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Genetics Subdivision Report
Happy New
Year to all our AMP colleagues!! I am excited to serve as
the Genetics Subdivision Chair for the 2010 Annual Meeting
in beautiful
San Jose,
CA. Many thanks to Hanna Rennert for doing an
excellent job putting together a dynamic and interesting
program for the 2009 meeting. Thanks also to Tim OLeary
for an outstanding job as Program Chair and for keeping all
of us on track throughout the year. We are grateful also to
the other Genetics Subdivision members who were integral in
the success of the meeting: Kasinathan Muralidharan
(Clinical Practice Committee), Min Fang (Nominating
Committee), Siby Sebastian (Nominating Committee) and
Maduri Hegde (Training & Education), and Linda Jo
Bone Jeng (Training & Education). The Genetics program
was begun with an insightful Plenary presentation by Hakon
Hakonarson regarding the genetics of complex pediatric
diseases. The complex disorders polycystic kidney disease
and neurofibromatosis were discussed in a Workshop by
leaders in their respective fields, Sandro Rossetti and
Ludwine Messiaen. This year continued the new and popular
tradition of platform presentations of selected abstracts by
Jochin Lennerz, Ramakrishnan Sasi, Colin
Davidson, Tad Holtegaard, and Sophia Yohe.
And Puzzlers by Prior returned by popular demand with many
diverse and interesting cases.
What a
dedicated group of attendees we have that the Early Bird
Sessions were so well-attended this year. This may be due
in part to exceptionally relevant topics: CF Screening with
Iris Schrijver, Reporting Molecular Test Results with
Margaret Gulley and Genetic Testing for
Mitochondrial DNA with Lee-Jun C. Wong.
The
Genetics Subdivision business luncheon attracted a large
crowd this year. Hanna Rennert opened the meeting
with an overview of the years events. Following the
introduction, the Genetics representatives from the Clinical
Practice, Nominating, and Training and Education Committees
gave an update on their milestones during the past year. I
concluded the meeting with a request for topics and speakers
for the 2010 Meeting. This request is still open for
discussion! Thus far, some of the leading topics are the
genetics of cardiovascular disease, an update on
preimplantation genetic diagnosis, post-GWAS update, and
microarrays in the clinical genetics lab. Pharmacogenetics
and an update on CAH test interpretation are in the running
too. I am eager to provide a comprehensive genetics
program, so all ideas are welcome.
I would
like to welcome the incoming Genetics Chair-elect, D.
Brian Dawson, to the Program Committee. His experience
will be a great asset in helping to plan this and the 2011
meetings. Welcome, Brian! In addition, I am looking
forward to working with the Genetics Representatives from
the various Committees: Narasimhan Nagan and
Christine A. Curtis (Clinical Practice Committee),
Min Fang and Thomas J. Monroe (Nominating
Committee), and Linda Jo Bone Jeng and Caroline
Astbury (Training and Education Committee). Please
contact either Brian or me with your ideas, concerns, or
questions. On a parting note, please do plan to reserve
some time off to visit the beautiful nearby Napa or Sonoma
Valleys after the meeting (for the scenery, of course)!
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