Kathleen B. Swenson, EdD, MPH, MS is a Clinical Associate Professor of Medical Sciences & Education at the Chobanian and Avedisian School of Medicine and Director of the Boston University Master’s Program in Genetic Counseling. Kathleen began working with the Genetic Counseling Program in 2010 as a course instructor and capstone mentor. She has 25+ years of experience in the profession of genetic counseling, and prior clinical experience across multiple specialties (prenatal, pediatrics, neurology and cancer). Kathleen is an experienced educator and clinician across a broad spectrum of genetic counseling domains, ranging from prenatal genetic counseling to the development of a telephone-based counseling platform. Most recently, she worked at Counsyl, Inc. as a Clinical Product Specialist where she oversaw education for hereditary cancer genetics and mentorship of graduate students and internal employees. Prior to that, Kathleen served as a genetic counselor at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in their Cancer Genetics and Prevention Program. Kathleen earned her undergraduate degree in Natural Sciences and Psychology from Muhlenberg College, her Master’s Degree in Human Genetics from Sarah Lawrence College, a Master’s Degree in Public Health from Columbia University and recently a Doctorate of Education in Higher Education Leadership from Regis College.
Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility
The faculty of the BU Genetic Counseling Program recognize and celebrate differences in ethnicity, race, gender identity, disability status, religion, sexuality, immigration status and socioeconomic backgrounds in our learning community. As we provide care and train learners at Boston Medical Center, an institution serving historically marginalized patients and clients, we work to integrate issues related to diversity, inclusion, justice and equity throughout all aspects of our curriculum. We are devoted to developing faculty’s and students’ roles as advocates for our colleagues and patients, and uplifting the voices of those who have been disempowered by the medical system.
Program Director
Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine, Graduate Medical Sciences
Genetic Counseling Program
Graduate Medical Sciences Educator and Mentor (Primary Mentor of Graduate Students)
Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine, Graduate Medical Sciences
This tab shows grant data from BMC Sponsored Research. It includes:
- Grant title
- Project period and this person’s role on the grant
- PI name, if this person is not the PI (the name will link if PI has a BU Profile)
- Funding source(s). An arrow indicates the flow of funding if multiple sponsors.
- Some grants will show an agency award/project number, and may be a link.
- Data is sorted by project end date, and updated monthly.
This tab shows grant data from BU Sponsored Research. It includes:
- Grant title
- Project period and this person’s role on the grant
- PI name, if this person is not the PI (the name will link if PI has a BU Profile)
- Funding source(s). An arrow indicates the flow of funding if multiple sponsors.
- Some grants will show an agency award/project number, and may be a link.
- Data is sorted by project end date, and updated monthly.
This tab shows grant data that did not automatically get imported into Profiles
from BU or BMC sources.
- Grant title
- Project period and this person’s role on the grant
- PI name, if this person is not the PI (the name will link if PI has a BU Profile)
- Funding source(s). An arrow indicates the flow of funding if multiple sponsors.
- Some grants will show an agency award/project number, and may be a link.
- Data is sorted by project end date, and updated monthly.
This tab shows grant data from the Boston VA. We are only showing grant title, and only for people in the role of PI.
Alliance to Increase Diversity in Genetic Counseling (AID-GC)09/01/2021 - 08/31/2025 (Subcontract PI)
The Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania Warren Alpert Fdn
|
Yr
|
Title
|
Project-Sub Proj
|
Pubs
|
Publications listed below are automatically derived from MEDLINE/PubMed and other
sources, which might result in incorrect or missing publications. Faculty can
login
to make corrections and additions.
-
Del Rosario MC, Swenson KB, Coury S, Schwab J, Green RC, Gold NB. Genetic counselors' perspectives on genomic screening of apparently healthy newborns in the United States. Genet Med Open. 2024; 2:101885. PMID: 39669612; PMCID: PMC11613815; DOI: 10.1016/j.gimo.2024.101885;
-
Franca K, Swenson KB, Wang C. Counseling in a different language: An analysis of experiences and resources in multilingual genetic counseling. J Genet Couns. 2025 Feb; 34(1):e1902.View Related Profiles. PMID: 38594719
-
Leishman H, Swenson KB, Zayhowski K. The experiences and support needs of applicants who go unmatched to genetic counseling graduate programs: An exploratory qualitative study. J Genet Couns. 2024 Dec; 33(6):1323-1336.View Related Profiles. PMID: 38217106; PMCID: PMC11632558; DOI: 10.1002/jgc4.1864;
-
-
Means C, Cirino A, Swenson KB, Austin J. "I am a Genetic Counselor": A qualitative exploration of field leaders' perceptions of the title "genetic counselor". J Genet Couns. 2020 02; 29(1):97-104. PMID: 31663200
-
Mehta N, Lazarin GA, Spiegel E, Berentsen K, Brennan K, Giordano J, Haque IS, Wapner R. Tay-Sachs Carrier Screening by Enzyme and Molecular Analyses in the New York City Minority Population. Genet Test Mol Biomarkers. 2016 Sep; 20(9):504-9. PMID: 27362553; PMCID: PMC5314723; DOI: 10.1089/gtmb.2015.0302;
-
Berentsen K (Contributing author). Ancestry Based Carrier Screening. National Society of Genetic Counselors, Prenatal Special Interest Group. 2005.
-
Singh S, Henshaw SK, Berentsen K. chapter in volume of papers from Seminar on Socio-cultural and Political Aspects of Abortion from an Anthropological Perspective, Alaka Base (ed.). “Abortion: A Worldwide Overview”. Greenwood Press. 2003.
-
Henshaw SK, Hass T, Berentsen K, Carbone E. Abortion Factbook. The Alan Guttmacher Institute. 2001.
This graph shows the total number of publications by year, by first, middle/unknown,
or last author.
| Year | Publications |
|---|
| 2001 | 1 |
| 2003 | 1 |
| 2005 | 1 |
| 2016 | 1 |
| 2019 | 1 |
| 2020 | 1 |
| 2024 | 3 |
2021 Boston University School of Medicine, GMS Master's Program:
Outstanding Mentorship Award
2019 Boston University School of Medicine, GMS Master's Program:
Educator of the Year
2014 Counsyl:
Peer Nominated Vital Award
2007 Dominican Women's Development Center:
Outstanding Service Award: Genetic Education for the Latino Population