Martha Dudek, founding program director of the master’s degree program in genetic counseling at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, has received the Strategic Leader Award from the National Society of Genetic Counselors. The honor recognizes a genetic counselor whose leadership has advanced the field of genetic counseling through education, research, and public policy.
A licensed genetic counselor with over 20 years of experience, Dudek has built several programs designed to educate genetic counselors and expand genetic counseling research at Vanderbilt. In addition to founding the genetic counseling graduate program, she helped to establish the university’s Fellowship in Genomics Outcomes Research and the Advanced Research Training for Genetic Counselors certificate program.
Dudek currently holds a faculty appointment as an associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology. Her primary research interests include access and service delivery of genetic counseling services and perinatal palliative care.
Dudek received her bachelor’s degree in biology from Washington University in St. Louis and her master’s degree in genetic counseling from the University of Cincinnati.