Six recipients of the Takeda/ACMG Foundation Next Generation Fellowship Awards were announced during the American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics (ACMG) 2019 Annual Clinical Genetics Meeting in Seattle, Washington. The six awards were the third set of awards given after Shire (now part of Takeda) made a $1.65 million commitment in 2017 to support the training of future medical geneticists.
Bruce R. Korf, MD, PhD, FACMG, president of the ACMG Foundation said, "We are delighted to recognize the continuing support of Takeda to this important program in training clinical and laboratory geneticists, especially given the rapid pace of change in this field and the great opportunity to improve health of our patients."
Takeda Pharmaceuticals/ACMG Foundation Genetics and Genomics Residency Fellowship Program will provide funding for two different specialties in 2019: one Clinical Genetics and Genomics Residency Training Award (2 years) and five Medical Biochemical Genetics Subspecialty Fellowships (1 year).
Clinical Genetics and Genomics Residency Fellowship:
1. Elizabeth Jalazo, MD, University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill
Dr. Jalazo is a board-certified pediatrician and fellow in the American Academy of Pediatrics. She grew up in Greensboro, North Carolina and received a BS in Biology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She moved to the DC area after graduating medical school at Wake Forest University School of Medicine. Dr. Jalazo completed her pediatric training at Johns Hopkins Children's Center in Baltimore, MD. She spent an additional two years at Johns Hopkins as a general academic pediatrics fellow and serving as pediatric Chief Resident.
She has practiced since 2016 in the Greater DC area, as a pediatrician with a special interest in caring for children with complex healthcare needs. During this time, she also served on the Maryland AAP Board of Directors, advocating for children with disabilities. Additionally, she joined the Angelman Syndrome Foundation Board of Directors in 2017 and has played a key role in the expansion of the global Angelman Syndrome Clinic Network. She moved back to North Carolina with her husband and three children this past fall and is excited to return to her alma mater, UNC, as a medical genetics fellow this summer.
Dr. Jalazo said, "I am thrilled to accept the Shire/ACMG Foundation "Next Generation" training award. It is an honor to serve the ACMG Foundation for Genetic and Genomic Medicine and Shire with this 2-year award dedicated to advancing education, research and the practice of medical genetics."
Medical Biochemical Genetics Subspecialty Fellowships:
1. Joshua Baker, DO, FAAP, Boston Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical School Genetics Training Program
Dr. Baker received his DO from Des Moines University, College of Osteopathic Medicine in 2014. He is currently a Clinical Genetics Fellow in the Harvard Medical School Genetics Training Program. His research at Boston Children's Hospital covers, "A Retrospective Chart Review: Effect of Socioeconomic Influence on Phenylalanine Levels in PKU Patients", as Primary Investigator and "Gene Transfer of SB-913 in patients with MPS II" as a Co-Investigator. Now in a Clinical Genetics Fellowship, he plans on expanding his prior research to help assess and improve healthcare outcomes for patients with genetic and metabolic disease with the goal to assess the barriers to diagnose and treat individuals to lead to improved morbidity and mortality of this population.
Dr. Baker said of receiving the award, "I am extremely honored to be awarded the 2019 Takeda Next Generation Medical Biochemical Subspecialty Fellowship. I am thankful that our industry partners continue to make such scholarships available, helping to make quality educational and training opportunities accessible to a new generation of Metabolic providers. I am looking forward to starting my project, which will assist in the development of technology to better screen, diagnose, and manage patients with lysosomal storage disorders. Thank you so much for this honor and the responsibility of your award."
2. William Brucker, MD, PhD, Boston Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical School Genetics Training Program
Dr. William Brucker is a Fellow in Clinical Genetics and Genomics at Boston Children's Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston, MA. He graduated from Brown University in 2004 with an Sc.B in Chemistry and received his MD and PhD from the Warren Alpert School of Medicine at Brown University in 2013. His graduate thesis investigated the neuroproteomic changes associated with nicotine addiction. Dr. Brucker completed his pediatric residency training at the University of Connecticut before joining the fellowship program in Clinical Genetics and Genomics in 2016. His primary interests are in galactosemia, congenital disorders of glycosylation, and biochemical medical education. His career goals are to both provide and advance the clinical care of individuals with inborn errors of metabolism and improve the understanding of these disorders by physicians and the lay public. The focus of his clinical project will involve the use of stable isotope studies in order to ascertain functional genotype/phenotype correlations in individuals with galactosemia and diverse genotypes.
"I am thrilled and honored to have received this award. I am looking forward to starting a career in biochemical genetics and becoming a part of the biochemical genetics community," said Dr. Brucker once receiving the award.
3. Kevin E. Glinton, MD, PhD., Baylor College of Medicine
Dr. Glinton is currently a second-year clinical genetics resident at Baylor College of Medicine where he has enjoyed caring for children with a range of inborn errors of metabolism. After pursuing a graduate degree in synthetic organic chemistry with a focus on the synthesis of small pharmacologically active compounds, he graduated in 2014 from the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth. Dr. Glinton's undergraduate and graduate research in the clinical applications of chemistry and pharmacology eventually led to his career in genetics after completing a pediatrics residency at the University of Virginia Health System. Dr. Glinton will continue his training at Baylor College of Medicine as a medical biochemical genetics fellow.
Upon receiving this award, Dr. Glinton said, "I am very excited and humbled to be a recipient of the ACMG Foundation Takeda Next Generation Award. I have greatly enjoyed my time here at Baylor and I am happy to have the privilege of being taught and mentored by the amazing metabolic faculty here for another year. I hope that the research this award affords will give our patients new insight and possibly additional options for the management of this condition."
4. Fillipo Ingoglia, PhD, University of Utah, School of Medicine
Dr. Filippo Ingoglia was born in Italy, growing up in Partanna, a small hill town located in the west of Sicily. He graduated from the University of Parma with a MSc in Biology and Biomedical Application in 2013. In 2017, he earned his PhD in Molecular Medicine from the University of Parma. His PhD work focused on functional and molecular analysis of Organic Cation Transporters (OCTs and OCTNs) in human airway epithelial cells and macrophages. In his postdoctoral career, he worked on lysinuric intolerance (LPI) focusing on the availability and effects of arginine on macrophagic function.
"I am very honored to receive this award from the ACMG Foundation that will allow me to obtain training and investigate metabolic alterations in urea cycle disorders," said Dr. Ingoglia after receiving the award.
5. Brian J. Shayota, MD, Baylor College of Medicine
Dr. Shayota is a current medical genetics resident at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, TX. His interest in the field began during his undergraduate education at the University of California, San Diego and continued through medical school at St. George's University School of Medicine and his pediatric training at St. Joseph's Medical Center in Paterson, NJ.
Dr. Shayota believes in the importance and potential of the field of medical biochemical genetics. He has worked to inspire younger students as early as high school to get involved in the field and worked under the mentorship of great faculty members to conduct and publish research with an interest in inborn errors of metabolism
He also has a Master of Public Health degree which he has used to implement community outreach programs and advocate for patients' rights. He hopes to continue advocating for patients with rare diseases to make sure appropriate services are made available and dignity preserved, both through his work in the clinic and the community at large.
"I am ecstatic and humbled to be recognized for this great honor. Receiving this award has made proper fellowship training in the field of biochemical genetics a reality for me, which I will use to give back to the community that helped me get here today. I am most excited though to continue the work I have started in trying to better understand rare genetic inborn errors of metabolism with an emphasis on public health matters like the Newborn Screen and investigating new therapies," said Dr. Shayota after receiving this award.
The ACMG Foundation for Genetic and Genomic Medicine (ACMGF) is a community of supporters and contributors who understand the importance of medical genetics and genomics in healthcare. A nonprofit organization established in 1992, the Foundation supports the American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics (ACMG) mission to "translate genes into health"; to foster charitable giving, promote training opportunities to attract future medical geneticists and genetic counselors, to share information about medical genetics, to sponsor important research and much more.
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To learn more and support the ACMGF mission to create "Better Health through Genetics", please contact Nicole O. Bell, ACMG Foundation Manager, at nbell@acmg.net or (301) 718-9604 or visit acmgfoundation.org.
Note to editors: To arrange interviews with experts in medical genetics, contact Kathy Moran, MBA, ACMG Senior Director of Public Relations at kmoran@acmg.net.