Advisory Board
Our Advisory Board functions as a resource to our Program Leadership by providing guidance on program development, implementation, and ongoing evaluation. The Board discusses and reviews suggested modifications to the program based on feedback from both internal and external evaluations and anticipates changes that might benefit the Program in the future. Additionally, the Advisory Board participates in the Program’s self-study evaluations for accreditation and assists in identifying areas for improvement.
Members
Jason Carmichael, MS, CGC
External: Lead Genetic Counselor, Valley Children’s Healthcare
Jason is an ABGC-certified genetic counselor with 12 years of experience in the profession. He received his BS in Molecular Biology at the Florida Institute of Technology and his MS in Genetic Counseling at Brandeis University. Prior to graduate school, Jason volunteered for 3 years as an HIV/health educator in the US Peace Corps in the African countries of Mali and Cameroon. He also interned at the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Washington, DC where he gained experience working on national programs aimed at supporting underrepresented students pursuing advanced degrees in STEM fields. Jason is currently the Lead Genetic Counselor at the Medical Genetics Metabolism and Maternal Fetal Medicine departments at Valley Children’s Healthcare in Madera, CA. His clinical and career interests include community engagement, carrier screening, utilization management of genetic testing, and genetic hematological disorders.
Jill Goldman, MS, MPhil, CGC
Internal: Professor of Genetic Counseling, Columbia University
Jill is an ABGC board-certified genetic counselor with 20 years of experience. She completed her genetic counseling graduate education at the University of California, Berkeley. She has worked at USCF in the Memory and Aging Center, and now works at The Taub Institute at Columbia where she specializes in hereditary neurological diseases, such as Alzheimer’s disease, frontotemporal degeneration, Parkinson’s disease, and Huntington’s disease. Jill created and coordinates “A Friend for Rachel," a companionship program in which people with early to moderate dementia are paired with Columbia students.
Margie Goldstein, MS, CGC
External: Genetic Counseling Consultant
Margie is an ABGC board-certified genetic counselor with 35 years of experience. She received her BS in Developmental Psychology from Pennsylvania State University and her MS in Genetic Counseling from University of California, Berkeley. She has worked as a prenatal genetic counselor at Children’s Hospital Oakland and provided genetic counseling services to underserved communities in the Northern CA Bay area through a state-funded program which supported these efforts. Margie served for many years in leadership roles for the Program in Genetic Counseling at the University of California, Berkeley followed by the Stanislaus State-Bay Area Genetic Counseling Program.
Matt Hay, MBA
External: US Director of Advocacy for Neurofibromatosis, Alexion Pharmaceuticals
Matt was diagnosed with neurofibromatosis 2 (NF2) at 19. His journey with this disorder included dozens of surgeries to treat brain and spine tumors, impacting his balance and hearing. He and his wife, Nora, experienced firsthand the importance of the genetic counselor-patient relationship as they looked to start their own family. Matt applies many of these personal experiences to his role at Alexion Pharmaceuticals, working on behalf of the NF community. Matt is longtime advocate and fundraiser for NF2 research. He has also served as a development consultant and board member for various hearing loss-related nonprofits and is a frequent guest speaker, author, and podcaster, sharing his perspective on overcoming every day challenges related to his genetic disorder. Matt earned degrees in marketing and a Master of Business Administration from Indiana University. He and Nora live in Westfield, IN with their three teenaged children (none of whom inherited NF2).
Nora Hay, BS
External: Senior Sales Specialist (Humira), Abbott/AbbVie
Nora’s interest in genetics began after studying the subject as part of her undergraduate and graduate degree coursework. She has had a 20-year career with Abbott/AbbVie where she works as a Senior Sales Specialist within the gastroenterology division selling Humira, a biologic therapy. In her role, she partners with gastroenterologists across Indiana and enjoys applying her knowledge in a way that helps patients with IBD. Nora’s passion for science provided the building blocks for her career path while also providing valuable insight and perspective into her husband’s genetic disorder as they made their family planning decisions. Nora is a life-long Hoosier, growing up in Northwest Indiana and then earning her Biology Degree with honors from Indiana University. She currently lives in Westfield, IN with her husband, Matt, and their three children. Nora most enjoys spending time with her family at home, on a beach, or hiking to a waterfall at a National Park.
Parisa Hemati, MS, MBA, CGC
External: Product Manager, PerkinElmer
Parisa is an ABGC board-certified genetic counselor and worked at Columbia’s Institute for Genomic Medicine before attending Columbia Business School to complete her MBA. Parisa is interested in commercialization of genomic products with high scientific quality and diverse roles that genetic counselors can play in the process. Parisa currently works at PerkinElmer Genomics as a Product Manager. She recently relocated to California from New York and currently lives in San Diego.
Brynn Levy, MSc (Med), PhD
Internal: Professor of Pathology and Cell Biology, Columbia University
Originally trained as a genetic counselor, Dr. Levy is now the Medical Director of the Clinical Cytogenetics Laboratory of the New York Presbyterian Hospital and a Co-Director of the Division of Personalized Genomic in the Department of Pathology & Cell Biology. He is regarded internationally as an expert in the clinical utility of genomic technologies in reproductive medicine. Dr. Levy's research areas of interest include early prenatal screening using fetal cells and cell-free fetal DNA from maternal circulation, preimplantation genetic diagnosis, and the etiology of recurrent miscarriage.
Andrés Morales Corado, MD
Internal: Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, Division of Clinical Genetics
Dr. Morales Corado is an ABMGG board-certified geneticist in the Department of Pediatrics, Division of Clinical Genetics. He attended medical school at the Universidad de San Carlos Facultad De Ciencias Médicas in Guatemala, and completed a pediatrics residency at the Lincoln Medical and Mental Health Center in New York and a medical genetics and genomics residency at Stanford University. Dr. Morales Corado's areas of expertise include clinical genetics and genomics.
Alissa Terry, ScM, CGC
External: Genetic Services Outreach Coordinator, NYMAC Regional Genetics Network
Alissa is an ABGC board-certified genetic counselor with 13 years of experience. She completed her undergraduate work biology and genetics at Cornell and her graduate studies at Johns Hopkins/NIH. She joined the Community Genetics Program of the Ferre Institute in Binghamton, NY in 2006 and spent over 10 years in both the clinical and non-clinical roles. Alissa has served as the Telegenetic Navigator for the New York Mid-Atlantic Consortium since 2017 and has overseen the telegenetics training, technical assistance, program planning, and funding aspects of the last 3-year cycle. She is a member of the National Coordinating Center’s Telegenetics Workgroup and Telegenetics Operating Procedures Workgroup, and also a member of the National Society of Genetic Counselor’s Health Information Technology Special Interest Group and Telegenetics Guidelines Committee.
Ronald Wapner, MD
Internal: Professor of Obstetrics & Gynecology, Columbia University
Dr. Wapner is an ABMGG and ABOG board-certified OB/GYN with over 30 years of clinical experience. He has participated in or led randomized trials evaluating genetic prenatal diagnostic and screening technologies for more than 26 years. These include much of the original work evaluating chorionic villus sampling, biochemical and ultrasound screening for fetal chromosome abnormalities, a prospective comparison of chromosomal microarray to karyotyping for prenatal testing, microarray analysis of stillborn infants, and a comparison of cell-free DNA to biochemical and ultrasound screening in low-risk pregnant woman. His most recent work evaluated the role of expanded pan-ethnic carrier screening in prenatal care, which presented the largest experience of such testing to date and demonstrated racial and ethnic consequences in the screening recommendations, presently in practice. Dr. Wapner is currently involved in evaluating the use of whole-exome sequencing in structurally abnormal fetuses.
Ashley Wilson, MS, CGC
Internal: Lecturer in Genetic Counseling, Columbia University
Ashley is an ABGC board-certified genetic counselor with more than 11 years of experience. She completed her undergraduate work in Molecular Biology & Genetics at the University of Guelph and her graduate work at Sarah Lawrence College. Ashley has been involved in the education of medical and dental students at Columbia, as well as teaching and training genetic residents and genetic counseling students. She has worked with the Simons Searchlight study, targeting single-gene causes of neurodevelopmental disorders. Ashley currently works as a consultant for the New York Genome Center, focusing on clinical whole genome sequencing, and is a course instructor in the Genetic Counseling Graduate Program.