Karin M. Dent, Director of the University of Utah Graduate Program in Genetic Counseling (UUGPGC), is a certified and licensed genetic counselor at the University of Utah and Professor of Pediatrics. She received a Master’s of Science degree in Genetic Counseling and Human Genetics from the University of Pittsburgh in 1998. Karin provides genetic counseling in the Medical Genetics and Genetic Counseling Clinics at Primary Children’s Hospital. In these settings, she also provides clinical supervision to genetic counseling students and other healthcare trainees.
Karin’s teaching focus is on genetic counseling and clinical genetics. She directs or co-directs six core courses in the UUGPGC curriculum, including the Genetic Counseling Seminars I, III, and IV; Research Methods for Genetic Counseling Students, Supervised Clinical Rotation in Genetic Counseling, and Genetic Counseling Research. Karin is also a Fellow in the University of Utah Academy of Health Sciences Educators, through which she hopes to continue advancing excellence in education. Her research interests include the delivery of difficult news by healthcare providers and the ethical challenges surrounding informed consent and return of results in exome and whole genome sequencing research. She has published in each of these areas.
Professor Dent is a past president of the National Society of Genetic Counselors (NSGC), was a member of several additional NSGC committees, the American Board of Genetic Counseling Credentialing Examination Committee, and chair of the Association of Genetic Counseling Program Directors (AGCPD) mentorship program. Currently, she is a member of the AGCPD Leadership Development Subcommittee and the Accreditation Council in Genetic Counseling Practice-Based Competencies Task Force. In the Utah community, she is a member of the State of Utah Medical Education Council on the Genetic Counselor Workforce and past member of the Utah Division of Occupational and Professional Licensing Genetic Counselors Licensing Board.
Karin enjoys teaching and supporting genetic counseling students. Her greatest reward is watching graduate students develop professionally and succeed in their genetic counselor roles.