The American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics Elects New Board Members and President-Elect

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American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics

Mar 14, 2023, 08:00 ET

Announced at the 2023 ACMG Annual Clinical Genetics Meeting in Salt Lake City, Utah

BETHESDA, Md., March 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics (ACMG) welcomed four new directors, including a new president-elect, to its Board of Directors at the 2023 ACMG Annual Clinical Genetics Meeting in Salt Lake City, Utah today. The new Board members will serve as advocates for the organization and will assist in shaping and implementing the mission, vision and direction of the College. The four newly elected directors will serve six-year terms from March 2023 to March 2029.

"The College's success depends on the dedication of scores of volunteers. This is especially true for the Board of Directors. Officers and directors of the Board commit to many additional hours of work each year in meetings, liaising with committees, reviewing documents, and being 'on call' to address urgent issues that impact our members. I'd like to thank everyone who demonstrated commitment to this service through their willingness to be nominated and standing for election. I welcome our new Directors, Fuki M. Hisama, MD, FACMG; Robert Hufnagel, MD, PhD, FACMG: Sarah T. South, PhD, FACMG and President-elect Mira Irons, MD, FACMG. At the meeting when you see Fellows wearing the Board of Directors sticker on their name tag, please take the time to say hello and thank them for their service to the College," said Marc S. Williams, president of the ACMG.

Mira Irons, MD, FACMG: President-Elect

President-Elect Mira Irons, MD, FACMG is currently the President and CEO of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia. Her focus has centered on working at the national level to identify barriers and opportunities to the adoption of genetics/genomics and precision medicine in healthcare, as well as advocacy to address the barriers and to facilitate adoption.

Dr. Irons completed Pediatrics residency training at Children's Memorial Hospital in Chicago, and Clinical and Biochemical Genetics fellowship training at Harvard. She held faculty appointments at Tufts Medical Center and Boston Children's Hospital where she oversaw clinical operations of the Division of Genetics and Metabolism, was the Medical Genetics Residency program director and Harvard Laboratory Genetics Fellowship Director, and the director of the Neurofibromatosis program. She is board certified in Pediatrics, Clinical Genetics, and Biochemical Genetics. She was senior vice president, Academic Affairs at the American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS), and Chief Health and Science Officer at the American Medical Association(AMA).

Dr. Irons was the CME officer at ACMG (2008-2013), a member of multiple ACMG committees (PP&G, Education chair 2009-2011, MOC chair 2005-2009, Program, Nominations), as well as a member of the Task Force on Medical Genetics Education, chair of the Ad Hoc Committee on Conflict of Interest, and a member of the ACMG/ABMGG Committee on subspecialty training in Medical Genetics. She was a member of the ACMG Board of Directors from 2011-2017 and was a member of the ACMG Foundation Development Committee from 2012-2013. Since 2017 she has served as a member of the ACMGF Next Generation Training Award Selection Committee. She served on the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) Medical Genetics Residency Review Committee from 2006-2013 (vice-chair; chair) and Medical Genetic Pathology Joint RRC (2010-2012), the ACMG representative to CMSS (2003-2013), HMS representative to the APHMG (secretary-treasurer, president-elect, president), and chair of Medical Genetics Program Directors Group

Dr. Irons is an author of more than 110 peer-reviewed publications, book chapters, and reviews with many focused on the treatment of Smith-Lemli-Opitz syndrome, NF1, clinical and biochemical genetics and studying the impact of new forms of genetic testing (chromosome microarray and next generation sequencing) in clinical practice. She is a co-author of the 4th edition of the textbook Human Genetics and Genomics.

On becoming ACMG president-elect, Dr. Irons said, "Advocating for patients and families has always been a priority for our specialty and having the vision to think of a time to seemingly do the impossible has been a hallmark of those in our specialty. We are currently at yet another important and pivotal time in our specialty, one that we have been waiting for a long time--having the ability to use the knowledge and tools of genetics and genomics to impact larger populations by working with our colleagues across all specialties, educating our patients and also the greater public, and importantly advocating for the resources necessary to do so responsibly with a focus on equity, access, and improving disparities across the healthcare system."

Fuki M. Hisama, MD, FACMG: Clinical Genetics Director

Fuki M. Hisama, MD, FACMG is board-certified in both Clinical Genetics as well as Neurology. She has been at the University of Washington in Seattle since 2009 and is nationally recognized as a leader in the field of medical genetics practice and education. She has served on the board of directors of the American Board of Medical Genetics and Genomics (ABMGG), the Program Committee of the American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics, and the Medical Genetics Residency Review Committee of the Accreditation Council of Graduate Medical Education.

Dr. Hisama graduated with honors from Washington University in St. Louis with a degree in Biology, minors in English Literature and German, and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. She received her medical degree from the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine. Dr. Hisama completed training in Neurology, Clinical Genetics and a research genetics fellowship at Yale. She joined the faculty of the Yale School of Medicine and founded the first Neurogenetics Clinic there. She then moved to Boston Children's Hospital where she practiced general pediatric genetics and neurogenetics.

Dr. Hisama has served as a member and chair of the ACMG Program Committee (2013-2019), participated in three ACMG short courses (on Intellectual Disability, Cancer Genetics, and Movement Disorders), the March of Dimes plenary session (2012), ACMG scientific sessions, and webinars. She serves on the ACMG Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee, and co-chaired the first ACMG Evidence-Based Guideline (EBG) Workgroup on the use of exome and genome sequencing in patients with an intellectual disability or multiple congenital anomalies. Dr. Hisama served on the ABMGG Board of Directors (2016-2021). At the ACGME, she served on the Milestones 2.0 Committee and was a member and chair of the Medical Genetics and Genomics Committee (2017-2022). She is also a long-time member of, and former chair of the Neurogenetics SIG of the American Academy of Neurology. She has served as an NIH site visitor and as a member of multiple NIH review panels for NHGRI and NIGMS.

Dr. Hisama is the recipient of research funding from the NIH, the Brotman Baty Institute on Precision Medicine, and was a Paul Beeson Scholar in aging research. With research interests in rare diseases, progeroid syndromes, neurogenetics, and precision medicine, she is an author of more than 100 original research publications, chapters, books and online educational reviews or webinars on progeroid disorders, neurogenetics, adult cardiac genetics and cancer genetics, and diversity.

"It is an honor to have been elected to serve on the ACMG Board of Directors. The ACMG's role in supporting the practice of genetics to advance human health, providing education and resources for students, genetic counselors, as well as MD and PhDs in medical genetics, and promoting equity, diversity and inclusion in the field has never been as important as it is now," said Dr. Hisama.

Robert Hufnagel, MD, PhD, FACMG: Molecular Genetics Director

Robert Hufnagel, MD, PhD, FACMG is board-certified in pediatrics by the American Board of Pediatrics (ABP), and in clinical genetics and genomics and clinical molecular genetics and genomics by the American Board of Medical Genetics and Genomics (ABMGG). He joined the faculty of the National Eye Institute, National Institutes of Health (NEI/NIH), in 2017 and is currently a Lasker Clinical Research Scholar in the intramural research program. Dr. Hufnagel is credentialed to see patients at the NIH Clinical Center and is the director of the NEI CLIA-certified laboratory. He is also an adjunct investigator at the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI), where he serves as the director of the Laboratory Genetics and Genomics (LGG) Fellowship, which trains six fellows annually.

Dr. Hufnagel holds his MD and PhD (Neuroscience) from the University of Cincinnati. He completed his pediatrics and clinical genetics residency at Cincinnati Children's Hospital, followed by fellowships in clinical ophthalmic genetics at the NEI and in clinical molecular genetics and genomics at the NHGRI. He completed the NIH Senior Leadership Program.

Dr. Hufnagel has served on several ACMG educational and guidelines committees, including the Molecular Path to LGG Course and Mentored Cases Committee, the ACMG Board Review Course, and the Inherited Retinal Dystrophy Evidence-Based Guidelines Committee.

Dr. Hufnagel's research program includes clinical genetics, clinical molecular genetics, and fundamental mechanistic investigations of rare diseases. He has co-authored more than 100 PubMed-indexed publications and has been cited nearly 2000 times. He discovered the association between human PNPLA6 genetic variants and Oliver-McFarlane and Laurence-Moon syndromes, UBA2-related aplasia cutis congenita and ectrodactyly syndrome, and more than 15 other genetic diseases.

Dr. Hufnagel also researches the curation of published variants for known disease genes, and his laboratory has submitted more than 200 curated variants to ClinVar from these publications. He co-chairs the Ocular Clinical Domain Working Group at ClinGen, with more than 100 international members. Dr. Hufnagel's research is currently funded through NEI, NIH, and the Knights Templar Eye Foundation.

Dr. Hufnagel said, "The ACMG provides much needed guidelines, education and expertise to the entire medical community to hasten the adoption of genomics in healthcare. Clinical integration of genomics will expand rapidly over the next decade. I am honored to be a part of the ACMG Board during this crucial period."

Sarah T. South, PhD, FACMG: Cytogenetics Director

Sarah T. South, PhD, FACMG is currently an Executive Scientific Director at Quest Diagnostics. Previous positions have included Vice President of Laboratory Sciences at AncestryDNA, Vice President of Clinical Laboratory Operations at 23andMe, Associate Professor in the Department of Pathology at the University of Utah, Medical Director at ARUP Laboratories, and Laboratory Director at Lineagen. She was faculty in the University of Utah Genetic Counseling Master's Degree program and the Director of the University of Utah Fellowship training program in Clinical Cytogenetics. Dr. South also served for five years as an Associate Editor of The American Journal of Medical Genetics.

Dr. South graduated from Utah State University with a BS in Biology and subsequently received her PhD in Human Genetics from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. She completed an ABMGG fellowship with board certification in Clinical Cytogenetics at the University of Utah and is currently completing alternative LGG board certification at Quest Diagnostics.

Dr. South has served on numerous committees for the American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics, including her current committee membership with Advocacy and Government Affairs and nine years on the Laboratory Quality Assurance Committee, including the last two as chair. Dr. South has also served on the Clinical Laboratory Standards Institute Standards for Molecular Methodologies Committee, the American Board of Medical Genetics and Genomics Content-Based Standards Setting Committee, and the Clinical Genome Resource Evidence Based Review Committee and as President of the American Cytogenetics Conference.

Dr. South has focused her career on the accessibility and applicability of genomics. Her skills and experience include a deep understanding of various genetic technologies, regulatory models, clinical genetic interpretation, public genomic health education, product user interface, communications, laboratory operations, quality assurance, supply chain optimization, professional committee advocacy and recommendation development. Dr. South is primary or co-author of more than 80 peer-reviewed publications, book chapters and reviews.

"I am honored to be chosen to serve the members of the College," said Dr. South. "I understand the importance of medical genetics in advancing healthcare. I recognize the expanding roles we must play in our efforts to provide quality medical genetic services. I promise to use my own experience, as well as listening to your experience, to amplify our voice and provide the support and resources needed."

ACMG also thanks the following Board members who are completing their terms of service: Laurie A. Demmer, MD, FACMG; Elaine Lyon, PhD, FACMG and Catherine W. Rehder, PhD, FACMG.

A complete list of the ACMG Board of Directors is available at www.acmg.net.

About the American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics

Founded in 1991, the American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics (ACMG) is a prominent authority in the field of medical genetics and genomics and the only nationally recognized medical professional organization solely dedicated to improving health through the practice of medical genetics and genomics. The only medical specialty society in the US that represents the full spectrum of medical genetics disciplines in a single organization, the ACMG provides education, resources and a voice for more than 2,500 clinical and laboratory geneticists, genetic counselors and other healthcare professionals. ACMG's mission is to improve health through the clinical and laboratory practice of medical genetics as well as through advocacy, education and clinical research, and to guide the safe and effective integration of genetics and genomics into all of medicine and healthcare, resulting in improved personal and public health. Genetics in Medicine and the new Genetics in Medicine Open, a gold open access journal, are the official ACMG journals. ACMG's website, www.acmg.net, offers resources including policy statements, practice guidelines, and educational programs. The ACMG Foundation for Genetic and Genomic Medicine works to advance ACMG educational and public health programs through charitable gifts from corporations, foundations and individuals.

Contact:
Kathy Moran, MBA
[email protected]

SOURCE American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics