UAMS Names Schaefer to Lead New Division of Genetics

By todd

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LITTLE ROCK – Nationally known, board-certified genetics expert G. Bradley Schaefer, M.D., has been appointed the inaugural director of the Division of Genetics in the College of Medicine at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS).


 


He also will serve as section chief of genetics and metabolism in the College of Medicine’s Department of Pediatrics, and at Arkansas Children’s Hospital, a clinical and research affiliate of UAMS.


 


The free-standing division will consolidate and expand on existing genetics expertise on campus as well as help prepare students for a new era in medicine that focuses more on the growing understanding of genomics. The division will coordinate medical student education in genetics, expand clinical services in medical genetics in Arkansas and build an infrastructure of clinical and research activities.


 


Schaefer’s clinical practice focuses on the genetics of neurologic conditions, neurosensory abnormalities and craniofacial malformations.


 


Before coming to UAMS, Schaefer was the Omaha Scottish Rite, Masonic Professor of Child Health at the University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC). He directed the Hattie B. Munroe Center for Human Genetics and served as associate director of the Munroe-Meyer Institute for Genetics and Rehabilitation since1997 and as chief of the Human Genetics Section in the Department of Pediatrics at UNMC since1992. He has served as an adjunct professor and medical director of the Genetic Counseling Training Program in the UAMS College of Health Related Professions Department of Genetic Counseling since 2004.


 


He received his bachelor’s and medical degrees from the University of Oklahoma. He completed a pediatric residency and a fellowship in genetics, endocrinology and metabolism at the OU Health Sciences Center. Schaefer is board certified in pediatrics, human genetics and pediatric endocrinology. He is a founding fellow of the American College of Medical Genetics, and a fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics.


 


Schaefer’s research focuses on human clinical genetics with emphasis in neurogenetics and neurodevelopmental disabilities. This research utilizes computerized image analysis to quantify developmental changes in the brain, face and inner ear. He has authored over 200 scientific articles, book chapters and invited reviews. He is on the editorial board of the Journal of Child Neurology, and sits on the National Advisory Board for the Sotos Syndrome Support Association.


 


UAMS is the state’s only comprehensive academic health center, with five colleges, a graduate school, a medical center, six centers of excellence and a statewide network of regional centers. UAMS has 2,538 students and 733 medical residents. Its centers of excellence include the Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute, the Jackson T. Stephens Spine & Neurosciences Institute, the Myeloma Institute for Research and Therapy, the Harvey & Bernice Jones Eye Institute, the Psychiatric Research Institute and the Donald W. Reynolds Institute on Aging. It is one of the state’s largest public employers with about 9,600 employees, including nearly 1,150 physicians who provide medical care to patients at UAMS, Arkansas Children’s Hospital, the VA Medical Center and UAMS’ Area Health Education Centers throughout the state. UAMS and its affiliates have an economic impact in Arkansas of $5 billion a year. Visit www.uams.edu.