Human Genetics Lectureships

Diane Baker became the director of the Michigan Genetic Counseling Graduate Program three years after it was founded in 1979. In the intervening 30-plus years, the profession has grown to almost 3,000 members who are trained in 31 graduate programs in the Americas. The success of the University of Michigan graduate programs and the growth of the genetic counseling profession within the University of Michigan Health System, the state of Michigan, and nationally, is a direct result of her work and skills as a clinician, educator, and innovator.

Students in the Human Genetics Counseling Program have an enormous impact on the practice of genetic counseling, including alumni who served as presidents of the National Society of Genetic Counselors, educators, those who developed innovative models of clinical services at nationally recognized hospitals across the Americas, as well as published over 50 peer-reviewed publications between 2007-2010 and authored two editions of the premiere introductory textbook about genetic counseling.

The Diane Baker Alumni Lecture Award was created to honor graduate students who embody the ambition and ideals of the University of Michigan’s Genetic Counseling Program. This annual event provides a unique opportunity for genetic counseling trainees to learn from University of Michigan alumni who are national leaders in genetic counseling.

2024 Lecture - “Cracks in the Foundation: Building a More Inclusive Genetic Counseling Education System” by Jennifer Fitzpatrick, MS, CGC, from McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

2023 Lecture - “Utilizing Genetic Counselors in Research: From a Study of Germline EGFR Variants to a Pilot of Cancer Panel Testing in Rwanda” by Diane Koeller, MS, MPH, LCGC, from Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA.

2022 Lecture - "Clinical and Psychological Impact of Genetic Testing Among Individuals and Families of Diverse Ethnic Backgrounds" by Julie Culver, MS, LCGC, CCRP, from USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center, CA.

2021 Lecture - "From Guthrie to Genomes: The Evolution and Future of Newborn Screening" by Amy Gaviglio, MS, CGC, from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, St. Paul, MN.

2019 Lecture - "Navigating the Genomic Era: Adaptation and Innovation" by Sarah Scollon, MS, CGC, from Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX.

2018 Lecture - "Genetics Odyssey: How Artificial Intelligence is Changing Genetic Services" by Elizabeth Kearney, MS, LCGC, MBA, from MBA MainStream Genomics, San Mateo, CA.

2017 Lecture -"Reflections on a 40-year Journey: From Genetic Counseling to Public Health Genomics" by Janice V. Bach, MS, CGC, from the Michigan Department of Health & Human Services.

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In 1974, Dr. Gelehrter joined the University of Michigan Medical School faculty and served as chair of the Department of Human Genetics for 17 years, from 1987 to 2004. He is currently an active Professor Emeritus in the department.

A graduate of Oberlin College and Rhodes Scholar at the University of Oxford, and after earning his medical degree, magna cum laude, from Harvard Medical School, and residency and fellowship training at Massachusetts General Hospital, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the University of Washington, Gelehrter began his career as an assistant professor in the Yale University School of Medicine. 

After four years, during which time he was promoted to associate professor of human genetics, medicine and pediatrics, he joined the faculty at the University of Michigan in 1974 and holds appointments in Human Genetics and Internal Medicine. From 1987-2004, he was Chair of U-M's Department of Human Genetics. He has been recognized by the National Cancer Institute, NIH for outstanding research, and the Permanente Award for Excellence in Preclinical Teaching. He continues to teach and see patients as an Emeritus faculty member. 

In the fall of 2009, Dr. Gelehrter received the University of Michigan Dean’s Award for Lifetime Achievement in Medical Education and the prestigious Award for Excellence in Human Genetics Education from the American Society of Human Genetics. Medical students and residents have benefited from his knowledge and skill, as well as numerous grateful patients.

During a career of almost 40 years of service to the Medical School, Thomas D. Gelehrter, MD, has proven an outstanding scholar, physician, and scientist and an exemplary teacher.

“Dr. Gelehrter truly exemplifies the ideal of the ‘Michigan Difference’… his outstanding teaching, popular medical genetics textbook, NIH-funded research, dedicated patient care, and service as department chair… [We] are indebted to him for his service.” - James O. Woolliscroft, MD, Dean, U-M Medical School, 2006-2015

2024 Lecture - “How GWAS and Functional Genomics Provide Insight into Molecular Pathways of Human Trait Biology” by Jonathan Pritchard, PhD from Stanford University.

2023 Lecture - “Rett Syndrome from the Clinic to Genomes, Epigenomes, and Neural Circuits” by Huda Yahya Zoghbi, MD, from Baylor College of Medicine & Howard Hughes Medical Institute.

2022 Lecture - "Gene Discovery and the Promise of Precision Medicine in Epilepsy" by Heather C. Mefford, MD, PhD, from the Center for Pediatric Neurological Disease Research, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. 

2021 Lecture - “Towards population screening for genetic disease” by Leslie G. Biesecker, MD, from the Center for Precision Health Research National Human Genome Research Institute.

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A pioneer human and medical geneticist, Dr. James Van Gundia Neel always kept foremost the perspective of the physician and a keen sensitivity to the societal implications of the new knowledge he discovered. Trained in Drosophila genetics with Curt Stern and in medicine at the University of Rochester, he became the founder of the field of medical population genetics.

Neel joined the University of Michigan faculty in 1946 as an assistant geneticist in the Laboratory of Vertebrate Biology. From late 1946 to 1947, he served in the Army Medical Corps and directed field studies for the Atomic Bomb Casualty Commission of the National Research Council. In 1948, he returned to the University of Michigan to direct the Institute of Human Biology's Heredity Clinic. Dr. Neel was President of the American Society of Human Genetics in 1954. He established the nation’s first Department of Human Genetics at Michigan in 1956 as well as one of the first clinics to evaluate and counsel people with hereditary diseases and was its chair for 25 years. He was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1971. He was named the Lee R. Dice University Professor of Human Genetics in 1966 – a position he held until his retirement on June 30, 1985. He died February 1, 2000 at age 84.

During a distinguished career spanning more than 60 years, Dr. Neel made major contributions to our understanding of the genetics of several human diseases including diabetes mellitus, neurofibromatosis, and sickle cell anemia, of the effects of atomic radiation on humans, and of the genetic structure of Amerindian populations. Dr. Neel published over 500 papers and several books, including his autobiographical memoir, Physician to the Gene Pool. He was a member of the National Academy of Sciences and its Institute of Medicine, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Philosophical Society, and the Association of American Physicians, he was honored with the Presidential Medal of Science, the Lasker Award of the American Public Health Association, the Allan Award of the American Society of Human Genetics, and the Colonel Harlan Sanders March of Dimes Birth Defects Foundation Award for lifetime achievement in clinical genetics.

The James V. Neel, MD, Fellowship Award is presented to a graduate student who embodies Dr. Neel’s ideals. The selection of recipients will be made by the Education Committee of the Human Genetics Department based on quality, and secondly, on need – to put these funds where they will do the most good for the students and the Department. Students are awarded a fellowship and present their research at the annual lectureship.

Funds for the J.V. Neel Lectureship and Graduate Student Fellowship come from come from generous donations from the Neel family, current and former DHG faculty, alumni, postdoctoral fellows, staff, friends of the Department, and the Neel family, in supporting Human Genetics graduate education.

The James V. Neel Doctoral Fellowship awards graduate students in their 4th or 5th year of PhD training. Foreign students are eligible for this award. This award may be provided to more than one student in a given year.

The James V. Neel Genetic Counseling Fellowship awards a 2nd year genetic counseling student financial support towards tuition.

Funds for the J.V. Neel Lectureship and Graduate Student Fellowship come from come from generous donations from the Neel family, current and former DHG faculty, alumni, postdoctoral fellows, staff, friends of the Department, and the Neel family, in supporting Human Genetics graduate education.

2025 Lecture - "Causes and Consequences of New Mutations" by Professor Matthew Hurles, FMedSci FRS, from the Wellcome Sanger Institute, University of Cambridge.

2024 Lecture - "A Proper Study for Mankind: Understanding the Human Condition Through the Lens of Other Primates" by Jenny Tung, PhD, from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Duke University.

2023 Lecture - "Creating the Fourth Chapter of Human Genomics" by Eric Green, MD, PhD, from the National Human Genome Research Institute (NIH). 

2022 Lecture - "A tail of tales: genetics and development of evolutionary change (in wild mice)" by Hopi E. Hoekstra, PhD, from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute & Harvard University. 

2021 Lecture - "Remembrance of Things Past: Reactivation of Fetal Hemoglobin for Therapy" by Stuart H. Orkin, MD, from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute & Harvard University.

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