Press Release: Department of Medicine Division of Medical Genetics September 25, 2007

Symposium celebrates 50th Anniversary of UW Medical Genetics "UW Medical Genetics 1957-2007: A 50th Anniversary Celebration"

The UW Division of Medical Genetics, Department of Medicine, is celebrating the 50th anniversary of its founding with a two-day symposium to be held October 12 and 13 in Hogness Auditorium in the Health Sciences Center.

The event

Attendance at this special event is free of charge and is open to the UW community and the general public. It is of interest to laypersons as well as scientists, health professionals, and students. Registration by September 30 is required for lunch on Saturday but otherwise is not necessary. The program will be held from 1:30 to 5:30 pm on Friday, October 12, and 8 am to 5:15 pm on Saturday, October 13. Details of the program, speakers, and registration are available at the Medical Genetics Anniversary website

More than 25 speakers from UW and other institutions will give presentations on the history of medical genetics and of the division, mechanisms of human genetic disease, ethics, genomics, gene therapy, the next 50 years in human genetics, and other topics. Speakers include some of the most prominent genetic scientists in the world, many of whom trained or taught at UW. The full program can be viewed here.

Dean of Medicine Paul Ramsey, former Medical Genetics Division Head George Stamatoyannopoulos, and founding Division Head Arno Motulsky will speak on Friday afternoon. On Saturday afternoon, Gail Jarvik, now the third division head, will speak on the future of medical genetics and the planned Institute for Genetic Medicine.

History and achievements of UW Medical Genetics

The UW Division of Medical Genetics was among the first of its kind in the nation, founded in 1957 by Dr. Motulsky, an internationally recognized pioneer in human and medical genetics, known particularly for his early interest in the genetics of common disorders such as vascular disease. He led the division for more than 30 years and is today an active professor emeritus of medicine and of genome sciences.

One of the architects of the nation's agenda for genome research, Dr. Motulsky has been a mentor to some of the most distinguished scientists in the field, and he established one of the first research training programs in medical genetics for physicians. Its graduates include internationally known geneticists, including Joseph L. Goldstein, winner of the 1985 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine; the late Philip J. Fialkow, former UW dean of medicine; George Stamatoyannopoulos, founder of the American Society of Gene Therapy; Charles Epstein, former head of Pediatric Genetics at UCSF, a pioneer in human developmental genetics, and former president of the three major genetics organization; Robert Murray, pioneer in the understanding of sickle cell disease; C. Ronald Scott, until recently the head of Pediatric Genetics at UW; Thomas D. Bird, a pioneer in the genetics of dementia; Roger Perlmutter, current vice-president for research at AMGEN and a contributor to the pharmaceutical industry's interest in the role of genetics; Roberta Pagon, UW professor and developer of GeneTests and GeneReviews, which provide up-to-date information about genetic disorders and testing for physicians throughout the world; Wylie Burke, chair of the UW Department of Medical History and Ethics and an international authority on ethical aspects of genetic information; and Virginia Sybert, the nation's premier genetic dermatologist; as well as four former or current presidents of the American Society of Human Genetics, two editors of the society's journal, and many division and department heads in genetics in the U.S. and abroad.

The current Medical Genetics faculty includes seven members of the National Academy of Sciences and three winners of the Gruber Prize in Genetics-Mary-Claire King, Robert Waterston, and this year's awardee, Maynard Olson.

Under Motulsky's leadership, medical genetics grew as a specialty at UW and became a model for divisions in other institutions. Many subspecialty areas of the field first began at UW in this division: Pediatric genetics was created as a specialty whose first director, Judith Hall, went on to head pediatrics at UBC. Cytogenetics, the study of chromosomes and their disorders, had its first home in the Division of Medical Genetics, until it moved to the Department of Pathology. Biochemical genetics, a metabolic subspecialty, emerged under the direction of Ron Scott, a former fellow, and moved to Pediatrics because the relevant disorders were seen primarily in children. Prenatal diagnosis began with interests in the division and later moved to Obstetrics/Gynecology and Radiology as technical and procedural innovations occurred. Likewise, testing for common genetic disorders began in the division and then moved to Laboratory Medicine as needs for standard approaches developed.

Under Dr. Motulsky's direction, new training programs in clinical biochemical genetics, clinical molecular genetics, and clinical cytogenetics emerged and were shared with the other departmental units. Under the leadership of Dr. Stamatoyannopoulos, the division continued to follow its roots in the genetics of common diseases with studies of Alzheimer disease, vascular disease, and cancer, while building a nationally recognized program on gene therapy.

The division today

Today the Division of Medical Genetics is a leading center of research in molecular genetics; genomic applications to cardiovascular disease, dementia, autism, cancer, and surgical outcomes; gene therapy; cytogenetics; biochemical genetics; and other areas related to human disease states. It has a broad program in clinical cancer genetics. Its faculty members care for patients in clinics for adults and children at UW Medical Center and Children's Hospital and Regional Medical Center alongside genetic counselors and other health professionals who specialize in the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of inherited disorders. Its training program is one of the most sought after in the nation.

Significant advances by members of the Division of Medical Genetics faculty:

Arno Motulsky: Common diseases, genetics of lipid disorders, genetics of color vision and perception, major medical genetics textbook
Stanley Gartler: Mechanisms of X-inactivation, use of X-linked markers to recognize clonality of tumor origins
George Stamatoyannopoulos: YAC transgenics to provide whole gene transgenic animals expressed from the correct context, deep structure of regulation of expression of globin genes with distant regulatory domains
Samir Deeb: Genetics of lipid disorders, genetics of color vision
Clem Furlong: Role of genetic variation in enzymatic degradation of insecticides as risk factors in exposure, genetic variation in same enzymes and role in lipid disorders
Mary-Claire King: Identification of major breast cancer loci, genetics of deafness, genetic approaches to forensic identification
Tom Bird and Ellen Wijsman: Genetic aspects of early dementias including the identification of specific genes
Robert Waterston and Maynard Olson: Major roles in the development of the full human genome sequence (both at Washington University and after their moves to UW)
Gail Jarvik: Genetics of heart disease, surgical outcomes in infants, and cancer
Marshall Horwitz: Recently received an NIH Pioneer Award, identified genes involved in regulation of white blood cell generation and development
Virginia Sybert: Author of the most influential textbook of genetic skin disorders
Wylie Burke: Development of approaches to understanding the role of genetics in medicine and its interpretation in minority populations where kinship information has an important role
Robin Bennett: Development of the first and most active clinic for genetic forms of cancer in the Pacific Northwest; authored a textbook on genetic counseling

Contact:

Amy Dao
Manager, Department of Medicine; Genome Center
Box 352145
Phone: (206) 685-7366
Fax: (206) 616-5242
Email: amyd@u.washington.edu

Beverly Berg-Rood
Division Administrator, Department of Medicine, Division of Medical Genetics
Box 357720
Phone: (206) 616-4521
Fax: (206) 543-3050
Email: bgonzale@u.washington.edu