We are honored to announce that Genetic Support Foundation (GSF) was awarded funding through the Gibbs Family Foundation to expand our no cost and subsidized genetic counseling services in the state of Wisconsin next year. Through this initiative we will be partnering with Wisconsin healthcare providers to offer genetic counseling services to their patients, while also ensuring healthcare providers receive the most up-to-date genetics education and resources tailored to their clinic’s needs.
Our intent is to focus our outreach efforts to federally qualified health centers in the state, including community health clinics, with the goal of reaching patients and families who otherwise would not be able to access and/or afford genetics services.
Why Wisconsin?
Even though GSF’s headquarters are physically based in Washington, we have a longstanding history with Wisconsin. Our late founder, medical geneticist Dr. Jon Wolff, spent much of his career in clinical genetics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Medicine and Public Health where he served as a Professor of Pediatrics and Medical Genetics and was division chief. He was also a co-founder of the Wisconsin based biotechnology firm, Mirus Bio, still operating today. Two current and founding board members, Jim Hagstrom, and Mark Johnson, reside in Wisconsin and continue to guide our work at GSF.
In addition, GSF has been a core rotation site for first year genetic counseling students at the University of WI-Madison since 2020. One of our GSF genetic counselors, Jenny Rietzler, MS, CGC, is an alum of their Genetic Counselor Training Program and leads this first year rotation. Jenny only recently returned to the state of Wisconsin after living in Seattle, WA, for over 6 years. For Jenny, there has always been overlap between the work she was doing for GSF in Washington and her ties to Wisconsin. Now that GSF has a physical genetic counseling presence in Wisconsin, Jenny will help to spearhead the efforts of this grant initiative with boots on the ground.
I’m a Provider or Patient in Wisconsin Interested in Learning More
We would love to hear from you. Please contact us at gc@geneticsupportfoundation.org or call our patient/provider line at 1-800-364-1641.
You can also review our indication list and our referral form. Genetic counseling services through GSF are usually offered by telehealth. If you are looking to establish an in-person genetic counseling service at your site, this may also be an option. Types of workflow for integrating genetic counseling into your practice or for referring to us at GSF can be personalized at the individual and organizational level. We are happy to talk further about this initiative and look forward to connecting.