Chicago-area high school students spent a day in the life of a geneticist at the Feinberg School of Medicine Center for Genetic Medicine. In collaboration with Chicago State University’s Summer High School Enrichment Program, the Center for Genetic Medicine hosted a Careers in Genetics Day on July 18, 2007. Approximately 50 local high school students spent the day in the Robert H. Lurie Medical Research Center on the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine campus learning about the many opportunities available in genetics and genomics. The day began with an overview of career opportunities in fields as diverse as law, healthcare, politics, and ethics. The students participated in an interactive, mock genetic counseling session to better understand the difficult issues faced by patients and families when confronting genetic disease. The session also highlighted the important roles that genetic counselors play in the process. Students capped off the day with a laboratory-based activity in which they purified DNA from their own cheek cells, and used this DNA in a mock genetic test. The following week, faculty from the Center presented the “results” of the mock test to the students. All attending students were participants in Chicago State University’s six-week Summer High School Enrichment Program, featuring biomedical science classes and hands-on activities, such as this visit. The Careers in Genetics day was an interdepartmental medical school effort, bringing together faculty, students, and interns from Northwestern University's Graduate Program in Genetic Counseling, the Department of Cell and Molecular Biology, and the Integrated Graduate Program in Life Sciences. Deemed a great success by its organizer, Dr. Mike Kennedy of the Center for Genetic Medicine, the event was surely a memorable day for many students. Photo Credit: Center for Genetic Medicine | 
