Senior Research Genetic Counsellor

ubc; Vancouver; On-site; CAD 90,000 - 135,000; Full time

Job summary

UBC seeks a Senior Research Genetic Counsellor to manage strategic and clinical research within the Turvey Laboratory and the Precision Health Initiative (PHI). You will lead familial engagement, coordinate genomic research, and support ethics and data-sharing processes across multiple sites.

Most patients are children with rare genetic conditions, requiring advanced clinical judgment, collaboration with clinicians, and a strong orientation toward translational knowledge translation in a dynamic

Qualifications

• Experience in genetic counselling within pediatric research settings.
• Ability to coordinate research activities and liaise with families.
• Strong written and verbal communication in English.

Responsibilities

• Lead PHI research activities and coordinate clinical-genomic research.
• Engage with families, clinicians, and research partners.
• Develop data-sharing agreements and multi-site ethics applications.

Skills

Leadership

Genetic counselling

Clinical research

Job description

Staff - Non Union

Job Category

M&P - AAPS

Job Profile

AAPS Salaried - Research and Facilitation, Level C

Job Title

Senior Research Genetic Counsellor

Department

Turvey Laboratory | Department of Paediatrics | Faculty of Medicine

Compensation Range

$8,087.08 - $12,117.08 CAD Monthly The Compensation Range is the span between the minimum and maximum base salary for a position. The midpoint of the range is approximately halfway between the minimum and the maximum and represents an employee that possesses full job knowledge, qualifications and experience for the position. In the normal course, employees will be hired, transferred or promoted between the minimum and midpoint of the salary range for a job.

Posting End Date

September 25, 2026

Note: Applications will be accepted until 11:59 PM on the Posting End Date.

Job End Date

September 21, 2027

This position is subject to the satisfactory completion of required background checks

Job End Date

September 21, 2027

Job Posting Note

This position will be filled internally. It is posted for informational purposes only.

Compensation Note

Note: Only the Full Time Compensation Range is displayed on the job posting details advertised on the UBC Career sites.

Company Culture

At UBC, we believe that attracting and sustaining a diverse workforce is key to the successful pursuit of excellence in research, innovation, and learning for all faculty, staff and students. Our commitment to employment equity helps achieve inclusion and fairness, brings rich diversity to UBC as a workplace, and creates the necessary conditions for a rewarding career.

Job Summary

The Senior Research Genetic Counsellor will manage the strategic and clinical research activities of the Precision Health Initiative (PHI) within the Turvey lab at BC Children's Hospital Research Institute. Many rare genetic disorders defy diagnosis through conventional tests available through the health care system, and only innovative assays offered through research can find an answer for these affected patients. Each patient enrolling in this study will likely have a different, and very rare, condition, which requires flexibility, high-level clinical judgment, and strategic adaptiveness on the part of the research leadership team. Because most patients enrolling will be children, and because most pediatric rare diseases are genetic, the research team must engage with, and be responsive to, the entire family. The Senior Research Genetic Counsellor will play a leading role in managing institutional relationships, liaising with families and their clinical care teams, explaining their options for research-based studies, and directing the unique flow of complex samples and genomic results for each case.

Organizational Status

The Senior Research Genetic Counsellor will report operationally to the Principal Investigator, Dr. Stuart Turvey. Operating with a high degree of clinical and administrative independence, the incumbent will work closely with research directors, clinical division heads, and administrative managers. They will act as the primary liaison for PHI and the Turvey lab with numerous clinicians, faculty, staff, and students throughout BCCH, UBC, and national/international research consortia. The incumbent will directly supervise research assistants, project coordinators, and graduate-level trainees.

Work Performed

Research Leadership

• Leads the planning and management of PHI research activities, setting operational and directional priorities and determining how scientific objectives are translated into clinical-genomic research approaches and processes.
• Shapes the ongoing development of the program by identifying new research directions and determining how emerging clinical-genomic needs, unsolved cases, findings, and testing opportunities can be developed into patient-centered research.
• Identifies and pursues opportunities to expand the research program, including developing and leading major grant applications and establishing collaborations and partnerships with other research groups and networks.
• Evaluates research activities against established priorities and goals and determines changes to research approaches, processes, and resources as required.
• Oversees the design of PHI's data-sharing agreements, institutional contracts, and multi-site ethics applications (REB), ensuring compliance with changing institutional and federal policies.

Genetic Counselling and Knowledge Translation

• Provides advanced genetic counselling and clinical-genomic expertise complex pediatric rare disease research, including determining appropriate approaches to participant recruitment, screening, intake, and navigation.
• Interprets and translates complex clinical and genomic research findings, providing specialized guidance to participants, families, clinical teams, investigators, and research collaborators.
• Leads the dissemination and translation of research findings through publications, reports, presentations, and other knowledge translation activities.

Consequence of Error/Judgement

Decisions regard