Research Education News
Building the Blueprint: SMD Graduates Its First Genetic Counseling Master’s Students
Wednesday, June 18, 2025
From left to right: Kimberly Fluet, Emily Calamaro, Abigail Hamilton, Emily Miller, Elizabeth Masteller, Srinka Arora, Jordan Lehman, Ben McPherson, and Audrey Schroeder.
One small step across the commencement stage, one big milestone for the School of Medicine and Dentistry. We’re proud to celebrate the first graduating class of our genetic counseling master’s students.
“We’ve reached a few big milestones during development and implementation of the program,” said program director Audrey Schroeder. “Welcoming our first cohort of students in fall 2023 and now celebrating their graduation is especially meaningful for our faculty, clinical partners, and the broader genetics community.”
MSGC graduate Emily Miller speaking during the Master’s and
Advanced Certificate Commencement Ceremony on May 17, 2025
Our Master’s in Genetic Counseling is the first accredited genetic counseling master’s program in upstate New York and helps meet a growing need for highly trained professionals who can guide patients through complex genetic information and its impact on their health.
Students benefit from close collaboration with a wide range of genetics professionals at URMC, which is home to the largest number of clinical genetics professionals of any health care system in upstate New York. Through hands-on learning and clinical rotations, they gain experience in specialties including reproductive genetics, cancer genetics, cardiogenetics, neurogenetics, ocular genetics, inherited metabolic disorders, and more.
“The University of Rochester has been an ideal training site,” Schroeder added. “Our students work directly with genetics experts and have access to the full array of resources and support available through the School of Medicine and Dentistry.”
The milestone graduation was highlighted during the master’s and advanced certificate commencement ceremony, where a member of the inaugural class, Emily Miller, served as student speaker.
“Although only six of us in this room are actually earning the title ‘genetic counselor’ today,” she said, “each person before me exemplifies traits that are key to successful genetic counseling and key to a successful professional career of any kind: innovation, compassion, perseverance, and optimism.
The program welcomed its second cohort of seven students in the fall of 2024 and is poised for continued growth
“Our graduates will go on to improve health care and access locally, nationally, and internationally,” said Schroeder. “We look forward to seeing the contributions they will make to the field of genetics and to the patients they will serve.”
The New Issue of Opportunities to Explore is Out Now!
Tuesday, June 10, 2025
Read the June 9 - June 13 Issue
Honoring excellence in mentoring, teaching, and research
Wednesday, April 30, 2025
Join us in congratulating this year's SMD faculty award winners!
SMD Faculty Mentoring Awards
Trainee Academic Mentoring Award in Clinical Programs
Joseph A. Nicholas, MD, MPH, ’01M (Res)
Professor of Medicine, William and Sheila Konar Family Professor in Geriatrics, Palliative Medicine and Person-Centered Care
Trainee Academic Mentoring Award in Basic Science
Marissa Sobolewski Terry, PhD
Assistant Professor of Environmental Medicine and Neuroscience
Faculty Academic Mentoring Award
Anne C. Nofziger, MD, ’00M (Res)
Associate Professor of Family Medicine
Lifetime Mentoring Award
Gary R. Morrow, PhD, ’88 (MS)
Professor of Surgery and Radiation Oncology, Dean’s Professor
Newly Named Professorships
Haggerty-Friedman Professor in Developmental/Behavioral Pediatric Research
- Suzannah J. Iadarola, PhD
- Ralph W. Prince Professor in Medicine Stephen R. Judge, MD ’06M (Res)
- Denham S. Ward, MD, PhD Professor Michael J. Scott, MB, ChB
- E. Philip Saunders Distinguished Professor Michael D. Maloney, MD, ’97M (Res)
- Pluta Professor in Breast Care
Anna C. Weiss, MD
Dean's Professors
Dean’s Professor, Public Health Sciences
- Elaine L. Hill, PhD
- Dean’s Associate Professor, Biochemistry and Biophysics
- Mitchell R. O’Connell, PhD
Dean's Teaching Fellow Awards
- Annabel S. Fu, MD, ’11M (MD), ’15M (Res) (Psychiatry)
- Karlo J. Lizarraga Mendoza, MD, MS (Neurology, Neuroscience)
- Sarah E. McConnell, PhD, ’10M (MS), ’13M (PhD) (Neuroscience)
- Erica O. Miller, MD, ’18M (Flw) (Medicine, Pediatrics)
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