Jehannine Austin
Professor at The University of British Columbia
“We have all of this knowledge about genetic variations that can contribute to the development of diseases, so I am interested in how do we best use interactions and communication skills to invoke behavior change in people? That’s really what genetic counseling is all about – it’s not just about providing information, but providing information in a supportive and counseling based interaction.”
Read Dr. Jehannine’s full profile below
What do you do every day?
I am a professor and scientist in genetic counseling. No two of the days look the same, and that’s something I really like about my job! My job entails writing grant applications to fund research projects that I am interested in. I write academic papers to share the results and the findings of the research our team has done. I spend a lot of time with students; many of whom are young women because genetic counseling is a female dominated field. I do a lot of public speaking and presenting about my work. I also oversee the world’s first psychiatric genetic counseling service as a clinical service delivery aspect of my work.
Why do you love it?
My work is really all about trying to make what we know in the research about the genetics of psychiatric disorders useful to people who have these conditions as well as their family members. That is interesting to me because there is a history of mental illness in my own family and I have had my own experiences with depression, so my area of research is very personally relevant. I am so passionate abou my work because I can see the difference my research makes just about every day and that gives me huge amounts of pleasure.
For example, we do research studies where we are investigating what the effect is for providing genetic counseling for people who have mental illnesses like schizophrenia or bipolar disorder. When I am providing genetic counseling for one of our study participants and I can see it making a positive change for them in some way. Perhaps it is making them feel less guilty about their illness or removing the stigma associated with their illness. That’s hugely rewarding for me and will never get tiring for me.
Writing grant applications and academic papers is a hugely creative process, and that’s something I can actually lose hours in enjoying the process of intellectual creativity. I also love interacting with my students and mentees. I have an amazing group of young women around me who are just full of the most incredible potential and I love helping them find their strengths and to grow in confidence and competence.
What were your moments of fear and challenges in your career?
I actually never wanted to be a professor. My PhD was all about identifying genetic variations that make a person more vulnerable to developing psychiatric illnesses, like schizophrenia or bipolar disorder. It was all very interesting research to me, but it was during my PhD that I learned that it wasn’t personally satisfying to me. I didn’t want to make a small contribution to a big change, which is the nature of basic science is all about. Essentially, I wanted to make a big change on a small scale. I wanted to witness the changes I was making; I wanted to be on the people end of things. PhDs make you incredibly focused and have a deep knowledge, but I didn’t have the communication to describe how my research would be meaningful for them. So, that is what motivated me to train as a genetic counselor. When I finished my training, I did not get the most receptive response trying to get hired as a genetic counselor since not a lot of people were doing this line of work. Also, there was a lot of criticism as to whether people with psychiatric illnesses wanted genetic counseling or whether there was any evidence if genetic counseling would be helpful for people. So I had to take a step back and realize I had to do the research to find out whether people wanted genetic counseling or not, and if they did, was there anything positive that could come out the interactions with a healthcare provider. Basically, that’s how I ended up becoming a professor!
I had an amazing mentor who was a psychiatrist who had never heard of genetic counseling before me, but he saw the value in my work. He mentored me to write compelling grants, how to articulate my ideas clearly. Ultimately, I was able to win money from what is the equivalent of the Canadian NIH to answer the sorts of research questions that were interesting and generate evidence supporting the positive effects of genetic counseling. Through that process I ended up getting tenure as a professor and a prestigious award as a national –level research chair in Canada. I created a genetic counseling position that is not me, but a brilliant counselor I hired. But it has all worked out very well for me in the end.
The fear and challenge for me was confronting the idea of going back to the research process when at the time, I wanted to talk to people in a service delivery role. I thought I didn’t have it in me to withstand the competitive academic environment. I didn’t think I was that clever or could survive in that culture. It scared me! In the first three years in my appointment as an assistant professor, I hated it. It was really hard. I did experience sexism. I experienced people stealing my ideas. I experienced all sorts of unpleasant things, but what kept me going was my belief in what I was trying to do and help people. I continue to wrestle with “imposter syndrome” that people will find out that I’m not that clever, but that feeling becomes less and less. I remember when I was awarded the highly prestigious research chair award, I literally thought they made a mistake. Then when I realized it was for me, the pressure I felt to deliver was terrifying.
What are some of the latest innovations in science that you are most excited about?
I think there’s always interesting things going around in the basic science fields. There is also interesting things happening in people finding genetic variations that contribute to all sorts of diseases. There’s interesting work starting to come out that suggests we can modify our genetic vulnerability to certain kinds of diseases. However, what I am most interested in is communicating the basic science. I am very much interested in the people side of science. I want to make what basic hardcore, genetic, molecular scientists are finding in the lab and make that significant and meaningful for people that live with the conditions that are being researched. What gets me most fired up is about communication processes and how best to engage people. For example, one of the things we were very hopeful about the human genome project was how it would change our ability to treat and cure diseases. Now it has been about 14 years later and we haven’t seen very much return on that. We have all of this knowledge about genetic variations that can contribute to the development of diseases, so I am interested in how do we best use interactions and communication skills to invoke behavior change in people? That’s really what genetic counseling is all about – it’s not just about providing information, but providing information in a supportive and counseling based interaction.
Where did you grow up?
I was born in London, but I did not grow up there. When I was about 8, my family moved to a small seaside town in Wales called Swansea and I lived there until I was 18 to move to go away to university. It was a beautiful place with green spaces and hills. Swansea was a working class town and there were implicit messages of “don’t make too much of yourself,” particularly if you were female. Many of the girls in my high school class had babies very young, even before we left high school, and did not go on to university. Since I was always intellectually curious, those aspects were not encouraged by my peers.
Who was your favorite teacher and why?
Mrs. Moody, my high school math teacher, who was one of the few female math teachers that we had. She made me feel like I could do it. I did my high school in the UK where you specialize in three subjects. I did chemistry, biology and I didn’t know what to do for the third subject, but because of Mrs. Moody I did math. She had confidence that I could do it and didn’t treat me differently because I was female, which is how I was treated in other classes, particularly chemistry. She was inspirational and spent time with us after class. She spent time with us overcoming our fear doing math at a higher level.
What is your unique talent?
I have been a cave diver for the last ten years. That’s essentially scuba diving in water filled caves. I do scuba dive regularly, but also in caves. The caves are fresh water caves and it is absolutely crystal clear. Because you are weightless, it feels like you are flying!
Is there a current book or book you love?
Where to start?! I have loads of favorite books. I love John Steinbeck, especially The Grapes of Wrath and I have read that three or four times. I also like Old Man in the Sea by Ernest Hemingway. Currently, I am reading “Lean In,” which I have purchased for everyone on my team! I am totally geeking out on behavioral economics and everything about human decision making and how we think about things. The Invisible Gorilla, Nudge, Thinking Fast and Slow are all books I have recently read and loved.
What is your favorite website or fun activity?
Something I am really enjoying right now is a twitter feed called the “good men project.” It’s like feminism for dudes. It is really cool and they talk about social pressures and expectations that are placed on men. It is very interesting because I have only had woman experiences, so it is interesting to think about the other perspective. There are really intelligent pieces posted on there that are really relevant to everyone.
Who inspires you?
I am inspired by the people around me. I am inspired by watching my mentee grow and reveling in what amazing things they will do next. I find that people with psychiatric disorders incredibly inspiring, especially their bravery to face the world and willingness to share their experiences. I have had phenomenal mentors in my life who were truly altruistic in their wanting to help me grow for the sake of what I might be able to accomplish, not because of what it could do for them.
