Genetic Counseling in New York

Care Philosophy: I am dedicated to the surgical and medical management of women's cancer and also committed to advancing clinical and translational research in this field, with a focus on cancer genetics.

Biography: Ravi Sharaf, MD, MS is a gastroenterologist and health services researcher with a clinical focus on the care of patients with hereditary cancer syndromes.He is the Director of Genetics and Personalized Cancer Prevention Program at Weill Cornell Medicine and an Associate Professor of Medicine, with appointments in the Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Department of Medicine, as well in the Divison of Epidemiology in the Department of Population Health Sciences. His research focuses on optimizing the delivery of genomic medicine, studying the comparative and cost effectiveness of alternate cancer prevention strategies, and tailoring cancer prevention to individual risk. His research is funded by the National Cancer Institute and the Patient Centered Outcomes Research Institute.He completed his internal medicine training at Columbia University Medical Center-New York Presbyterian Hospital. At Stanford University Hospital and Clinics, Dr. Sharaf completed his fellowships in gastroenterology and clinical cancer genetics, and obtained a Masters of Science degree in Epidemiology.

Care Philosophy: We are committed to delivering the best care and an exceptional patient experience. We are devoted to providing services that are patient-centered and compassionate, and care for you as a person.

Biography: Sheila D. Rustgi is a gastroenterologist with a special interest in the prevention and early detection of gastrointestinal cancers. After graduating from Yale University with a degree in Economics, she completed her medical degree, internal medicine residency and gastroenterology fellowship training at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, where she served as Chief Fellow during her final year. Dr. Rustgi has published on the care of patients with pancreatic cancer, inflammatory bowel disease and the impact of health insurance on patient care. Dr. Rustgi's clinical interests include the care of patients at high risk for gastrointestinal cancer due to an inherited cancer syndrome, colon cancer screening, Crohn's Disease, Ulcerative Colitis and general GI diagnoses such as IBS. Dr. Rustgi joined the faculty of the Division of Digestive and Liver Disease in the Department of Medicine at Columbia University Irving Medical Center in 2020.

Biography: Jennifer A. Bassetti, M.D. is Assistant Professor of Clinical Pediatrics at Weill Cornell Medicine and Assistant Attending Pediatrician in the Department of Pediatrics at NewYork-Presbyterian Phyllis and David Komansky Children's Hospital. She is board certified in Pediatrics and Clinical Genetics.As an undergraduate Dr. Bassetti received a B.S. in Cell & Developmental Biology from the University of Rochester in Rochester, New York. She then earned a medical degree (M.D.) from Sackler School of Medicine in Tel Aviv, Israel. She completed residency in Pediatrics at Cohen Children's Medical Center/NS-LIJ in New Hyde Park, NY and then went on to further training in Clinical Genetics at Texas Children's Hospital/Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas. After completing training in Clinical Genetics, Dr. Bassetti completed an Academic Research Fellowship at Baylor College of Medicine. Her research focused on the role of genetic and/ or metabolic abnormalities in patients with Autism Spectrum disorders.As a medicalgeneticist, Dr. Bassetti's clinical interests include the evaluation and care ofchildren and young adults with Autism Spectrum disorders, developmental delay,congenital anomalies and diagnosed or suspectedchromosomal/genetic disorders.Dr. Bassetticurrently serves as the Vice Chair of the Membership Committee of the American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics. She is also actively involved teaching of medical student, residents, fellows and genetic counseling graduate students.

Biography: Katherine Bergstrom, M.S., C.G.C. is Senior Genetic Counselor in the Division of Medical Genetics at Weill Cornell Medicine. Ms. Bergstrom earned her Bachelor of Science in Biology with a Minor in Philosophy from Gonzaga University. A Pacific Northwest native, she relocated to New York to attend the Joan H. Marks Graduate Program in Human Genetics at Sarah Lawrence College where she received her Master of Science in Human Genetics. Her thesis work focused on how genetic counselors address the needs of typically developing siblings of children with genetic conditions. Ms. Bergstrom is board certified by the American Board of Genetic Counseling and completed a fellowship in Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental and Related Disabilities (LEND) at the Westchester Institute for Human Development. In 2020, Ms. Bergstrom served as President of the New York State Genetics Task Force (NYSGTF), an organization for genetics professionals throughout the state. She helped establish the organization's Public Policy Committee which has focused its efforts on advocating for genetic counseling to become a licensed profession in New York State. She remains active with the NYSGTF, currently serving as a member of the Survey Working Group. Ms. Bergstrom has provided clinical supervision and helped educate genetic counseling students since 2013. She also contributes to the training of medical students, residents and fellows. Ms. Bergstrom provides genetic counseling for patients of all ages for a variety of indications.

Care Philosophy: We are committed to delivering the best care and an exceptional patient experience We are devoted to providing services that are patient centered and compassionate and care for you as a person nbsp;

Biography: Amanda earned her Master's degree in genetic counseling at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, and her passion for identifying those at risk for hereditary cancer began early in her career. Educating future genetics providers has also been important to her, so she has served a clinical rotation supervisor, thesis advisor and adjunct professor focusing on hereditary cancer. Amanda has held management roles for genetics services in community medicine, telemedicine, and commercial laboratories before joining the Weill Cornell Medicine as the Clinical Operations Administrator for the Genetics and Personalized Cancer Prevention Program.

Biography: Carina Bertolini is an ABGC-certified genetic counselor practicing within the fields of Maternal-Fetal Medicine and Reproductive Endocrinology. She received her undergraduate degree in Psychology and Italian from The Ohio State University and her Master of Science degree from Columbia University. She has worked as a reproductive/prenatal/preconception genetic counselor at Columbia since the start of her career. Carina is a member of the Interdepartmental Genetic Counseling Program, bridging clinical care and laboratory genetic testing practices.

Biography: Josie Pervola completed her master of science degree in medical genetics at the University of Cincinnati in 2018. After graduation, Josie worked at Geisinger Health System in Danville, Pennsylvania in a dual clinical and research position. There, she provided genetic counseling to patients with high risk pregnancies in maternal-fetal medicine and also served as a research coordinator for Geisinger's biobank project, MyCode and for the NIH funded project, PRoGRESS (pediatric reporting of genomic results study). Throughout her years at Geisinger, Josie gained an important perspective on the benefits of personalized medicine and the life-saving preventative care that comes with access to population-based sequencing. Prior to joining Columbia's Department of Ob/Gyn, Josie continued her passion for providing reproductive genetic counseling services to patients at the Valley Health System in Paramus, NJ. Currently, Josie is an ABGC board-certified genetic counselor in the Division of Women's Genetics where she works with clients and their reproductive partners at the Center for Prenatal Pediatrics. She is involved in various reproductive genetics research studies, including the utility and validity of prenatal whole genome sequencing with an interest in the ethical considerations involved with returning genomic sequencing results in the setting of pregnancy. Additionally, Josie is involved in Columbia's Genetic Counseling Graduate Program where she serves as a scholarly project mentor and field work supervisor.

Biography: Carrie Koval-Burt, MS is a Genetic Counselor who practices in New York, NY. Carrie Koval-Burt, MS is affiliated with Newyork-Presbyterian.

Biography: Stephanie Galloway is a board certified genetic counselor who specializes in reproductive genetics. She received her bachelors from Presbyterian College and her Master of Science from the University of South Carolina School of Medicine. Since joining Columbia in 2017, she serves women and families throughout their family planning journey. She specializes in REI, embryo genetic testing counseling, preconception genetic risk, and prenatal genetics.

Biography: Jessica Giordano, a New York native, completed her undergraduate degree in Biology at Boston College and her Master of Science in Human Genetics/Genetic Counseling at Sarah Lawrence College, graduating in 2008. After graduation, Jessica worked in the public hospital system in the Bronx providing reproductive genetic counseling to patients at Jacobi Medical Center and North Central Bronx Hospital. She subsequently worked at Weill Cornell in reproductive genetic counseling for four years before joining Columbia's Department of Ob/Gyn in 2014. Jessica is an ABGC board-certified genetic counselor with a passion for reproductive genomic medicine, working in clinical, research, and industry-related settings. In her clinical work, she has witnessed how non-invasive aneuploidy screening, diagnostic testing via microarray, and pan-ethnic screening has transformed prenatal practice, making complex genetics test part of primary obstetrical practice. Recently, she successfully led Columbia's fetal exome sequencing study published in Lancet, the stillbirth exome study published in the New England Journal of Medicine, and is the primary manager for the NICHD multi-center study PrenatalSEQ, aiming to study the use of genomic sequencing in pregnancy to change post-natal management. In these research roles, she consents patients, curates variants, and assesses genotype-phenotype correlations with the goal of ultimately communicating results to patients to impact decision-making and clinical management. Additionally, Jessica has been integral to the recent development and launch of Columbia's Genetic Counseling Graduate Program and currently serves as a course director and scholarly projector mentor to their graduate students.

Biography: Megan completed her genetic counseling graduate education at Sarah Lawrence College. She is an ABGC board-certified genetic counselor and part of the Interdepartmental Genetic Counseling Program at Columbia, bridging the Ophthalmology Department and the Precision Genomics Laboratory. She is the genetic counselor for Applied Genetics at Columbia Ophthalmology.

Biography: Alexandra Tinfow is an ABGC-certified genetic counselor specializing in reproductive genetics. Alexandra completed her undergraduate degree in Anatomy and Cell Biology at McGill University and her Master of Science in Genetic Counseling at the Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons.

Biography: Dr. Baptiste is a Maternal-Fetal Medicine (MFM) physician and Medical Geneticist within the Department of Ob/Gyn. She cares for families with genetic disease throughout their reproductive years. Her clinical and research interests include preconception counseling for genetic disorders, care for people with genetic disorders during pregnancy and pregnancies with a genetic diagnosis. Dr. Baptiste performs prenatal diagnostic procedures including chorionic villus sampling and amniocentesis. Dr. Baptiste graduated from medical school at Emory University School of Medicine. She completed residency in Ob/Gyn and subspecialty fellowship training in Maternal Fetal Medicine and Medical Genetics and Genomics at Columbia University Irving Medical Center. Dr. Baptiste has presented at national conferences and published several peer-reviewed research manuscripts and book chapters related to reproductive genetics, clinical obstetrics, and fetal diagnosis. Dr. Baptiste is a fellow of the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology, the American Board of Medical Genetics and Genomics and a member of the Society of Maternal-Fetal Medicine.

Biography: Michelle Primiano MS, CGC® is a certified genetic counselor with a clinical focus on the longitudinal care of patients with hereditary cancer syndromes, equitable access and delivery of genetics services, and genomic medicine to improve health outcomes.She is the Associate Director of Clinical Operations for the Genetics and Personalized Cancer Prevention Program and Instructor of Human Genetics in Radiology at Weill Cornell Medicine. Her research focuses on utilizing cancer whole genome and transcriptome sequencing (WGTS) for precision medicine, clinical research methodologies in cancer genetics and epidemiology, and cancer prevention trials for high-risk cohorts.She is a Diplomate of the American Board of Genetic Counseling and holds advanced certifications in pharmacogenomics and cancer genetics risk assessment. She has published in the American Journal of Human Genetics, American Journal of Medical Genetics, Genetics in Medicine, and the Journal of Genetic Counseling.

Biography: Elana received her MS in Human Genetics from Sarah Lawrence College, a MPH from King's College London and is an ABGC board-certified genetic counselor. She first joined New York-Presbyterian Hospital /Columbia University Irving Medical Center in 2001 as a pediatric and prenatal genetic counselor. She joined the Cancer Genetics Program in 2011 where she provides genetic counseling for individuals and family members with inherited susceptibility to cancer. She is especially interested in inherited gastrointestinal cancers. Elana also supervises and teaches students in Columbia University's graduate program in genetic counseling.

Biography: Joanna L. Urli is an ABGC-certified genetic counselor practicing within the fields of Maternal Fetal Medicine and Gynecologic Oncology. She received her undergraduate degree in Biological Sciences from The University of Alabama and her Master of Science degree in Genetic Counseling from Boston University School of Medicine in 2019. Joanna has worked in both reproductive and oncology genetics throughout her career, and she enjoys being able to counsel patients in both of these fields. She has particular interest in increasing access to genetic testing and in exploring the overlap between reproductive and oncology genetics.

Biography: Nina Harkavy is an ABGC-certified genetic counselor practicing within the fields of Maternal-Fetal Medicine and Reproductive Endocrinology. She received her undergraduate degree in Psychology from Vassar College and her Master of Science degree from the Johns Hopkins University/National Human Genome Research institute Genetic Counseling training program. Nina has worked as a reproductive genetic counselor throughout her career, with special interest in assisted reproductive technology and preconception counseling. She is currently the Student Fieldwork Director for the Columbia University genetic counseling graduate program.

Biography: Erica Spiegel completed her undergraduate degree in Biology at Barnard College and her Master of Science in Genetic Counseling at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, graduating in 2006. She is certified by the American Board of Genetic Counseling. She has worked as a reproductive genetic counselor at Columbia since the start of her career, counseling patients for a wide range of prenatal and preconception indications and participating in a variety of clinical research studies utilizing emerging reproductive genetic technologies. She has a particular interest in improving understanding of the genetic causes of fetal anomalies as well as the patient's experience, adaptation, and decision-making around fetal diagnoses.

Biography: Dr. Abdul-Rahman completed his medical school and pediatrics residency at the University of Mississippi School of Medicine. Subsequently, he trained in clinical genetics at Stanford University. Dr. Abdul-Rahman returned to Mississippi to begin his academic career and spent 12 years serving in various roles including division chief of medical genetics and interim chair of the department of pediatrics. He then moved to Omaha, Nebraska to serve as the director of the department of genetic medicine at the Munroe-Meyer Institute, part of the University of Nebraska Medical Center. Dr. Abdul-Rahman served in that role for over five years, developing a number of clinical programs and supporting the establishment of a newly accredited genetic counseling training program. As a person who enjoys developing new collaborations and building programs, he was drawn to the opportunity at Weill Cornell Medicine and NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital to expand the reach of genetics across the health system.Dr. Abdul-Rahman sees a broad range of patients, including prenatal, pediatric, and adult patients with various genetic conditions. He has worked in clinics serving patients with craniofacial anomalies, differences of sexual development, and bone fragility disorders in addition to general genetics clinics seeing patients of all ages; Dr. Abdul-Rahman enjoys the diversity of patients and disorders in his practice. He is also very interested in evaluating children with possible fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD) and has worked on a number of educational and research projects related to FASD both in the US and abroad collaborating with the NIAAA and the WHO.

Biography: Dr. Joel Gabre, MD is a Gastroenterology Specialist who practices in New York, NY. He is 39 years old and has been practicing for 13 years. Dr. Joel Gabre, MD is affiliated with Newyork-Presbyterian/Columbia University Medical Center.