{"id":194851,"date":"2023-01-30T07:26:05","date_gmt":"2023-01-30T12:26:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=194851"},"modified":"2023-01-30T07:26:05","modified_gmt":"2023-01-30T12:26:05","slug":"cahnr-alum-kira-dineen-shares-wonders-of-genetics-through-podcasting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2023\/01\/cahnr-alum-kira-dineen-shares-wonders-of-genetics-through-podcasting\/","title":{"rendered":"CAHNR Alum Kira Dineen Shares Wonders of Genetics Through Podcasting"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kira Dineen \u201817 (CAHNR<\/a>) has established a two-pronged career in genetics: helping patients as a prenatal genetic counselor, and sharing the latest in genetic science with thousands of listeners through her weekly podcast, DNA Today<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Dineen, who has a degree in allied health sciences from UConn, developed an interest in genetics as soon as she began learning about it in middle school. She was fascinated by how genetics serves as the basis for other kinds of science, including biology, medicine, and psychology.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s such an interesting field because of how fast it changes,\u201d Dineen says. \u201cIt\u2019s never boring, there\u2019s always something new. And there\u2019s so many different career paths with genetics.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"woman
Dineen’s podcast has been named the Best Science and Medicine Podcast in the People\u2019s Choice Podcast Awards three times. (Contributed photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Dineen wanted to share this interest and the new knowledge she was gaining with others. She decided to launch her podcast DNA Today in 2012 as a high school senior in Brookfield, Connecticut. Initially, Dineen wanted to use the podcast to connect with experts in the field and learn more about different topics in genetics.<\/p>\n

Since then, the show has aired more than 200 episodes and boasts an average of 3,500 downloads each week. DNA Today has won the Best Science and Medicine Podcast in the People\u2019s Choice Podcast Awards three times.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love being able to reach people. I love being able to connect with the rare disease community, other genetic conditions, and other experts in genetics to keep those relationships going.\u201d<\/p>\n

UConn Days<\/strong><\/p>\n

In the early days of the podcast, Dineen says UConn helped her hone her podcast skills. The show has been broadcast on UConn\u2019s student-run radio station WHUS since 2014.<\/p>\n

As a student at UConn, Dineen had the opportunity to interview Henrietta Lacks\u2019 granddaughter and great granddaughter when they came to speak at UConn in 2015. Henrietta Lacks\u2019 story was brought to light by Rachel Skloot, author of \u201cThe Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks.\u201d Lacks was a Black woman whose tumor cells gave rise to the first immortalized human cell line (HeLa cells) and paved the way for countless medical advances. These cells, which are still used in research today, were taken without her express consent. The episode stands out as one of Dineen\u2019s favorites.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was able to catch up with them and do a quick interview backstage, so that was really cool,\u201d Dineen. \u201cIt was awesome that UConn had that opportunity for that kind of presenting.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dineen has also interviewed celebrity patient advocates like Lauren Potter, who played Becky Jackson on \u201cGlee\u201d and has Down syndrome; and Atticus Shaffer who played Brick Heck on \u201cThe Middle\u201d and has osteogenesis imperfecta.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s so important to be focused on elevating patient advocates and seeing them as equals to genetic healthcare providers and how much they can bring to the table,\u201d Dineen says. \u201cI really hope that over the years that happens more and more, but it\u2019s exciting that just with the show and community I’ve created, I can do that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Aside from hosting DNA Today, Dineen works full-time as a prenatal genetic counselor in Stamford, Connecticut.<\/p>\n

Dineen completed the Diagnostic Genetic Sciences<\/a> (DGS) program in the Department of Allied Health Sciences and received a master\u2019s degree in genetic counseling from Sarah Lawrence College. At UConn, Dineen worked in the labs focused on genetics and genomic science.<\/p>\n

The DGS major\u2019s emphasis on understanding and performing genetic analysis allows Dineen to know which tests to order and what they can and cannot tell her in her work today.<\/p>\n

\u201cI loved that DGS was specifically focused on genetic testing,\u201d Dineen says. \u201cIt\u2019s a perfect set up for genetic counselors to have experience with genetic testing. So much of what I use in my daily job is pulled from DGS.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dineen says her experience in the close-knit DGS program, which has an average class size of 14 students, also provided her with knowledge of the rare genetic conditions she often sees when working with families. Many of her patients are people whose pregnancies carry a high chance of a genetic condition. She adds that she still goes back to the slides from DGS classes taught by faculty members Martha Keagle and Judy Brown.<\/p>\n

\u201cHaving so many years of exposure to these disorders in an academic setting and connecting with patients that are living with the conditions has been a huge benefit in the work I do,\u201d Dineen says. \u201cDGS and the information students are given through the program set us up for successful careers in genetics.\u201d<\/p>\n

After 10 years of producing DNA Today and working as a genetic counselor, Dineen says she is still amazed by how much new information we are constantly learning about genetics.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe more we learn about it, the more we realize how much we don\u2019t understand about genetics, and for me that\u2019s fueling,\u201d Dineen says.<\/p>\n

Follow <\/em>UConn CAHNR<\/em><\/a> on social media<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Launched in 2012 when Dineen was still in high school, DNA Today has won the Best Science and Medicine Podcast in the People\u2019s Choice Podcast Awards three times<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":127,"featured_media":194853,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2296,147,2224],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[2140],"class_list":["post-194851","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-allied-health-sciences","category-alumni","category-cahnr"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-30 23:56:48","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/194851","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/127"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=194851"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/194851\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":194855,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/194851\/revisions\/194855"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/194853"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=194851"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=194851"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=194851"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=194851"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=194851"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}