Diversity Statement

We are committed to the well-being and success of all community members. Columbia complies with all applicable civil rights laws and does not engage in illegal preferences or discrimination.

The Columbia University Program in Genetic Counseling is committed to building a diverse community of genetic counselors, as this is essential to equity, access, and participation of society in genomics. To this end, we have articulated the following guiding principles:

• We believe diversity within the learning environment enriches classroom discussion, improves cultural humility and develops essential humanistic skills for providing client-centered healthcare to all persons.
• We believe it is not possible to build a diverse community – to achieve equity, access, rights, and participation – without a commitment to equity and justice in healthcare. To grow and sustain a diverse community, genetic counselors must become familiar with historical and existing mechanisms of injustice and inequality in healthcare, and actively work to dismantle potential mechanisms for such disparities now and in the future. 
• We believe in recruiting applicants committed to academic excellence whose personal experiences and worldviews arise from varying cultures and life circumstances, specifically people whose identities are currently underrepresented in the genetic counseling profession – those who have been economically disadvantaged and/or historically marginalized due to their skin color, ethnicity, culture, religion, nationality, immigration status, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, and/or ability status.
• We believe that it is not sufficient to recruit a diverse group of applicants, we must also foster a learning environment which centers the voices of those historically marginalized, grounded in scholarly inquiry and civil discourse, that prepares our students to be compassionate and responsible health care providers within diverse societies.

Together, our differences make us stronger. We affirm our commitment to the realization of Columbia’s goal of nurturing a truly compassionate intellectual community as we work to improve health and wellbeing for all individuals, families, and communities.