Community service
In addition to participating in research and course work, students in the department also participate in a number of community and educational programs. Students are encouraged to present educational talks to parents' groups, teachers and area high schools about genetic disorders, their modes of inheritance, detection and treatment, and about the counseling and diagnostic services available at VCU Medical Center. Students assist in genetic counseling within the Children's Specialty Services specialty clinics system (i.e., Cystic Fibrosis Clinic) and in Adult Hemophilia Clinic and Amniocentesis Clinic. Graduate students in the Department of Human Genetics also are responsible for teaching Saturday morning classes in genetics to advanced high school students as part of the Questors program in conjunction with Richmond’s Mathematics and Science Center.
Teaching
Graduate students in the Department of Human Genetics assist the faculty with teaching responsibilities in a number of ways including presenting genetics recitation materials to the first-year medical and dental students, and lecturing in the introductory level human genetics course (HGEN 501/BIOL 530). In general, students will be responsible for 10 teaching units for each of the first three years. Students in their fourth and fifth years are exempted from teaching but are urged to fill in if deficits are encountered. (Due to the number of medical recitations, all students will need to take part in this activity.) The units credited to teaching time are based on the time required for both preparation and teaching.
The units for the different teaching opportunities available to students are given below.
