The Preventive Genetic Counseling Service

The MGH Preventive Genetic Counseling Service provides accessible, high-quality genetic counseling to patients seeking to learn more about their genetic disease risk.

Services Offered

We work with your MGH primary care team to offer genetic counseling, genetic testing, and directed follow-up for the following indications:

• Genetic counseling for breast and related cancer predisposition (e.g., BRCA1/2 testing, patients with strong family history of cancer)
• Patients and couples seeking preconception carrier screening for recessive disorders

Our service is entirely virtual. Patients must be in the state of Massachusetts or New Hampshire at the time of their video visit. The referring clinician must be an MGH or NWH primary care provider.

While this service provides genetic counseling, a clinician (MD/NP/PA) is required to authorize the genetic testing order. Orders for genetic testing will be placed under the name of the referring provider. Providers will be contacted to complete a one-time registration with the service and the testing lab either before or at the time of placing an order.

Referral Information: The Referral Name is “Ambulatory Referral to MGH Preventive Genetic Counseling Service” (REF10242).

Team Members

Kristen Shannon, MS, CGC
Director

Anna Verwillow, MS, CGC
Genetic Counselor

Olivia Benson, BS
Genetic Counseling Assistant

Olivia Ritchie, BS
Genetic Counseling Assistant