Welcome to 2021! As I’ve joined Zooms with fellow NSGC Board members, committees and other volunteers this month, I’ve noticed some resounding themes in the words our members are using to describe their outlook for this year: hopeful, trepidatious, motivated and energized. I feel all of these emotions as well, and am eager to see what NSGC will accomplish this year with all of this hope and energy.
In my Incoming-Presidential Address at our first virtual Annual Conference in November, I talked about leading each other, and that with our incredible volunteers there should be nothing NSGC cannot accomplish. In that spirit of leading each other, I am very excited to announce the establishment of three new committees.
First, the Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Advisory Board is transitioning to a full standing DEI Committee, chaired by Deepti Babu with Khalida Liaquat serving as vice-chair. The transition of this committee not only ascribes the appropriate level of permanence to our diversity, equity and inclusion efforts, but it more accurately reflects the role that this committee is playing and will continue to play in our organization. The DEI Committee will play a key role in assimilating feedback from our members and other stakeholders about the recommendations we receive from the Exeter Group, helping to create a comprehensive, multi-year and multi-level DEI plan for our organization, coordinating with the Board, committees, SIGs and other volunteer groups to put this plan into action, and working with the Board to evaluate the effectiveness of our efforts over time.
Second, we are forming a new Awards Committee, which will coordinate our scholarship and NSGC Leadership awards programs. The facilitation of these awards and scholarships was formerly housed within the Membership Committee, but making this a stand-alone committee will allow recruitment of an even larger group of diverse volunteers who can bring a fresh perspective and creative ideas to the awards and scholarships programs and ensure we are celebrating the unsung heroes of our membership. We are delighted that Kanchi Barfiwala has agreed to chair the Awards Committee, and stay tuned for a call for additional volunteers that will be coming soon!
Finally, our new Advocacy Coordinating Committee will be a key facilitator of our grassroots efforts to support the enactment of legislation to allow Medicare to directly reimburse genetic counselors for our services. This committee will also serve as a conduit for communication and education about our federal advocacy efforts throughout the organization, and will help coordinate efforts with advocates and stakeholders at the state level. Check out the Federal Advocacy Update in this issue of the Advocate newsletter for more details about our multi-tiered advocacy plan, and look for more information soon about this new committee.
I am ever grateful for all of our volunteers, who are helping us lead each other forward.
Here’s to hope, energy and action in 2021!
Sincerely,
Sara Riordan
NSGC President
This article was published in the January 2021 Advocate Newsletter.
Sara Riordan is the president of the National Society of Genetic Counselors’ Board of Directors. Riordan’s 16-year genetic counseling career has spanned both academia and industry in the specialties of precision medicine, oncology, consumer genomics, and molecular diagnostics.