President's Corner - John Zimmerman
It’s hard to believe that we are over halfway through the year. TSGC has used this inflection point to reflect on what we’ve accomplished as an organization thus far and look ahead to ongoing and future initiatives. As you know, TSGC has recently, with the input of our members, updated our strategic plan for 2023-2025. Our strategic plan is organized under four tenets: Supporting Professional Growth; Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion; Education; and Community Building. Highlighted below are several initiatives that support these tenets:
Supporting Professional Growth: The Licensure Committee achieved historic progress with licensure efforts. While the genetic counseling licensure bill ultimately did not pass this legislative session, the experiences of this session provided valuable lessons and strategies that we can build upon in the future. I commend the tremendous efforts of the Licensure Committee and all those who volunteered.
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI): The DEI Committee continues the mentorship program for prospective genetic counselors from underrepresented backgrounds, as well as NMS fee reimbursement for Black applicants applying to Texas genetic counseling training programs. Their work could not be more vital or timely.
Education: TSGC is collaborating with the Baylor and UTH Genetic Counseling Programs to sponsor a fall educational program focused on DEI issues; stay tuned for more details! Additionally, planning is already underway for the 2024 Annual Education Conference in Houston. The 2023 conference – our first in-person event since the start of the pandemic – was a huge success thanks to the hard work of our co-chairs.
Community Building: The new Texas Transcript format was created in the spirit of community building. With this new format we hope to engage more members in content creation, profile genetic counselors across the state, and provide updates on issues impacting the genetic counseling profession in Texas. Looking ahead, TSGC plans to further engage with members through a membership needs assessment survey to help us identify ways in which we can best support you. Keep your eye out for the survey in the coming weeks – your feedback is important!
These highlights represent just a small sampling of the work being done by our committees and leaders. I hope that our new and improved Texas Transcript can serve as a source for continued updates regarding the work our dedicated volunteers are putting into furthering the strategic plan of TSGC.