Growing in Empathy: Learning to Take My Own Advice and Seeing the Person Before the Patient

Genetic Counselor Christina Kresge talks about her most memorable cases from eight years of providing pediatric and adult genetic counseling services to an underserved population in and around Newark, NJ. She walks through five patient stories spanning Myotonic Dystrophy, Sialidosis, a rare recessive condition with an unexpected microarray finding, Homocystinuria identified through newborn screening, and—most personally—her own experience as a patient navigating prenatal carrier testing during her first pregnancy. The episode is a frank reflection on what it means to give advice you haven't yet had to take yourself, and what changes when you finally do.