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 Nancy
Wexler, Ph.D., is Higgins Professor of Neuropsychology in the
Departments of Neurology and Psychiatry of the College of Physicians
and Surgeons at Columbia University, as well as the President of the
Hereditary Disease Foundation. Involved in public policy, individual
counseling, genetic research, and federal health administration, she
is most widely known for her important scientific contribution on
Huntington's disease. A 20-year study of the world's largest family
with Huntington's disease, in Venezuela, developing a pedigree of
over 18,000 individuals and collecting over 4,000 blood samples
helped lead to the identification of the Huntington's disease gene
at the tip of human chromosome 4. These same blood samples have
assisted in the mapping of other disease genes, including those
responsible for familial Alzheimer's disease, kidney cancer, two
kinds of neurofibromatosis, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis(ALS),
dwarfism and others. One result of this work was the development of
a presymptomatic test which could tell who is carrying the fatal
gene prior to the onset of symptoms.
Wexler received an A.B. from Radcliffe in 1967 and a Ph.D. in
clinical psychology from the University of Michigan in 1974. She
currently holds or has held numerous public policy positions,
including Chair of the Joint NIH/DOE Ethical, Legal and Social
Issues Working Group of the National Center for Human Genome
Research, Chair of the Human Genome Organization (HUGO) and Member
of the Institute of Medicine. Wexler has served as a member of the
board of directors of the American Association for the Advancement
of Science and on the Advisory Committee on Research on Women's
Health, NIH. She has received numerous honors and awards, including
several honorary doctorates.
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Dr. Wexler was recently elected to be
a Fellow at the Royal College of Physicians; a Member of
the American Academy of Arts and Sciences; a Fellow at
the American Association for the Advancement of Science,
Section on Neuroscience; a Member of the European
Academy of Sciences and Arts; and to the position of
Councilor, Society for Neuroscience. She is an honorary
Fellow of the New York Academy of Sciences and a Member
of the Institute of Medicine, National Academy of
Sciences. In 1993, she received the Albert Lasker Public
Service Award.
Nancy Wexler's complete CV |
A
picture of Nancy with
a young Venezuelan.
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Nancy S.
Wexler, Ph.D.
Columbia University
1051 Riverside Drive, Unit 6
PI Annex 467
New York, NY 10032
212.543.5667
E-mail
Nancy |
Hereditary
Disease Foundation
3960 Broadway, 6th Floor
New York, NY 10032
212.928.2121
212.928.2172 (FAX)
http://www.hdfoundation.org
E-mail HDF |
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