Executive Committee

Director of Clinical Education and Associate Program Director, Master of Science in Genetic Counseling Program, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania

Ms. Kessler is the Director of Clinical Education and Associate Program Director at the Master of Science in Genetic Counseling Program in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. She is the University of Pennsylvania’s site coordinator for the Warren Alpert Foundation: Alliance for Genetic Counseling Fellowship. Since joining the MSGC program in 2012, Ms. Kessler has been responsible for coordination of clinical education, working with the students to create a tailored clinical training experience for each individual.  Fieldwork experiences are varied and include genetic counseling opportunities in labs, research, telehealth, and multiple specialty settings. In addition to coordination of fieldwork, Ms. Kessler is a course director and thesis mentor. 

Prior to program leadership, Ms. Kessler's professional background includes 13 years of genetic counseling experience in clinical, research, and industry settings. She previously worked in the Division of Medical Genetics at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, caring for patients and families with a variety of genetic conditions. As part of a dynamic research team, Ms. Kessler conducted research about culturally tailored cancer genetic counseling in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania. Working as a Senior Genetic Counselor at a start-up company, DNA Direct, she gained experience in telephone genetic counseling. Ms. Kessler then returned to the University of Pennsylvania, to the Genetic Diagnostic Laboratory, where she provided genetic counseling to individuals with Ocular Melanoma about molecular prognostic testing on tumor tissue. Ms. Kessler’s research interests include the role of culture in clinical supervision, supervision training, standardized patients in genetic counseling graduate education, mentoring relationships, sense of belonging, and cultural humility and genetic counseling. 

Ms. Kessler serves on the Education Committee for the Genetic Counseling Educator Association. She is a peer reviewer for the Journal of Genetic Counseling. Her academic background includes a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology from the University of Delaware and a Master of Science Degree in Genetic Counseling from Arcadia University.