Biography
Kathleen (Berentsen) Swenson, 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 23 years of experience in genetic counseling in various clinical settings across many 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, and a Master’s Degree in Public Health from Columbia University.