VP&S faculty, staff, and students work towards our mission—to care, to discover, to educate, and to make life better for people in need.