March 2009 From the Director

David Valle

March 2009--Welcome to the inaugural issue of our new quarterly newsletter. We’ve launched Genetics News to share with you the many ways our entire faculty and staff are turning challenging times into exciting opportunities.

The McKusick-Nathans Institute of Genetic Medicine was established in 1999 to expand our understanding of how genetics contributes to health and disease. Today, we have a great group of experts who study all things genetic, both in the clinic and at the bench.

On the clinical side, under the guidance of medical geneticist Ada Hamosh, IGM clinical faculty and staff are directly responsible for multiple outpatient clinics as well as a busy inpatient service and a consultation service that sees patients all over the hospital.

On the research side, IGM investigators are studying everything from epigenetics to microRNAs, from the genetics of autism to gene therapy for cardiac disease. We also are home to several key research resources open to the entire university, including the Genetics CORE, the Center for Inherited Disease Research, our new zebrafish facility FINZ and a powerful computer cluster to analyze all the data.

And, because our institute is grounded in academic medicine, we offer a robust graduate program in Human Genetics, have an expanding residency training program, and provide many outreach efforts to our colleagues and to the public.

Our mission is to advance understanding of the role of genes in health and disease and to promote effective utilization of this knowledge to improve health and to better educate our students, colleagues and patients. That’s one reason we’re delighted that our efforts have already led to a Provost’s Discovery Award, which we’re using to develop an individualized medicine system at Johns Hopkins that embraces the uniqueness of each patient, emphasizes tailored treatment and promotes prevention.

But that is only one of many goings-on here at IGM. Please read on...

And do send us your feedback.

David Valle, M.D.
Henry J. Knott Professor and Director
McKusick-Nathans Institute of Genetic Medicine