Medical Professionals

Physicians and Other Medical Professionals

Medical professionals, especially OB/GYNs, midwives and pediatricians, can play a vital role in promoting timely and accurate carrier screening for individuals. Now that many labs are offering expanded carrier screening that is not ethnic-specific, the JGDC urges medical professionals to recommend carrier screening for all patients of childbearing age.

JGDC Grand Rounds Program

The JGDC is pleased to offer, at no charge, a special program for physicians: The JGDC Grand Rounds Seminar. After attending the programr, physicians are forever touched. They become more aware of genetic disorders, more skilled at advising families, more effective at prevention – in short, they are better doctors.

The seminar is an introduction to genetic diseases that are found most commonly, though not exclusively in all persons of Jewish heritage, whether Ashkenazi, Mizrahi or Sephardic. The one-hour seminar introduces issues surrounding these diseases; focusing on the genetic carrier screening that is the best means of prevention. Topics covered include:

  • Who is at risk for Jewish genetic diseases 

  • Logistics of screening 

  • Benefits and limitations of screening 

  • The difference between ethnicity based screening and expanded carrier screening
  • Ethical issues related to genetic testing 


After a 45-minute PowerPoint presentation by a physician or genetic counselor, a family member spends ten emotional minutes, describing the day-to-day heart wrenching experience of caring for a child who suffers from a Jewish genetic disease. Many physicians have commented that this part of the program sears the entire presentation into their memory. There will be time for questions at the end of the presentation.

The JGDC Grand Rounds Seminar is aimed at OB/GYNs, pediatricians, medical students, nurse/midwives, and other health care professionals, particularly those who treat or counsel women who are thinking about starting a family. These women and their spouses are the prime candidates for screening and are in the best position to prevent the future transmission of these diseases.

To schedule a JGDC Grand Rounds Seminar at your hospital or for further information please contact:
 Shari Ungerleider, Program Coordinator, at 855-642-6900 or by email at shari@jewishgeneticdiseases.org

Past Grand Rounds Seminars

Total number of doctors educated (through December 2019): 7,500 

Colorado 
University of Colorado Hospital, Denver, CO – OB/GYN 
Rose Hospital, Denver, CO – OB/GYN

Connecticut 
Yale University Hospital, New Haven, CT – OB/GYN 
Norwalk Hospital, Norwalk, CT – OB/GYN 
Stamford Hospital, Stamford, CT – OB/GYN 
Greenwich Hospital, Greenwich, CT – Perinatology 
Connecticut Children’s Medical Center, Hartford, CT – Pediatrics 
Univ. of Connecticut Medical School, Farmington CT – OB/GYN & Perinatology 
St. Francis Hospital, Hartford, CT – Pediatrics

Florida 
Miami Children’s Hospital, Miami, FL – Pediatrics 
FIU Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine, Miami, FL- OB/GYN

Georgia 
Memorial Health University Medical Center, Savannah, GA – OB/GYN

Massachusetts 
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, MA – OB/GYN
St. Vincent’s Hospital, Worcester, MA – OB/GYN & Pediatrics
Tufts Medical Center, Boston, MA – OB/GYN Jordan Hospital, Plymouth, MA – OB/GYN

Michigan 
Henry Ford West Bloomfield Hospital, West Bloomfield, Ml – OB/GYN

New Jersey 
St. Barnabas Medical Center, Livingston, NJ – OB/GYN 
Monmouth Medical Center, Long Branch, NJ – OB/GYN & Pediatrics
Jersey Shore Hospital, Neptune, NJ – OB/GYN
Univ. of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, Newark, NJ-OB/GYN
Hackensack University Medical Center, Hackensack, NJ – Pediatrics
Englewood Hospital, Englewood, NJ – Joint OB/GYN & Pediatrics
St. Joseph’s Regional Medical Center, Paterson, NJ-OB/GYN & Pediatrics
Rutgers Medical School, New Brunswick, NJ – First Year Students
Valley Hospital, Ridgewood, NJ – Pediatrics

New York 
Maimonides Medical Center, Brooklyn, NY – OB/GYN 
St. Vincent’s Hospital, New York, NY – OB/GYN 
Staten Island Hospital, Staten Island, NY- OB/GYN 
Forest Hills Hospital, Forest Hills, NY – OB/GYN 
New York Hospital Queens, Flushing, NY – OB/GYN 
Northern Westchester Hospital, Mt. Kisco, NY – OB/GYN 
Winthrop Hospital, Mineola, NY – OB/GYN 
Stony Brook Univ. Medical Center, Stony Brook, NY – OB/GYN & Pediatrics
Orange Regional Medical Center, Middletown, NY – Pediatrics 
New York Methodist Hospital, Brooklyn, NY – OB/GYN 
Staten Island Hospital, Staten Island, NY – Pediatrics 
Long Island Jewish Hospital, New Hyde Park, NY – OB/GYN 
Long Island College Hospital, Brooklyn, NY – OB/GYN 
Montefiore North Hospital, Bronx, NY – Pediatrics 
White Plains Hospital, White Plains, NY – Pediatrics 
Huntington Hospital, Huntington, NY – OB/GYN 
Westchester Medical Center, Valhalla, NY – OB/GYN 
SUNY Downstate, Brooklyn, NY – OB/GYN 
Lenox Hill Hospital, New York, NY – OB/GYN 
Buffalo Women’s and Children’s Hospital, Buffalo, NY – Pediatrics 
Maria Fareri Children’s Hospital at Westchester Medical Center, Valhalla, NY – Paediatrics

North Carolina 
Carolinas Medical Center, Charlotte, NC – OB/GYN 
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC – OB/GYN

Ohio 
Boonshoft School of Medicine, Dayton, OH – OB/GYN

Pennsylvania 
UPMC Mercy, Pittsburg, PA – OB/GYN

Washington, DC Area 
Georgetown University Hospital, Washington, DC – Pediatrics 
Virginia Hospital Center, Arlington, VA – Pediatrics 
Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD – OB/GYN

Wisconsin 
Medical College of Wisconsin, Froidtert Hospital, Milwaukee, WS – OB/GYN
Aurora Sinai Medical Center, Milwaukee, WS – OB/GYN

Medical Conferences 
American Academy of Pediatrics, Somerset NJ – Annual Meeting NJ Chapter
American College of Obstetricians & Gynecologists (ACOG), Austin, TX Annual Clinical & Scientific Meeting 

Resources for Physicians

ACMG Practic Resource
Screening for autosomal recessive and X-linked conditions during pregnancy and preconception: a practice resource of the American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics (ACMG)
Anthony R. Gregg. Mahmoud Aarabi, Susan Klugman, Natalia T. Leach, Michael T. Bashford,  Tamar Goldwaser, Emily Chen,Teresa N. Sparks, Honey V. Reddi, Aleksandar Rajkovic, Jeffrey S. Dungan and ACMG Professional Practice and Guidelines Committee

Screening for Tay‐Sachs disease carriers by full‐exon sequencing with novel variant interpretation outperforms enzyme testing in a pan‐ethnic cohort
Alana C. Cecchi, Elizabeth S. Vengoechea, Kristjan E. Kaseniit, Melanie W. Hardy, Laura A. Kiger, Nikita Mehta, Imran S. Haque, Krista Moyer, Patricia Z. Page, Dale Muzzey, Karen A. Grinzaid​

NTSAD Position Statement 2019 Update
Standards for Tay-Sachs Carrier Screening

Expanded Carrier Screening in Reproductive Medicine—Points to Consider
A Joint Statement of the American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics, American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, National Society of Genetic Counselors, Perinatal Quality Foundation, and Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine
Janice G. Edwards, MS, Gerald Feldman, MD, PhD, James Goldberg, MD, Anthony R. Gregg, MD, Mary E. Norton, MD, Nancy C. Rose, MD, Adele Schneider, MD, Katie Stoll, MS, Ronald Wapner, MD, and Michael S. Watson, MD

American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics: An empirical estimate of carrier frequencies for 400+ causal Mendelian variants: results from an ethnically diverse clinical sample of 23,453 individuals American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics
Gabriel A. Lazarin, MS, Imran S. Haque, PhD, Shivani Nazareth, MS, Kevin Iori, BS, A. Scott Patterson, MA, Jessica L. Jacobson, MD1, John R. Marshall, MD, William K. Seltzer, PhD, FACMG, Pasquale Patrizio, MD, Eric A. Evans, PhD and Balaji S. Srinivasan, PhD

Literature Review of Preconception Expanded Carrier Screening
by Shivani Nazareth, CGC
Director, Medical Affairs, Counsyl

How rare sheep from biblical times may help kids with a deadly genetic disease
The Washington Post, Health and Science, May 23, 2016
by Eric Valance

Genetic Testing Before Pregnancy Should Be as Common as Taking Folic Acid
Very few pre-pregnancy checklists include carrier screening as an important health item. 
by Shivani Nazareth, CGC
Director, Medical Affairs, Counsyl
Contributor, U.S. News and World Report, July 28, 2016