Welcome

Welcome to the Department of Human Genetics The Department was founded in 2001 as part of the Emory University School of Medicine through the restructuring of the existing Department of Genetics and the incorporation of the entire Division of Medical Genetics from the Department of Pediatrics. Today, the DOHG has 39 full-time faculty members, engaged in all the missions of medical school comprising research, teaching and clinical service. The majority of the research in the Department focuses directly on human genetic disease and has major strengths in neurogenetics, metabolic disease, and translational research. The DOHG is home to the National Down Syndrome Project and a National Fragile X Syndrome Research Center.

Recent faculty recruitment has substantially increased our research activities in statistical genetics, comparative genomics, proteomics, next-generation sequencing technology, and human model systems, including transgenic non-human primate models. The Department has a strong bioinformatics base using our in-house 42-core computer cluster or the Emory High Performance 1,024-core cluster. Our total federal funding for research exceeds $12,000,000 per year and the Department has a number of active industrial partnerships.

The DOHG has a vibrant clinical program, organized under the Division of Medical Genetics. The Division holds numerous weekly general and specialized genetic clinics for children and adults and has responsibility for all in-patient consultation and management of genetic disease in metro Atlanta. In addition, several outreach clinics are held throughout the state and the DOHG is the referral center for Georgia’s newborn screening program. Clinical management of newborns identified with metabolic diseases is provided by the Nutrition Section within the Department. A number of clinical research protocols are conducted by the Department, including enzyme replacement studies carried out in the Department’s four-bed infusion suite. Within the Department are three large clinical laboratories (Emory Genetic Laboratories) providing cytogenetic, biochemical and molecular diagnostics for hundreds of genetic diseases. EGL receives over 30,000 patient specimens per year from throughout the world and is the major national referral center for several genetic disorders.

The Department faculty are extremely active in medical and graduate education currently mentoring nearly 100 doctoral and postdoctoral students.  In addition, the Department has a fully ACGME-accredited clinical genetic residency program and offers training in all American Board of Medical Genetics subspecialties. The unique combination of a fully-fledged basic research faculty along with the comprehensive clinical genetics division, places the Department of Human Genetics at the forefront of contemporary translational research and predictive health.


- Stephen T. Warren, Ph.D., Chairman