Video interviews featuring faculty and staff from Johns Hopkins University debuted on the National Human Genome Research Institute's website on March 18. The independently produced videos are meant to inspire high school and college students to consider careers in genomics or genetics.

The videos are online at http://www.genome.gov/genomicCareers/ and feature faculty from the Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics and various areas within the School of Medicine. The library of nearly 50 videos present would-be scientists with the many, diverse career paths they might pursue in government, the nonprofit sector and academia.

For instance:

• Bioethicist Carlton Haywood Jr., Ph.D., an assistant professor at the Berman Institute, describes his work on issues of communication and trust between doctors and patients with sickle cell disease. In the 11-minute video, viewers also discover that his passion is fueled by his own experiences with the condition.

• The institute's director, Ruth Faden, Ph.D., discusses how advances in genomics and genetics raise many important, complex questions about bioethics—such as how much influence ought to be exerted in the future over the kinds of babies that are brought into the world. A thought leader in her field, Faden suggests how teen-agers can turn even writing assignments in a high school history or life-science class into an opportunity to explore bioethical issues.

• In the Sickle Cell Center for Adults at Johns Hopkins, its director, Sophie Lanzkron, M.D., talks about her dedication to improving the quality of care that those with the genetic disease currently receive.

• Genetic counselor Amanda Bergner, M.S., explains how she helps children and families understand inherited conditions, how it might affect their lives and what resources are available: “Genetic counselors frequently function as translators between medical information and scientific information, and then people's understanding and experience of that information.”

Other videos feature J.J. Strouse, M.D., an assistant professor of hematology; Allan Sison, M.D., a medical fellow in the Division of Pediatric Hematology; Mandy David, a physician assistant at the Johns Hopkins sickle cell infusion center; and Rachel Han, a laboratory research assistant in the pediatric hematology center.

The National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) unveiled the videos at the annual meeting of the National Science Teachers Association in Philadelphia. Most of the videos include transcripts and link to related career profiles on the Genomic Careers Resource site, which also features other interactive tools, such as video quizzes and a career-tracker program.

“It would have been valuable to have such easily accessible career advice when I was a student,” said Eric D. Green, M.D., Ph.D., director of NHGRI, part of the National Institutes of Health.