MSGRCC Annual Meeting Highlights, July 14-16, Denver, CO.

The Mountain States Genetics Regional Collaborative Center (MSGRCC) featured a keynote presentation and panel discussion on ethics. The keynote speaker was Jeffrey Botkin, MD, MPH, Associate Vice President for Research at the University of Utah. Panel members included R. Stephens Amato, MD, Medical Geneticist at St Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center, Phoenix Genetics Program in Phoenix, AZ, Vickie Thomson, PhD, Director of Newborn Screening Programs at the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment in Denver, CO, and Trish Thomas, TA/Partnership Coordinator at Family Voices in Albuquerque, NM.

Participants also heard about national activities related to newborn screening and genetic services from:
• Health Resources and Services Administration, presented by Michele Puryear, MD, Chief, Genetic Services Branch, Maternal and Child Health Bureau
• Advisory Committee on Heritable Disorders in Newborns and Children (ACHDNC), presented by R. Rodney Howell, MD, FAAP, FACMG, Professor of Pediatrics, Miller School of Medicine, University of Miami
• National Newborn Screening and Genetics Resource Center , presented by Brad Therrell, PhD, Director, NNSGRC
• National Coordinating Center for the Genetics and Newborn Screening Regional Collaborative Groups, presented by Michael S. Watson, PhD, FACMG, Project Director, National Coordinating Center, Executive Director, American College of Medical Genetics
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, presented by Cynthia F. Hinton, PhD, MS, MPH, Health Scientist, Pediatric Genetics Team

Leads for all MSGRCC-funded projects also presented updates on their activities during the past year:
• Newborn Screening Outcomes and Management Project (Project Lead: Janet Thomas, MD), presented by Erica Wright, MS, CGC
• Laboratory Quality Assurance Project, presented by Marzia Pasquali, PhD, Project Lead
• Community Conversation on Genetics, presented by Murray Brilliant, PhD, Project Lead
• Quality Improvement of Clinical Services (Project Lead: Marc S. Williams, MD), presented by Debra Freedenberg, MD, PhD
• Emergency Preparedness Planning Project, presented by Johan Van Hove, PhD, MD, MBA, Project Lead
• Hemoglobinopathies Newborn Screening and Follow-up Project, presented by Kathryn Hassell, MD, Project Lead

The lunch speaker on July 15, 2009 was Brad Thompson, MA, LPC, Director, The Hali Project.

The MSGRCC workgroups also met during the Annual Meeting:
• Emergency Preparedness Workgroup, Co-Chairs: Donna Williams & Lynette Borgfeld
• Newborn Screening Workgroup, Co-Chairs: Jeffrey R. Botkin, MD, MPH & Susan Tanksley, PhD
• Telemedicine Workgroup, Chair: TBD
• Consumer Advocacy Workgroup, Co-Chairs: Joe Martinec and Rod Slaght

Also attending the meeting were Camille D. Miller, Project Director; Celia Kaye, MD, PhD, Principle Investigator; Joyce Hooker, Project Manager and Liza Creel, Program Coordinator.

The MSGRCC would like to thank all of its federal, regional and state partners who attended, contributed to and made this meeting a great success

Link to the Annual Meeting Photos

MSGRCC acknowledges the Health Resources and Services Administration for their support of this and other MSGRCC activities through HRSA Grant U22MC10761. MSGRCC is federally funded by the United States Department of Health and Human Services, Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) Genetic Services Branch. The views expressed in written conference materials or publications and by speakers and moderator do not necessarily reflect the official policies of the Department of Health and Human Services; nor does mention of trade names, commercial practices or organizations imply endorsement by the US Government.