Program Director
Mira Irons, M.D., has been the Program Director of the Harvard Medical School Genetics Training Program since January of 2004. Dr. Irons also serves as the Director of the Clinical Genetics Residency. Dr. Irons received her M.D. from Northwestern University Medical School in Chicago in 1980. She then completed a residency in pediatrics at Children's Memorial Hospital in Chicago. In 1983, she came to Boston to complete a genetics fellowship in the Harvard Medical School Genetics Training Program. After completing her genetics training in 1986, she worked in the Division of Genetics at Tufts University School of Medicine. In 1998, she joined the faculty at Children's Hospital Boston, where she currently serves as Associate Chief of the Division of Genetics and the Chief of Clinical Programs in the Division of Genetics. In this capacity, she oversees all clinical operations of the Division, including the clinical programs in Genetics and Metabolism at the Longwood campus as well as the Children's Hospital satellites. Dr. Irons has a busy clinical practice, is the Director of the Neurofibromatosis Program and also sees patients in her general Genetics clinic, both at the Longwood campus and at the South Shore satellite office.
Dr. Irons serves on numerous national medical committees. She is the Secretary/Treasurer of the Association of Professors of Human and Medical Genetics, is a member of the Professional Practices and Guidelines Committee of the American College of Medical Genetics, is the Co-Chair of the Joint Working Group on Maintenance of Certification of the ABMG/ACMG, and is a representative to the Council of Medical Specialty Societies and to the Organization of Program Directors Association. She has recently been appointed to the Accreditation Review Committee of the ACCME and the current Vice-Chair of the ACGME Residency Review Committee for Genetics.
Program Coordinator
Andrea McDonald, M.A., has been the program coordinator since April 2003. She is responsible for managing the logistics of the program, including recruitment of trainee candidates. Ms. McDonald has several years of experience working in academic program management and has worked with both undergraduate and graduate students as well as faculty from diverse backgrounds.
Course Coordinator
Gretchen Schneider, M.S., CGC, is the Course Coordinator for the Advanced Human Genetics Course, participation in which is required of all residents and fellows in the training program. Ms. Schneider is responsible for creating the course schedule and syllabus, recruiting faculty lecturers, disseminating lecture materials, and gathering statistical information on class attendance, lecturer evaluations and exam performances. In addition, she administers examinations in the fall and spring, which residents and fellows are required to pass for successful completion of the training program. Ms. Schneider is a board-certified genetic counselor with over 14 years of experience in clinical and laboratory genetics and genetic education. She serves as Assistant Director of Education for the HPCGG and is involved in teaching genetics-related courses at Brandeis University, Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, MGH Institute of Health Professionals and Northeastern University.
Specialty Program Directors
Clinical Biochemical Genetics Specialty
Harvey Levy, Ph.D. , is co-director of the HMS ABMG Clinical Biochemical Genetics program. Dr. Levy specializes in biochemical genetics (metabolism). He is Senior Associate in Medicine/Genetics at Children's Hospital Boston and Professor of Pediatrics at the Harvard Medical School. He was formerly Director of the Metabolic Program and currently serves as an attending physician within the program. Dr. Levy conducts clinical research in two areas of metabolism, phenylketonuria (PKU) and clinical and biochemical follow-up of newborn screening for metabolic disorders. He has very active research projects ongoing in those areas.
Clinical Cytogenetics Specialty
Azra H. Ligon, Ph.D., oversees training in the HMS ABMG Clinical Cytogenetics program. Dr. Ligon received her Ph.D. in Cancer Biology from the University of Texas/M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in 1995. She completed her Medical Genetics training at Baylor College of Medicine in 1997 and, after a research postdoctoral fellowship at Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH), joined the Staff of the BWH Cytogenetics Laboratory in 1999 as an ABMG-certified Clinical Cytogeneticist. In 2003, she assumed leadership of the HMS ABMG Cytogenetics training program. Dr. Ligon's research activities include translation of basic research findings into clinical diagnostics, especially those relevant to the area of cancer diagnostics.
Clinical Molecular Genetics Specialty
Heidi Rehm, Ph.D., oversees the Clinical Molecular Genetics specialty. Dr. Rehm received her Ph.D. in Genetics from Harvard University in 2000. She completed a fellowship in Clinical Molecular Genetics in the Harvard Medical School Genetics Training Program in 2002. She was named director of the Clinical Molecular Genetics subspeciality in July 2006. Dr. Rehm has worked to expand the face of molecular genetics and broaden the integration of this field within medicine and research and continues to advance the training environment for clinical molecular genetics fellows. In addition to her duties in the training program, Dr. Rehm serves as a Clinical Molecular Geneticist in the Laboratory for Molecular Medicine, where her role involves daily signout of hearing loss and cardiovascular disease testing in addition to an administrative role in overseeing the laboratory. The main areas of Dr. Rehm's research include studies of: 1) genotype/phenotype studies in hereditary hearing loss; 2) Norrie disease; 3) access to and quality of genetics services for hereditary hearing loss; and 4) the development of innovative molecular diagnostic tools.
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