Autumn Updates from the SCGC Board of Directors

Thursday, November 14th is Genetic Counselor Awareness Day!

Please join SCGC at Happy Hour to celebrate. There will be GC Awareness Day Happy Hours in 3 locations. See details:

• San Diego

  • Thursday, November 14th

  • 5:30-7:30pm

  • Ballast Point Brewing Miramar, Outdoor Patio

  • 9045 Carroll Way, San Diego, CA

• Orange County

  • Thursday, November 14th

  • 6:00-8:00pm

  • 4th Street Market

  • 201 E 4th St., Santa Ana, CA

• Los Angeles

  • Thursday, November 14th

  • 6:00-8:00pm

  • Citizen Public Market, 1st Floor

  • 9355 Culver Blvd., Culver City, CA

SCGC Elections

Vote for the 2025 SCGC Board of Directors! We have an exciting slate of nominees. All full members (board-certified or board-eligible genetic counselors working or residing in Southern California) are able to participate in the election. Slate is provided below. Full members will receive voting instructions to approve the slate and/or write in candidate suggestions on Monday, November 18th. Voting will be open 11/18-11/27.

New Slate:

President Elect: Lauren Siems Watson

Treasurer: Emily Parkhurst

Secretary: Ruben Martin

Membership Co-Chairs: Nicole Choy and Jamie Phan

Outreach Co-Chairs: Hunaydah Elfarawi and Rushna Raza Inaba

The continuing positions will be:

Executive Officers

President: Rebecca LeShay Araujo

Past President: Joan Oliver

Directors at Large

Marketing: Annina Cooper

Education Co-Chairs: Kathryn Reyes and Nydia Santiago Neal

DEI Co-Chairs: Amanda de Leon and Ariadna Martinez

Many thanks to the Nominating Committee:

Emily Sarnoff

Kalina Stefanov

Nydia Santiago Neal, Education Co-Chair

Naomi Wagner, outgoing Membership Chair

Stacey Wong, Past President and Nominating Committee Chair 

Voting instructions will be emailed out to full members on Monday, November 18th.

Update your SCGC Profile

To make sure you are able to vote and receive other important SCGC updates, please remember to update your information on the SCGC website! First, log in to the SCGC website. You can find your contact information by clicking on the down arrow to the right of your name at the top right corner of the home page. Click “My Account” to view and update your profile information. With many job changes happening and students graduating and joining the genetic counseling profession, your information may need updating. Updating your location will also help us to plan more local events! Contact info@socalgc.org with questions.

Winter Updates from the Board of Directors ❄

Happy winter from Southern California Genetic Counselors! Wishing you a safe and joyful holiday season. Please see important updates from the BOD below:

Vote for the 2024 SCGC Board of Directors!

We have an exciting slate of nominees. The final day to approve the slate and/or write in candidate suggestions is Tuesday, December 19th! All full members are able to participate in the election. Slate and voting instructions are both provided below.

New slate:

President elect: Rebecca LeShay Araujo

Education co chairs: Kathryn Reyes and Nydia Santiago Neal

DEI co chairs: Amanda de Leon and Ariadna Martinez

The continuing positions are:

Executive officers

President: Joan Oliver

Past-President: Stacey Wong

Secretary: Hilary Kershberg

Treasurer: Lauren Siems

Directors at large

Marketing: Annina Cooper

Membership: Naomi Wagner

Outreach and Community Engagement: Nicole Choy and Paloma Boeck

Many thanks to the Nominating Committee:

Taylor Berninger

Cathi Franklin

Emily Parkhurst

Naomi Wagner

Michelle Fox, Chair 

Voting instructions:

1. Go to socalgc.org.

2. Log-in to your SCGC Account. (If you have not registered yet, please do so! Visit socalgc.org/membership for details.)

3. Go to your SCGC Account page by clicking the arrow on the top right.

4. Scroll down and select the "Go to Vote" button.

5. On the Elections page, you can review the list of all candidates on the current slate, including photos, bios, and CV/resumes.

6. At the bottom, you have the opportunity to write-in any candidate suggestions

7. To approve the slate, select "Accept"

Northern California & Southern California Collaboration

We are excited to announce that the Northern California Coalition of Genetic Counselors and the Southern California Genetic Counselors are considering collaborating for a joint annual education conference in 2025. This conference would replace our two separate annual conferences for that year. To help with our planning, we are requesting feedback from our members and community. Please fill out this survey by mid-January: https://forms.gle/ztZQjorhAQxPZCKm6. We would like to get all of our members to respond.

SCGC Education Update

We wrapped up a successful 2023 webinar series, and all attendees who claimed CEUs should be able to access their certificate in their NSGC portal. Thank you for joining us throughout the year, and keep an eye out for more details and registration information for the 2024 series, which will start January 23rd!

Happy Hours!

Thank you to all who attended the San Diego, Orange County, and Los Angeles Happy Hours. We hope to have more social events in 2024. Please reach out to info@socalgc.org you would like to help organize a SCGC happy hour in your area.

SD Happy Hour (picured, left) on 8/22 had a great turnout, with about 20 attendees total. We are excited to have more local gatherings.

OC Happy Hour (pictured, right) on 9/28 was a success. It was great to get together, meet some new people, and visit with old friends.

LA Happy Hour (pictured, left) was so fun! We met on Friday 11/17 in Culver City and discussed having another casual meet-up in the spring 😀

We are looking forward to more SCGC educational events and social gatherings in 2024! Thank you for being part of SCGC.

Summer Updates from the Board of Directors!

SCGC 2024 Elections

Be part of the exciting world of the SCGC Board of Directors! Help lead this

vibrant group of over 300 genetic counselors.

You will be receiving a call for nominations in the next week. Please

nominate a colleague or yourself for one of the SCGC open positions. All full members are eligible. Details to follow.

Executive Officer

President-Elect (3-year term)

Board at Large Directors

Education Chair (2-year term)

DEI Chair (2-year term)

Continuing members of the BOD include:

Joan Oliver - Incoming President

Stacey Wong - Past-President

Hilary Kershberg - Secretary

Lauren Siems - Treasurer

Naomi Wagner - Membership

Annina Cooper - Marketing

Paloma Boeck and Nicole Choy - Community Outreach and Engagement

Thank you,

SCGC 2024 Nominating Committee: Emily Parkhurst, Taylor Berninger, Cathi Franklin, Naomi Wagner (SCGC Membership Chair), and Michelle Fox (Nominating Committee Chair)

San Diego Social Event

Please join us for a SCGC social in San Diego on Tuesday, August 22nd from 6-8pm at Ballast Point Brewing Miramar (9045 Carroll Way). This is a casual get-together for SCGC members. Note: We will meet on the patio outside, and people can opt to purchase their own food/drinks as desired. Stay tuned for upcoming events in Orange County & LA!

Community Outreach Committee

We are currently in the process of planning our New Speaker Orientation ahead of the 2023-2024 school year. SCGC’s Community Outreach committee is collaborating with the Genetic Counseling Prospective Student Network (GCPSN) to engage various community college student groups and high schools throughout SoCal by organizing talks with these groups to introduce them to the field and answer any questions they may have. Our New Speaker Orientation is planned for August 2023.

We are asking that previous speakers and newly interested speakers please sign up through our Speaker Interest Form to be contacted for New Speaker Orientation.

If you are interested in volunteering with the Community Outreach Committee in a different capacity (i.e. genetics legislation, etc.), please email Nicole Choy (nicole.x.choy@kp.org) or Paloma Boeck (boeckpaloma1@gmail.com).

Webinar Series

The final webinar sessions for the 2023 series will be airing in August and September. See updated details below! As a reminder, SCGC members are able to claim CEUs for any webinars that they attend live if they complete the evaluation within two weeks and pay the fees. Keep an eye out in the coming weeks for more information about paying the fees to claim your CEUs!

July's session was rescheduled to 8/8/2023 at 12pm PT: Genomics and Precision Medicine Policy: Why Genetic Counselors Should Engage in Advocacy with Jennifer Leib, MS, CGC.

8/23/2023 at 12pm PT: The Importance of Multi-Institutional Collaborative Research Among Genetic Counselors; Lessons from NTHL1-Tumor Syndrome Case Studies with Chelsey Weatherill, MS, CGC.

9/7/2023 at 12pm PT: Harnessing the Power of Cultural Competency for Actionable Change, a DEI workshop with Alberto Morales (Morales Consulting) and Jamila White (blakQuity).