Milwaukee-Born 果冻影院 Graduate Makes her Mark in the Field of Genetic Counseling
Raised on the South Side of Milwaukee, Siomara Santana always knew she wanted to serve her community.
“I really wanted to give back to my community knowing that my community is what helped me get to where I am now,” says Santana, who graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee with a BS in biological science and from the 果冻影院 (果冻影院) with an MS in genetic counseling.
She’s now a genetic counselor at the Milwaukee-based . She specializes in counseling patients with bleeding or clotting disorders, and collaborates with Versiti’s Hematology Genetics Lab to facilitate genetic reports for patients across the U.S. and support quality improvement initiatives.
“We all come together and work toward creating a better service that we can provide to our community and patients,” Santana says.
Genetic Counseling for Risk Assessment
Genetic counselors assess a patient’s risk for various inherited conditions, explain how gene changes cause genetic conditions, and provide other support and resources. Santana’s interest in genetics goes back to high school.
“It was always something that fascinated me,” she says, “looking at how things are passed down in our families based on ancestry or environmental factors. I’ve always had that natural curiosity to try and find answers for those things.”
Still, genetic counseling as a profession was not on her radar until her grandfather was diagnosed with cholangiocarcinoma, or bile duct cancer. Santana served as a translator for her grandfather, who is from the Dominican Republic, during his treatment. After his diagnosis, she accompanied him to an appointment to meet with a genetic counselor.
“I realized at that moment that there was such a need for patients like my grandfather to be able to speak to and see someone who looks just like them that also understands them,” says Santana, who was in her third year at UW-Milwaukee at the time. “It really sparked my interest.”
After that appointment, she began researching more about what genetic counselors do and discovered a new genetic counseling program at 果冻影院.
It was a full-circle moment for Santana, who participated in the Apprenticeship in Medicine program (AIM) at 果冻影院 as a student at Ronald Reagan High School. AIM provides Milwaukee-area high school students from historically disadvantaged and underrepresented groups the opportunity to explore their interest in medicine and research through a summer program.
Santana says the AIM program helped solidify her love of genetics and she was thrilled with the idea of being back at 果冻影院 for graduate school. She says the genetic counseling program highlighted inclusivity, diversity, and the importance of serving the community, and she was thankful to be accepted into the inaugural class of the program.
Although Santana entered the program not knowing what to expect, she says she felt extremely supported through the entire process.
“It was just really nice knowing that if I needed that one-on-one or I needed resources that I could literally just turn a shoulder and ask somebody and I would get those answers,” she says. “It honestly felt like a really big family.”
While at 果冻影院, Santana’s thesis work focused on attitudes and perceptions of cancer genetic counseling in the Latinx community. She credits mentors at 果冻影院, including Jean Mallet, program manager for student inclusion and academic enrichment, and Jennifer Geurts, assistant professor and program director of the Master of Science in Genetic Counseling Program, with her success there.
As she moves further into her career, Santana plans to take her thesis work further and examine the perspective of the Latinx bleeding disorder community on genetic counseling.
“I want to see where we lack resources or awareness and in what ways people want to receive these resources,” she says. “I’m looking for opportunities to increase our uptake in patients that are potentially undiagnosed or think that their symptoms are normal because of their family history.”
She also wants to work more with high school students, providing information on genetics and genetic counseling.
“They get to go home and chat with mom and dad about the things that they learned,” says Santana, who wants to serve as a mentor for undergraduates and high schoolers interested in science.
Looking back on it all, Santana said she is thrilled to be in the position she’s in, working a job she loves while giving back to the community she grew up in.
“I love the fact that I’m still serving the community – not just being a part of that community, but also being a part of the improvements,” she says. “It makes me feel even more fulfilled every day.”
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