Ms. Vance is a board certified genetic counselor. She has provided genetic counseling since 1991, with significant clinical experience and significant expertise in reproductive medicine, gamete donor genetic evaluation, prenatal, pediatric, adult, and cancer genetics. She is bilingual in English and Spanish languages. She is respected as a leader and innovator among genetic counselors.
Ms. Vance’s professional experience has included providing prenatal genetic counseling at California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco. She also coordinated the genetic counseling and testing aspect of the large Cystic Fibrosis clinic. She was a consultant to several gamete donor programs regarding genetic screening and family history/ risk assessment. She was invited to join the genetics department at Kaiser Permanente in San Francisco in 1995. While at Kaiser she provided genetic counseling for prenatal, pediatric, adult, and cancer genetics patients. She coordinated the medical student genetics education, regional genetics clinics, and was a member of numerous regional committees charged with program development, quality assurance, and ongoing communication with the regional genetics departments. In 2000, she became a clinical service product manager at GeneSage, Inc., a company founded to promote genetic health care. In 2001 she founded Bay Area Genetic Counseling, a private practice genetics and consulting service. She has consulted for the March of Dimes as well as local physicians, IVF clinics, and gamete donor agencies.
Ms. Vance has served on regional and national committees for the National Society of Genetic Counselors (NSGC). She was chair of the Bay Area Coalition of Genetic Counselors from 1997-1999 and was a NSGC State Representative from 1994-2001. She has served as the secretary of the Genetic counseling SIG of the American Society of Reproductive Medicine from 2004-present. She was the Chair of the NSGC ART SIG from 2007-2009. The Program in Genetic Counseling at the University of Cincinnati awarded her a full scholarship for her graduate work. She is an active member of the National Society of Genetic Counselors, Cancer Risk and Assisted Reproductive Technology Genetic Counselor’s special interest groups of the NSGC, American Society of Reproductive Medicine, and ASRM Genetic Counseling special interest group.
Ms. Vance has authored published papers and several published abstracts, as well as 10 entries in the Gail Encyclopedia of Genetic Conditions. She has written newsletter articles and has delivered numerous invited presentations regarding genetics. She has taught in courses for the Genetic Counseling Program at the University of California, Berkeley and has supervised genetic counseling interns from various genetic counseling programs as well as supervising a nurse practitioner in cancer risk assessment. Her area of interest in research has been on the importance of family history risk assessment for gamete donors and couples prior to IVF. This research is ongoing and has been presented at several national meetings.
Ms. Vance received her BA at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio and her MS in Genetic Counseling from the University of Cincinnati. She is Board Certified in Genetic Counseling by the American Board of Genetic Counselors.
