Kennedy Borle

B.Sc. in Cellular and Molecular Biology, Mount Royal University, 2016
M.Sc. in Genetic Counselling, University of British Columbia, 2018

Kennedy Borle (she/her) is a board-certified genetic counsellor and health services researcher. Her research focuses on increasing equitable access to clinical genetic services in Canada. She is from Calgary, AB and now lives in Vancouver, BC with her partner. Kennedy enjoys reading fiction, playing soccer and pickle ball.

Clinical genetic services (genetic counselling, genetic testing, and consultations) can provide important benefits for patients, however there is a growing body of evidence that suggests that some populations are systematically underserved by the existing clinical genetics infrastructure. Additionally, the Canadian health care system seeks to provide care on the basis of need, but defining and operationalizing need for clinical genetic services is complex.

The aim of my doctoral research is to investigate unmet need for genetic counselling and testing in Canada and identify strategies to improve equitable access to care. I am using a sequential explanatory mixed methods approach; combining data from a cross sectional survey and one-on-one interviews. These data will be used to understand the magnitude of unmet need for genetic counselling and testing in Canada, explore associations with unmet need and sociodemographic factors, and describe experiences with unmet need.

The ultimate goal of this research is to inform policy to address barriers and improve equitable access to clinical genetic services in Canada.

Advancing the Quintuple Aim for Health Care Improvement Through the Integration of Genetic Counselors into Primary Care
Workforce Implications of Increased Referrals to Hereditary Cancer Services in Canada: A Scenario-Based Analysis
Defining Need Amid Exponential Change: Conceptual Challenges in Workforce Planning for Clinical Genetic Services
Using Rasch measurement theory to explore the fitness for purpose of the genetic counseling outcome scale: a tale of two scales
Where is genetic medicine headed? Exploring the perspectives of Canadian genetic professionals on future trends using the Delphi method
Why do people seek out polygenic risk scores for complex disorders, and how do they understand and react to results?
Economic Evidence on Potentially Curative Gene Therapy Products: A Systematic Literature Review
The composition and capacity of the clinical genetics workforce in high-income countries: a scoping review
Risk communication in genetic counseling: Exploring uptake and perception of recurrence numbers, and their impact on patient outcomes
Intra-individual variability in cerebrovascular and respiratory chemosensitivity: Can we characterize a chemoreflex “reactivity profile”?