Celebrating one year and 50,000 views with our first Giveaway!
The DNA Exchange is celebrating it’s one year blog-o-versary today! In acknowledgment of the big day, we would like to thank our amazing readers and guest bloggers who have participated in our ongoing conversation on topics that affect genetic counselors and our patients.
To celebrate, for the next 72 hours any reader leaving a comment on this post will automatically be entered to win our DNA EXCHANGE birthday giveaway: a set of Watson and Crick bobblehead dolls. Yup, it’s true. Watson and Crick bobbleheads! Be the envy of your friends and co-workers!
To enter, just leave a comment below with your suggestions for future topics, an idea for the next snap poll or simply some feedback about our little blog, and you could be the proud owner of a pair Watson and Crick bobbleheads! A winner will be randomly chosen at 5pm EST on Friday, May 21. We will announce the winner first thing Monday morning.
The DNA Exchange 
How about topics addressing stresses in the work place (i.e. with co-workers, both genetics and non-genetics professionals)?
This is a great site–always interesting and thought provoking.
Congratulations on the one year blog-o-versary! I have greatly enjoyed following this blog and the thoughts/opinions of my fellow genetic counselors.
I would like to see something on the issue of risk. I find it interesting that we offer prenatal tests to pregnancies at 1/2 of one percent risk, and yet when it comes to cancer, some guidelines suggest that genetic testing not be offered unless the patient is at 10% risk or higher.
A big thank you to the bloggers. The posting are always great to read and though provoking.
Great website. Congratulations!!!
I appreciate the site as a way to catch-up on what is hot or controversial in the world of genetics. Thanks!
Great stuff I’ve found on your website. How about discussions of genetic nurses vs master prepared genetic counsellors?
Happy Birthday to a great blog that keeps me informed and entertained! I feel that this blog truly understands my professional needs and sense of humor!
P.S. I must have these Watson and Crick bobblehead dolls.
Always a great read. Suggested topics for the future include billing issues and the struggles for reimbursement and third payor recognition.
Great website! Happy blog-o-versary!
As GCs, in grad school we learned how to discuss possible diagnoses with our patients, but sometimes we find ourselves in the position of having to discuss a possible genetic diagnosis within our own family with close family members. I think this would be an interesting topic for discussion!
Happy blog-oversary! Love reading interesting thoughts and stories on this site.
Happy First!
I love this blog! Watson & Crick bobbleheads…how I must have you!
Happy 1st anniversary! Keep the thought-provoking topics coming!
How did we survive before the web?! This blog has been an excellent way to explore deep thought-provoking issues unique to our profession. Great work!!
Genetic exceptionalism: What makes genetics different than other areas of medicine, especially when it comes to issues such as informed consent?
Can’t believe it’s been a year! Congrats! Always love the posts.
Thanks so much to all of those who have made this blog a success. Congratulations on a year well-done! Incidentally, I can’t believe this is the first i’ve seen those bobbleheads, but they are fantastic.
Happy Anniversary – Thanks for the posts! I always enjoy reading this blog 🙂
I would like to echo the other comments. I like hearing what’s going on out there. I especially like reading Bob’s blogs. He almost always makes me chuckle.
Happy 1st! All of the postings have been thought provoking and I thank you all for that. 🙂
Thanks for all of the interesting articles and great comments from other readers. It’s all quite insightful!
I’ve enjoyed reading many of the thoughtful, well-written posts on this blog. Thanks to those of you who created and contributed to it over the past year. It has helped keep me thinking anew about gc professional issues.
A post about ways we can overcome reasons that some may leave the profession may be helpful (e.g. salary – use PSS to negotiate higher pay; lack of opportunity for advancement – become an asst. professor at your local university). I’m sad to have seen some great counselors leave the field.
Amy – I think that is a great topic for discussion. Perhaps a spin-off could also be pursuit of additional degrees (much like a session held during an AEC a few years ago), as PhDs, MBAs, etc may provide leverage for GCs and reduce the likelihood of leaving the field.
Thank you to all of you who have posted over this past year. The posts have been thoughtful and thought-provoking.
Congratulations on your one-year anniversary! Keep the blog posts coming – always an entertaining read.
Happy First Birthday! The posts are both entertaining and thought provoking.
Happy first anniversary! You guys have done an amazing job at writing relevant and interesting posts. Congratulations!
Thank you to the bloggers and congratulations on a year of blogging!
future topics?
Maybe a discussion of next generation/full genome sequencing- this technique seems to be gathering more steam, but little attention has been given to what to do with information we weren’t looking for and the patient may not want to know (ie, a BRCA mutation identified in a pediatric study)…
Happy Birthday, blog! I’ve really enjoyed reading this blog over the past year, please keep it going!
Happy Birthday! I look forward to more great posts in the next year.
Happy blog-o-versary! I always enjoy reading your comments, congrats on your first year.
Happy blog- o- versary!!! I think this blog is just a wonderful idea and thank all of you for bringing your creatve talents to engage and amuse all of us!!!
Happy Birthday! I alway enjoy reading about challenges faced by Genetic Counsellors in the US compared to what we face over where I am in Australia. I would be really interested in a comparision of genetic counselling in the UK, Australia and the USA!
I’m glad I found you before the entire first year was up. I’m planning to visit often for encouragement and enlightenment. Thank you for a great site!
Great gift idea…every genetics professional should have a pair.
Congratulations!
Happy Birthday!
Happy Birthday! I’ve greatly enjoyed reading the blogs – especially those that add some humour to to otherwise stressful topics. Here’s to many great years to come!
Happy birthday! I always enjoy reading your posts!
I only wish I had more time to look at the blog, ‘work’ gets in the way. I have enjoyed the topics, the controversy, and the forum to comment without fear of being judged.
This site and the NSGC blogs are a great way to keep current and have discussions away from the listserv. Happy Birthday and many more!
Happy anniversary and thank you for leading the GC community into the 21st century with style! Your posts are always thought-provoking and are a great way to link our tight-knit community to the outside world. Keep up the great work!
Thanks so much for creating this blog – it’s great to learn how different and yet similar our GC colleagues are!
Thanks for a great year of blogs. I particularly enjoyed the Glenn Beck post – I live in a conservative state, and it really gave me a different perspective on how to talk about legal issues with my clients.
hmmmmm….. suggestions….
top 10 must see movies for genetic counselors, top 10 summer reads for geneticists, the dysmorphologist extinct, what I learned from my Kindergartner as a geneticist, the generation gap as it relates to GCs, the GC billing obsession, the history of visual aides in GC session
Thanks for this blog all the posting have be so thought provoking. However I must admit I enjoy the personal vignettes the most.
Cheers,
Martha
Happy Anniversary!
Would love to see more about nontraditional roles of genetic counselors (for those of us looking for a change….)
The other comments have some great ideas! I like hearing about others’ experience with genetic counseling in their personal lives.
I always struggle with how to react to newly pregnant friends – should I say anything at all about my prenatal counseling background? Should I correct their misconceptions about screening and ultrasounds? There is a fine and blurry line sometimes.
Congratulations on your anniversary. I have an idea for a story, but an old-timer would have to write it. I am interested in the behind the scenes story of how genetic conditions get their name. In Smith Lemli Opitz syndrome, Opitz already had a bunch of syndromes, so who decided that Smith should go first? Did they flip a coin?
Where did you find those bobble heads? Amazing! Congrats on your 1 year anniversary!
How about moral distress issues as a potential topic (or series)?
Another idea is a discussion of how to defend the worth of genetics departments — esp given the current funding issues in most workplaces and the lack of job openings, esp in California.
Happy Birthday! Thanks for the great postings!
Well done! The blog is great and reading it whilst on maternity leave always made me smile and feel ‘in touch’ with the profession. Perfect timing!
I echo some of the other suggestions for topics: talking to pregnant friends about prenatal issues / GCs working overseas or in remote areas / non tradional roles for GCs.
This is a great website! Congratulations
Happy Anniversary!
As for other topics, I recently had a discussion with our graduate students about “what I wished I had learned in graduate school”, and I think it might be fun to hear what others think about this question. (They also asked me if life as a genetic counselor was “less stressful” than life as a graduate student–which prompted me to have some interesting discussions with my coworkers about this.)
Happy 1 year! Really enjoy reading this blog! Very thought provoking!
Congratulations to a wonderful blog that has many helpful and interesting articles! I’d like to see an article focusing on alternative options for Genetic Counselors or perhaps fields that our presence is expanding in, such as cardiac genetics- Thanks!
Bobble head dolls! I want bobble head dolls!
I most enjoy the thought-provoking, push the envelope posts. Saying that kinds of things that maybe GC’s say to one another over a drink, but which NSGC isn’t going to touch.
Happy Birthday! I think somebody already mentioned this, but topics on billing related issues. Are GC’s getting reimbursed for 96040, does state licensure make a difference? Should GC programs add billing issues to the curriculum?
Congratulations! One of the things I enjoy most about this blog is the variety of topics. I also appreciate that I can refer my non-genetics friends to it and they enjoy it too.
A thought for a topic, in light of a story I heard on NPR yesterday – synthetic genomes, their applications and possible impact on our practices.
Thanks so much!
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