Nancy J. Mendelsohn, MD, FACMG Is Elected to the ACMG Foundation for Genetic and Genomic Medicine Board of Directors

BETHESDA, Md., Jan. 11, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Nancy J. Mendelsohn, MD, FACMG has been elected to the board of directors of the ACMG Foundation for Genetic and Genomic Medicine. The ACMG Foundation is a national nonprofit foundation dedicated to facilitating the integration of genetics and genomics into medical practice. The board members are active participants, serving as advocates for the ACMG Foundation and advancing its policies and programs. Dr. Mendelsohn was elected to a two-year term starting in January 2022.

"Dr. Mendelsohn brings to the ACMG Foundation a unique skill set combining expertise in medical genetics, practice management, and health system leadership. She is ideally positioned to help the Foundation to support ACMG in its mission to bring advances in genetics and genomics to clinical application," said ACMG Foundation President Bruce R. Korf, MD, PhD, FACMG.

Dr. Mendelsohn is the chief medical officer for Optum Health Solutions for the Optum Frontier Therapies businesses at UnitedHealth Group. She is a clinical geneticist, physician-scientist, healthcare executive and researcher with leadership experience. Her previous role as chief of specialty pediatrics at Children's Minnesota, one of the larger children's hospital centers in the United States, included the strategy and development of the multi-specialty physician practice. She has more than 50 peer-reviewed publications, book chapters and presentations, and has clinical expertise in lysosomal storage disorders.

Dr. Mendelsohn received a Bachelor of Science in Molecular Biology from Indiana University and an MD from the University of Missouri. She completed a residency in pediatrics and a fellowship in medical genetics at St. Louis Children's Hospital at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. Early on as a general pediatrician and an Assistant Professor, Division of Medical Genetics, Department of Pediatrics, at the University of Minnesota Medical School, she established the first genetics service at Hennepin County Medical Center. Dr. Mendelsohn then would go on to build genetics services at Gillette Children's Specialty Healthcare and Children's Hospital Minnesota from as little as two clinicians to the largest genetics program in the upper Midwest. She has served broadly on national committees for the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), the American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics (ACMG), the American Board of Medical Genetics and Genomics (ABMGG) and Children's Minnesota.

Upon being elected to the ACMG Foundation Board of Directors, Dr. Mendelsohn said, "We are fortunate to live in a time where gene therapies are providing therapeutic cures, realizing amazing medical gains and the burgeoning potential of genomic medicine.  As we watch the science evolve, our ability to translate the understanding of genetics to clinical medicine is more powerful and promising than ever before. I am honored to serve on the board of the ACMG Foundation for Genetic and Genomic Medicine, support the mission, and hope to help realize "Better Health through Genetics."

A complete roster of the ACMG Foundation board can be found at www.acmgfoundation.org. 

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 acmgfoundation.org.

Kathy Moran, MBA
[email protected]

SOURCE American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics