Kathleen Swenson, MS, MPH, CGC
Clinical Associate Professor, Medical Sciences & Education
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.
Other Positions
- Program Director, Genetic Counseling Program, Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine, Graduate Medical Sciences
- Graduate Faculty (Primary Mentor of Grad Students), Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine, Graduate Medical Sciences
Websites
Education
- Columbia University, MPH
- Sarah Lawrence College, MS
- Muhlenberg College, BS
Classes Taught
- GMS GC601
- GMS GC603
- GMS GC605
- GMS GC606
- GMS GC607
- GMS GC711
- GMS GC712
- GMS GC713
- GMS GC714
- GMS MH703
Publications
- Published on 8/7/2024
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.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 4/9/2024
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. PMID: 38594719.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 1/12/2024
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. PMID: 38217106.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 1/24/2020
Hoffman JD, Thompson R, Swenson KB, Dasgupta S. Complexities of Clinical Genetics Consultation: An Interprofessional Clinical Skills Workshop. MedEdPORTAL. 2020 01 24; 16:10869. PMID: 32342009.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 10/30/2019
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.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 6/30/2016
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.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 1/1/2005
Berentsen K (Contributing author). Ancestry Based Carrier Screening. National Society of Genetic Counselors, Prenatal Special Interest Group. 2005.
- Published on 1/1/2003
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.
- Published on 1/1/2001
Henshaw SK, Hass T, Berentsen K, Carbone E. Abortion Factbook. The Alan Guttmacher Institute. 2001.