Exploring the Growth and Challenges of Genetic Counselling: Carrie Haverty, MS, CGC

Genetic counselor Carrie Haverty, MS, CGC, earned her graduate degree in genetic counseling from the University of California Irvine and began her career in high-risk prenatal care with the focus of providing broad access to new diagnostic technologies. Since then, she has advanced in the field, eventually earning the role of a vice president of product management at Mirvie, where she is currently in the process of leading efforts to develop the Mirvie RNA platform. Along the way, her direct-clinical experience served as the foundation for leading-edge product development and commercialization of technologies at Counsyl, Myriad and Miroculus in addition to Mirvie. After serving on the board of directors for National Society of Genetic Counselors (NSGC), Haverty was selected to be the president of the organization in 2026, replacing Sara Pirzadeh-Miller.

The 44th NSGC Annual Conference, held November 6-10 in Seattle, Washington, included many relevant topics in gene counseling such as professional advance and growth of the field, genomics and new technology, and the ethical, legal, and social issues surrounding gene counseling. During the conference, Haverty gave an incoming presidential address to those in attendance, sharing her path to leadership, highlighting issues and opportunities for genetic counselors, and outlining her goals and aspirations for NSGC in 2026. During the meeting, Haverty sat down for an exclusive interview with NeurologyLive® to gave an overview on the current state of genetic counselling and gene therapy.

In the interview, Haverty touched on the expansion of gene counseling into various specialties, with gene counselors serving an even bigger role than before. In addition, she spoke about patients and their needs coming first with more personalized and empathetic care. Haverty also talked about some of the challenges the field faces, including patient reimbursement and healthcare system navigation for patients. Furthermore, the genetic counselor emphasized her excitement for the growing field of genetic counseling and for the addition of genetic counselors to multidisciplinary care teams.

NeurologyLive: Are there any highlights from this year’s conference you’d like to share, or is there anything about the conference that you want to explain?

Carrie Haverty, MS, CGC: I've been really excited to be at the conference this year, and there have been a couple of great areas of excitement. The professional issues topics have been wonderful. We had a great professional issues panel with trailblazing genetic counselors who are doing really innovative and interesting things throughout their careers, and that's very relevant for counselors.

Another area has been really fascinating— the expansion of genetic counselors into new specialty areas. There was one on inpatient genetic counselors supporting folks who are near end of life: how we manage stat testing, and how we help families and patients through that process too, which is kind of a new area for genetic counselors to be involved in.

Is there anything in the field of genetic counseling in general that you're excited about right now, whether at the conference or more broadly?

One thing that is super exciting is the increasing expansion of targeted therapeutics and biopharma involvement related to genetic testing, and the role that genetic counselors play in that. Not only in informing families about treatment options, but also in developing diagnostic tools that help direct the right therapies to the right patient at the right time.

So, that idea of genetic counselors being a critical component of precision medicine, not just in oncology where that's been true for a while, but also in cardiology, many rare pediatric diseases and other areas, that’s a growing area of interest. Gene therapy is tied into that.

Is there anything specific to gene therapy that you’d like to highlight?

Gene therapy is definitely a growing area. Certainly, something that, when I was in graduate school and planning to be a genetic counselor, was science fiction—a hope and dream for the future, but here it is now.

It’s really critical to understand not just the genetic testing and underlying molecular characteristics of the condition that inform the gene therapy, but also to understand the benefits and risks. Genetic counselors are well equipped not only to help enroll patients in trials, which is often the most expensive and difficult part of any pharmaceutical or new technology trial, but also to identify those rare patients who are eligible. That leads to the development of therapies.

Then, when therapies are on the market and available, genetic counselors are a critical component of helping patients and families understand the benefits, limitations, and risks so they can have truly informed consent and engagement in their decision-making.

Is there’s anything related to neurology that you could highlight or discuss, or anything in the field in general?

In general, neurology is an exciting area with Alzheimer’s is getting a lot of attention, and for good reason. There are new and exciting treatments on the horizon, and we’re moving beyond just early-onset cases to more broadly thinking about different points of testing, identification, preventive care, treatments, and therapies. That’s something that has broad appeal.

While there have always been genetic counselors working in neurology, that is one area that is expanding, with more and more happening. One thing I’ll highlight specific to the conference: our late-breaking plenary session is about autism and advocating for patients with autism in the current environment, which is a little bit fraught, always complex, and really important to have the genetic counselor voice as part of that.

Looking ahead, is there anything you’re anticipating or paying close attention to in the field?

There are a lot of things I’m looking forward to as the field continues to evolve. One of the most exciting things—and something I addressed in my incoming president address—is that this is a rapidly growing and rapidly changing field. That’s one of the things that attracted many of us: taking in new technology and integrating it into a patient-centered, empathetic model for delivering care across multiple specialties.

In general, I’m very excited to see genetic counselors integrated into clinics across intensive care units, primary care, cardiology, infectious diseases, in addition to neurology, oncology, pediatrics, and prenatal where we’ve been for many years. These new specialty areas are growing and expanding.

Broadly, I’m excited to see more genetic testing, counseling, and therapies incorporated across specialties, not just within a small genomics community, but across the entire health care ecosystem. That’s how we get from theoretical, lab-based ideas to real precision medicine that gets the right care to the right patient at the right time, ideally in a preventive setting too.

What are some of the biggest challenges in the field right now?

One of the biggest challenges, and this isn’t unique to genetic counselors, is reimbursement. Genetic counselors are not yet recognized by CMS as health care providers, so we cannot bill for our services independently. Genetic counseling is a covered benefit under Medicare, but genetic counselors cannot be the ones to provide that service and bill independently.

It’s an inefficient system, and it’s not providing the best care. We’re working hard to change that and will soon be introducing a bill in Congress to get genetic counselors recognized as health care providers who can bill for services. That will make things more efficient and accessible for Medicare beneficiaries.

Likewise, we also have a new CPT code for genetic counseling, 96041, as of this year. There’s always a transition period when new codes come out, and it takes time for payers and health systems to update their processes. Whatever we can do to accelerate that will be better for patients, because that directly translates to improved access.

Are there any trends or niches in the field that aren’t getting enough attention?

I think one very new area—and I’m not saying it’s not getting attention, it’s just new—is the growing need for postmortem genetic testing. Right now, when autopsies are done, there may be good reasons to do genetic or genomic testing on the tissue to identify what caused the death, what contributed to it, and then inform family members.

But there isn’t a great system for that right now, and it’s not something pathologists consistently use. Genetic counselors are finding a better path toward being incorporated into that process. It’s a really interesting area to watch and we actually have two different sessions at this conference on that topic.

Is there anything we didn’t cover that you want to share or anything you’d like our audience to know?

I’m really thrilled to see growing interest from other clinicians in incorporating genetic counselors into their care teams. The name of the game is multidisciplinary approaches. It’s harder and harder for any of us to do clinical care without involving other specialists, and genetic counselors are a key part of that. It’s great to see more folks adding genetic counselors to specialty clinics like nephrology, pathology, and others. I want to see more of that.

Transcript was edited for clarity. Click here for more NSGC 2025 coverage.