Amy Adams, MS received her masters in genetics from Cornell University and her degree in science writing from the University of California, Santa Cruz. She worked as a freelance science writer for many years, writing for a range of science publications including Science, New Scientist, and Astronomy.

Brian Allen, MS, CGC received his masters degree in medical genetics and genetic counseling from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He is currently a cancer genetics counselor for the University of California-San Francisco (UCSF) Colorectal Cancer Prevention Program. He also maintains the UCSF Hereditary Colorectal Cancer Registry and is involved in many clinical research projects. He was written a variety of articles for patient newsletters and columns.

Robin Bennett, CGC graduated in 1984 from the Sarah Lawrence Human Genetics Program and is certified in genetic counseling by both the American Board of Medical Genetics and the American Board of Genetic Counseling. Since graduating, she has served as a genetic counselor and clinic director for the University of Washington Medical Genetics Clinics. She has extensive publications related to her work in Huntington disease, neurogenetics, cancer genetics, inborn errors of metabolism, consanguinity, presymptomatic genetic testing, the genetics of common disorders, ethical issues in genetic counseling, and the development of genetic counseling practice guidelines. She has also authored many book chapters and two books, including her recent release "The Practical Guide to the Genetic Family History" published by John Wiley and Sons.

Joan Burns, MS, MSSW is a Clinical Professor Emerita in the Department of Medical Genetics and the School of Social Work at the University of Wisconsin. During the past twenty-five years she has been the director of the Genetics Counseling Training Program, has been the administrator of the Down syndrome clinic, and has provided clinical services in several of the clinics at the Waisman Center, a University Affiliated Program in Mental Retardation. She has been actively involved in a national effort to promote the training of adoption workers in the collection of genetic histories of children prior to adoption. She has also served in leadership positions on the education committee of the Council of Regional Networks for Genetic Services (CORN); the Alliance of Genetic Support Groups; the GLaRGG education, ethics, and consumer committees; and the Association of Genetic Counseling Program Directors.

Sherri Chasin Calvo, is a freelance science writer specializing in genetics. In addition to her work for Genetic Health, she writes for Genome Technology, GenomeWeb, and BioInform. She is also the "In the Field" columnist for The Alchemist, the online magazine on ChemWeb.com. She received a BA from Rutgers University, a BS from the University of Maryland, and an MBA from New York University.

Emily Chen, MD, PhD, is acting director of the Medical Genetics Division, Prenatal Diagnosis Center Director, and Co-Director of the Molecular Diagnostics Laboratory at Children's Hospital Oakland. Emily has a research background in molecular genetics studying transcriptional factors in cancer cells and received her medical training and PhD at the University of Iowa. Her pediatric residency was done at UC San Diego and genetics fellowship was at UCSF. Emily is clinical assistant professor at UCSF. Her specific areas of interest include prenatal genetics, dysmorphology, and molecular genetics.

Peggy Conrad, MS, CGC is a genetic counselor with the UCSF Colorectal Cancer Program at the University of California in San Francisco. She received her masters degree in genetic counseling for the University of California at Berkeley, and is board certified by the American Board of Genetic Counseling. Since 1997, she has been developing a hereditary colon cancer family registry at UCSF to provide education, counseling, and genetic services to individuals and families affected by hereditary colon cancer syndromes.

Beth Crawford, MS is the manager of the Cancer Risk Program at the UCSF Comprehensive Cancer Center. She spent four years at UCSF in the medical genetics program as a genetic counselor and four years as academic head of the UC Berkeley Masters Degree Program for Genetic Counselors. Her research interests are in decision making in high-risk families and quantitative systems for estimating the risk for patients with families that have extensive breast and ovarian cancer history. Beth has a Masters Degree from UC Berkeley in genetic counseling and BS in biology from the University of Hawaii.

Kari Danziger, MS, CGC is a board certified genetic counselor by the American Board of Genetic Counseling. She holds a masters degree from Brandeis University and received her BA in biology and psychology from Emory University. Kari worked as a cancer genetic counselor at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, where she provided genetic counseling, cancer risk assessment, and services to individuals and families at risk for hereditary cancer syndromes. She also served as the study manager for the hereditary colorectal cancer research studies.

Kathleen Fergus, MS, holds degrees in Cell and Molecular Biology and Genetic Counseling. For eight years she worked as a clinical genetic counselor seeing prenatal, pediatric, adult, and cancer cases. She is currently working as a program administrator for the Pacific Southwest Regional Genetics Network. She also worked as a freelance editor on a CD-ROM that teaches undergraduate genetics and has written many articles about the Internet and health.

Christopher A. Friedrich, MD, PhD, is an academic physician who treats patients with genetic disorders, and has a particular interest in the genes involved in heart disease. He received his PhD in biochemical genetics from the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston and his MD from Rutgers Medical School. He has held medical school faculty positions at Johns Hopkins University and the University of Pennsylvania. He has also published research on a variety of genetic conditions, and served on the advisory board of several support groups dedicated to genetic disorders.

Jennifer Graham, MS, CGC received her MS in human genetics from Sarah Lawrence College and is board certified by the American Board of Genetic Counseling. She worked for many years as a clinical genetic counselor, specializing initially in reproductive genetics and more recently on adult onset genetic diseases. She specializes in risk assessment and communication technology.

Paula Gregory, PhD did her PhD research in cancer cytogenetics at Tulane University. She founded the first educational program at the Human Genome Center at the University of Michigan, then started the Genetics Education Office of the National Institute for Human Genome Research within the National Institutes of Health. These programs help media, policy makers, students, faculty and the public understand genome technology and genetic testing. She is now an assistant professor in the Department of Molecular Virology, Immunology and Medical Genetics and the director of outreach and education for the Human Cancer Genetics Division at Ohio State University.

Lauren John, MS is a freelance writer specializing in healthcare and technology. She holds a masters degree in library science from St John's University in New York City and a masters degree in journalism from Boston University. Lauren is also a breast cancer survivor and writes about breast health for a wide range of consumer health and academic publications.

Mitchell Katz, MD has served as Director of Health for San Francisco since July 1997. He has worked for the San Francisco Health Department since 1991, serving in a number of capacities including Chief of Research for the AIDS Office, Director of the AIDS Office, Director of the Emergency Medical Services Agency, and Director of Health & Safety Branch of the Health Department. He also is Associate Clinical Professor of Medicine at University of California, San Francisco, where he cares for patients (on the inpatient and outpatient settings) and teaches both medical students and residents. He has published extensively in the fields of epidemiology and HIV/AIDS in major peer reviewed journals, and is the author of the book Multivariable Statistics: A Practical Guide for Clinical Researchers (Cambridge University Press). He also serves as a consultant to the Board of Directors of the San Francisco Medical Society. He is a graduate of Yale University and Harvard Medical School.

Miriam Komaromy, MD, is Board Certified in Internal Medicine. She served as director of the UCSF Primary Care Internal Medicine Program, and as associate chief of the medical service at San Francisco General Hospital. She has a background in health services research, and has published studies on physician practice patterns and barriers to healthcare access. She has designed and taught a series of continuing medical education courses for physicians on adult-onset inherited disease. Dr. Komaromy received her BA in philosophy and classics from St. Johns College. She holds an MD from UCSF, and also received her internal medicine residency training and her Robert Wood Johnson Research Fellowship training at UCSF.

Sarina Kopinsky, MSc(Med), CGC is a board certified genetic counselor with a master's degree in genetics and a higher education diploma. She is a freelance editor and also teaches college genetics classes. She has authored a series of online articles on genetics for the Health Care News Server. She has also worked in the South African Department of Health training health professionals, educating the public about genetic services and genetic disorders, and producing educational materials about genetics.

Miriam Kuppermann, PhD, MPH, is an associate professor in the Departments of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences and Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the University of California, San Francisco. Her research activities focus on measuring patient preferences for health outcomes and developing and evaluating tools to help women to make informed decisions regarding obstetric and gynecologic interventions. She received her BA in biochemistry from UC Berkeley, her PhD in molecular biology from the University of Southern California, and her MPH with an emphasis in health policy and management from Harvard University. She has published extensively on patient preference measurement, decision analysis, and outcomes research. She is currently on the board of trustees of the Society of Medical Decision Making.

Adam Lowe has served as strategic planning manager for the genetic analysis business unit at PE Biosystems where he planned future generations of the company’s automated genetic analysis systems. He was also a senior staff scientist and R&D manager, where he led a team developing systems for genetic mapping. Mr. Lowe was a researcher at the National Institute on Aging and the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, and served as director of HIV services at The Chase-Brexton Clinic in Baltimore, where he co-developed their primary care HIV medicine program. Mr. Lowe received his BA in sociology and anthropology from the Johns Hopkins University.

Robert F. Nease, Jr. PhD, is an associate professor of internal medicine at Washington University Medical School in St. Louis, and the director of the laboratory for medical decision sciences in the division of general medical sciences. His research focuses on measuring patient preferences for health outcomes, investigating the implications of variation in patient preferences for health policy, and the developing and evaluating methods for integrating patient preferences into clinical decision making. Dr. Nease is a reviewer for the Journal of the American Medical Association, the Annals of Internal Medicine, the Journal of General Internal Medicine, Medical Decision Making, and other health-related journals. He received his BS in electrical engineering from UCLA, and his MS and PhD in engineering-economic systems from Stanford University.

Larry Prensky, MS, CGC, CCGC is a certified genetic counselor in both Canada and the United States. He received his masters in genetic counseling from the University of British Columbia with a special emphasis on the use of computers in genetic counseling. After graduating, he practiced at Victoria General Hospital. He has also taught high school biology and general science in Jamaica.

Frances Pu, PhD has an academic science background and has done a variety of science and medical writing. She received her doctoral degree in biochemistry from the University of California at Berkeley and has been a freelance writer for a variety of health-related web sites. She has also done medical writing work for several clinical trials.

Mary Carol Randall, MA, holds degrees in education, communications, and poetics. She is a writer and editor specializing in education and health-related topics. For ten years she was the managing editor of a series of research papers published by the School of Education, University of California, Berkeley. She has participated in Alzheimer's family support groups and also started a peer support group, which continued for many years.

Mark Redfearn owns and publishes a community newspaper in northwest New Mexico. He received his MDiv from Lancaster Theological Seminary, Lancaster, Pa. and worked as a pastor for 13 years before moving into the field of publishing and editing. He has numerous print and e-zine articles to his credit.

Camille Mojica Rey, PhD has a B.A. in biology from the University of Texas at Austin and a doctorate in integrative biology from the University of California Berkeley. She also completed the science communication program at the University of California Santa Cruz. Since then, she has worked as a reporter for the Monterey County Herald and the San Jose Mercury News. She is the former health editor for New York-based Latina Magazine and is the senior women's health editor for AlSofa.com, a bilingual mental health website for Latinos. She currently lives in the San Francisco Bay Area and is working as a freelance health and science writer.

George Sack, Jr., MD, PhD, FACMG received his MD and PhD from Johns Hopkins University then went on to become a faculty member at that university. He has done research on the molecular biology of inherited metabolic disorders and has extensively studied a class of diseases that includes Alzheimer's disease. He is currently the director of the executive health program at Johns Hopkins University and continues to do research.

Kristi Silver, MD graduated from the University of Maryland School of Medicine. She completed her residency in internal medicine at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center and her endocrinology and diabetes fellowship at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. She is currently an assistant professor at the University of Maryland School of Medicine and Associate Director at the Joslin Diabetes Center at the University of Maryland. Dr. Silver is interested in the role of pancreatic growth and development and insulin secretion in the development of diabetes mellitus.

Michele Simon is a freelance writer, editor and lawyer with a masters in public health from Yale University. She studied both molecular and clinical genetics as an undergraduate at Carnegie-Mellon University. While at Yale, she worked as a genetic counselor in their prenatal diagnosis unit. She has also worked for the Genetic Diseases Branch of the California Department of Health Services.

Jill Simonsen has served as managing editor for a number of magazines, including NewMedia and several McGraw Hill technology publications. More recently, she was a project editor for Netscape's Web site. In addition to Genetic Health, current and recent clients include Peachpit Press, McKinsey & Co., Upside magazine, Red Herring magazine, NetFlix, and Antics Online. She holds a bachelor's degree in English from Stanford University.

Jonathan Terdiman, MD is an assistant clinical professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco and the clinical director of the UCSF Colorectal Cancer Prevention Program. Dr. Terdiman is a practicing gastroenterologist whose research interests include colon cancer prevention and hereditary colon cancer.

Amanda Ewart Toland, PhD has a doctorate in human genetics and is board certified in medical genetics and clinical molecular genetics. Past research projects include identifying the genetic cause of Williams syndrome and identifying genetic factors involved in obesity-related infertility. She currently works with families at risk for inherited cancer and conducts research in the identification of genes that may play a role in cancer risk in the general population. She is currently a postgraduate researcher at the UCSF Cancer Center and medical geneticist for the Cancer Risk Program.

Stephanie Trelogan, MS majored in biology and minored in professional writing at the University of Puget Sound. She received her Master's degree from the Molecular Biology Program at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center in Denver. After moving to the Bay Area, she worked for four years as a writer/editor at CLONTECH Laboratories, Inc. She now works with several Bay Area biotechnology and internet companies as a freelance writer, editor, and consultant.

Doris Teichler Zallen, PhD is Professor of Science and Technology Studies at Virginia Tech. She received her doctorate in biology from Harvard University. Her research includes genetic and reproductive ethics, the history of genetics, and biotechnology policy. From 1992-1996, she was a member of the NIH Recombinant DNA Advisory Committee and contributed to setting guidelines for human gene therapy. She is the author of "Does It Run in the Family? A Consumer's Guide to DNA Testing for Genetic Disorders" (Rutgers University Press, 1997).