December 08, 2025
As genetic testing becomes part of routine health care, one question looms large: who helps patients make sense of it all?
Led by Dr. Alison Elliott (BC Children’s Hospital and UBC) and a national team that included Dr. J9 Austin, the GenCOUNSEL project reimagined how Canadians access and experience genetic counselling.
With support from Genome BC, the team piloted new service models, including virtual appointments, digital decision aids and clinic-embedded counsellors — all designed to make genetic counselling more accessible, equitable and patient-friendly. They tackled workforce shortages, tested innovations in real-world settings and contributed evidence to support system-wide change.
That momentum continues. In BC, Dr. Austin led a study evaluating how genetic counselling could support treatment decisions for patients with clinical depression, where pharmacogenomic testing may guide antidepressant use. A simulation model projected 37% fewer cases of treatment-resistant depression and estimated $956 million in health-system savings over 20 years in BC alone.
Now, ACCESS-GC, a Genome BC funded trial, is embedding genetic counsellors into primary care clinics, aiming to integrate genomic support directly into communities and build on GenCOUNSEL’s vision for equitable access to genomic care.
GenCOUNSEL proved genetic counselling doesn’t need to be confined to specialists in major centres. It can, and should, reach people where they are. That’s how we make precision medicine work for everyone.
This article appears in Genome BC’s 2024/25 Annual Report. View the whole report here.
