Covid19 staying-at-home has left many of us hoping to write our first novel.
Janice Berliner did it. She finished her first novel well before the current crisis. After a mid-career Cancun inspired revelation, Berliner merged fiction with expertise from her lifelong career in genetic counseling.
Berliner joins the podcast to discuss genetics and writing. She offers frank observations emerging from decades of revelations in genetics, science and the work of genetic counseling.
Berliner discusses her time as a clinician, the ground-breaking book she edited on the ethics of genetics and genetic counseling, her writing process, the shortage of genetic counselors, developing a new genetic counseling graduate program and leadership in a quickly growing field. Berliner provides a perspective on the profession that’s informal, timely and accurate. She offers detailed perspectives on the science of genetics, the politics of genetics, genetics as intellectual property, online learning, uncertainty and risk in genetics practice, scientific advances, international differences in genetic counseling, pop culture, advice for aspiring professionals and her own love of learning.
Guest
Janice Berliner is a licensed and board certified genetic counselor, who has more than 30 years of experience in the areas of prenatal, pediatric and cancer genetic counseling, and now academia. She has written many lay and scholarly articles and book chapters on genetics topics, and volunteers extensively within her profession and her community. Brooke’s Promise is Janice’s first novel, derived from her expertise working with patients and their family members facing the risk of disease, and the intensely personal and life-altering nature genetic illness can have on family relationships.
Follow Second Rail