{"id":690,"date":"2021-02-19T13:00:28","date_gmt":"2021-02-19T00:00:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.otago.ac.nz\/go\/?p=690"},"modified":"2021-02-19T09:27:29","modified_gmt":"2021-02-18T20:27:29","slug":"alumni-series-nadia-preitner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.otago.ac.nz\/go\/alumni-series-nadia-preitner\/","title":{"rendered":"Alumni Series: Nadia Preitner"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>For Genetic Counsellor Nadia Preitner, a willingness \u201cto go where my interests lay\u201d has taken her halfway around the world\u2014and to a fulfilling role that unites genetic know-how with patient well-being.<\/p>\n

Yet it\u2019s been a surprising journey for the Otago graduate, from laid-back New Zealand to cosmopolitan Switzerland and flamboyant France, to her current position in loud and lively London.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve chosen things that I enjoy, rather than following a firm path,\u201d Nadia explains, \u201cand that\u2019s how I\u2019ve ended up with the interesting career I have now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Originally intending to study biomedical sciences at Otago, Nadia instead found herself drawn towards genetics. \u201cI found the programme so broad, from\u00a0Arabidopsis<\/em>\u00a0[a flowering plant used as a model genetic organism] to humans,\u201d she says. \u201cThough I was always more interested in human genetics.\u201d<\/p>\n

She also loved to travel and, once armed with an Honours degree in genetics, eventually ended up as a research assistant in a university hospital laboratory in Switzerland. While there, and still not entirely sure what career path to take, she bumped into a Genetic Counsellor.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s when I had a \u2018eureka moment\u2019,\u201d she says. \u201cGenetic counselling seemed a career with a perfect mix of genetics and patient care.\u201d<\/p>\n

Already fluent in French, she enrolled in a Master\u2019s degree in Genetic Counselling in Marseille, followed by jobs in Burgundy and Switzerland. Finally, in late 2018, she took up her current role working for a Regional Genetics Service, in North West London.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Illustration by Poppy Ollerenshaw Whittle<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cI wanted to broaden my experience, and work in a country where the profession is more established\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

The job\u2014which combines professional counselling skills with a specialist knowledge of medical genetics\u2014is fundamentally about \u201cempowering people to make decisions,\u201d Nadia says.<\/p>\n

\u201cGenetic counsellors communicate health and genetic information to patients and families,\u201d she explains, working in a wide range of areas such as hereditary cancer, prenatal diagnosis and family planning.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cFor many people, the results of genetic testing can be life-changing. Genetic counsellors help individuals to realise choices about testing and medical management, and support them throughout this process.\u201d<\/p>\n

And while the work can often be challenging, at its heart are real human beings, Nadia says. \u201cYou have the privilege of working with people at a time that can be very difficult.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although like health professionals across the world, Nadia\u2019s work has been disrupted by the Covid pandemic, she says in normal times \u201cone of the beautiful things about this job is exposure to different people and cultures\u201d.<\/p>\n

Yet despite loving London, Nadia does now have one firm path she\u2019d like to follow.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would really like to move closer to home and one day work in Aotearoa.\u201d<\/p>\n

Written by Mick Whittle<\/em>
\nImages Supplied by Nadia Preitner<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For Genetic Counsellor Nadia Preitner, a willingness \u201cto go where my interests lay\u201d has taken her halfway around the world\u2014and to a fulfilling role that unites genetic know-how with patient well-being. Yet it\u2019s been a surprising journey for the Otago graduate, from laid-back New Zealand to cosmopolitan Switzerland and flamboyant France, to her current position […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":37560,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-690","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.otago.ac.nz\/go\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/690","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.otago.ac.nz\/go\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.otago.ac.nz\/go\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.otago.ac.nz\/go\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/37560"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.otago.ac.nz\/go\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=690"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.otago.ac.nz\/go\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/690\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.otago.ac.nz\/go\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=690"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.otago.ac.nz\/go\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=690"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.otago.ac.nz\/go\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=690"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}