When Robin Bennett decided to go into genetic counseling almost three decades ago, the field was in its infancy. There was barely a term for what she wanted to do; all she knew was that she wanted to help get rid of birth defects.
Bennett grew up on Mercer Island, Washington, where a high school teacher steered her toward biology. Her uncle, Charles Rice, was a psychology professor at Kenyon. "I really needed a scholarship to go to college, and since Kenyon at that time was recruiting students from the West Coast, they offered me some money," Bennett says.
At Kenyon, she majored in biology but also, she says, took "every psych class, every anthropology class I could get my hands on," appreciating the breadth in her studies and the College's emphasis on strong writing. "So many of my friends at other schools were interested only in science; it was really only science they saw. I learned how to write, how to read critically. I'm writing the second edition of my book [The Practical Guide to the Genetic Family History], and I could never have done that if I hadn't gotten that exposure."
By the time Bennett graduated, Sarah Lawrence College had started its Human Genetics Program, and the field had begun to take shape. After earning her master's at Sarah Lawrence, Bennett got an early lesson in the public's misconceptions about genetics. She read a "Dear Abby" piece in which the advice columnist told a couple who were first cousins that if they reproduced, their children would have birth defects.
"I knew that was wrong, even back then--that was 1985," Bennett says. "I wrote a letter to 'Dear Abby' saying she was wrong, and they published it." Since about half of the states outlaw first-cousin marriage, and since first-cousin marriages are common in many immigrant populations, this was a subject that had practical as well as scientific import. Bennett ended up authoring an influential paper concluding that the risks are much smaller than people think.
"The risks are just 1 or 2 percent above the background risk," Bennett explains. "So if the general population has a 2 to 3 percent background risk, and you add 1 to 2 percent to that, it looks like it's double the background risk, but that's a relative risk. There's a 95 percent chance that everything's fine."
In the years since, Bennett has served as president of the National Society of Genetic Counselors, and she is a former board member of the National Coalition for Health Professional Education in Genetics. She currently acts as the senior genetic counselor and manager of the Medical Genetics Clinics at the University of Washington Medical Center in Seattle, and her book has become a guide for health professionals and nonspecialist readers wishing to understand their own genetic background.
Bennett's talent for seeing the human side of genetics has made her a popular speaker and educator. She is often called on by the media, groups of health professionals, and school groups to discuss her quickly advancing field.
"I think that's what I love about my job," Bennett says. "I make a difference every day. Some people say, 'Isn't it sad, what you do?' But I feel I give people options."