Melissa A. Kelly, MS, CGC is the recipient of the 2024 ACMG Foundation Carolyn Mills Lovell Genetic Counselor Award. Ms. Kelly received the Lovell award for her platform presentation at the 2024 ACMG Annual Clinical Genetics Meeting, “Integrating genomic medicine into healthcare: Experience disclosing >5,000 clinically relevant results within the Geisinger MyCode Community Health Initiative.”
Ms. Kelly said, “Thank you to the ACMG Foundation. I am humbled and honored to receive the Carolyn Mills Lovell Genetic Counselor Award. Throughout my career, I have seen many ways in which patients and their families interact with and are impacted by genomic information. In prior roles as a clinical and laboratory genetic counselor, I often saw patients undergo genetic testing due to a personal or family history. While such indication-based testing is still a critical component of genomic medicine, we know that such testing fails to identify all individuals with increased risk. I am excited by our current work as it exemplifies the reach and impact of genomic screening at population scale. However, none of this work would be possible without the patients who participate in MyCode, the entire MyCode research team, my Co-Director Juliann Savatt and our amazing Genomic Screening and Counseling team that disclose these results and supports patients, and my co-authors, who laid the strong foundation of our current program.”
Ms. Kelly is a graduate of the Brandeis University Genetic Counseling Program and is a licensed, certified genetic counselor with a range of clinical, laboratory and research experience that has centered around cardiovascular genomics, clinical variant interpretation, and genomic variant pipelines for more than 10 years. Ms. Kelly is Co-Director of the Geisinger MyCode Genomic Screening and Counseling Program (GSC) and Lead for the MyCode Clinical Variant Pipeline, responsible for the identification and review of variants prior to confirmation and disclosure to MyCode participants. She has also been a core member of the ClinGen Cardiomyopathy Variant Curation Expert Panel since its inception in 2014. Her research interests focus on expanding our genomic and phenotypic understanding of actionable genetic conditions, specifically inherited cardiovascular diseases, through population screening and translating this knowledge into clinically meaningful results.
Nancy J. Mendelsohn MD, FACMG, president of the ACMG Foundation said, “Congratulations to Melissa Kelly, recipient of this year’s ACMG Foundation Carolyn Mills Lovell Genetic Counselor Award. We are pleased to recognize the important role that genetic counselors play in clinical and laboratory genetic and genomic medicine. Her work is unique and provides helpful insights into scaling genomic screening.”
The Carolyn Mills Lovell Award was made possible by a generous donation from former ACMG Medical Director David Flannery, MD, FAAP, FACMG to honor Carolyn Mills Lovell, MAT, MS, CGC, a genetic counselor who continues to provide exemplary service and care to patients and their families at Augusta University, previously known as the Medical College of Georgia (MCG). Dr. Flannery worked with Carolyn Mills Lovell for more than 15 years while he was at MCG. Through this award he also wanted to recognize the contributions and accomplishments of all genetic counselors.
The award includes a cash prize of $1,000 and will be presented annually through 2024. The recipient is chosen based on the highest rated abstract submitted by a genetic counselor to the ACMG Annual Clinical Genetics Meeting.
“Congratulations to Melissa A. Kelly, MS, CGC as the recipient of this year’s Lovell award, for the highest scoring abstract by a genetic counselor at the 2024 ACMG Annual Meeting, for her abstract ‘Integrating genomic medicine into healthcare: Experience disclosing >5,000 clinically relevant results within the Geisinger MyCode Community Health Initiative,’” said David Flannery, MD, FAAP, FACMG. “It is especially notable that it will be a platform presentation at the ACMG meeting. Her work exemplifies the important role of genetic counselors in clinical research and improving the delivery of genetic services to populations.”
About the ACMG Foundation for Genetic and Genomic Medicine
The ACMG Foundation for Genetic and Genomic Medicine, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, is a community of supporters and contributors who understand the importance of medical genetics and genomics in healthcare. Established in 1992, the ACMG Foundation supports the American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics (ACMG) mission to “translate genes into health.” Through its work, the ACMG Foundation fosters charitable giving, promotes training opportunities to attract future medical geneticists and genetic counselors to the field, shares information about medical genetics and genomics, and sponsors important research. To learn more and support the ACMG Foundation mission to create “Better Health through Genetics” visit www.acmgfoundation.org.
Note to editors: To arrange interviews with experts in medical genetics, contact ACMG Senior Director of Communications and Public Relations Kathy Moran, MBA at kmoran@acmg.net.