Laboratory Genetics and Genomics Fellowships

The New York Presbyterian Hospital (NYPH)/ Columbia University Irving Medical Center (CUIMC) Laboratory Genetics and Genomics (LGG) Program is an ACGME accredited fellowship training program with a mission to educate the next generation of genomics health care professionals, develop groundbreaking precision medicine research, and advance innovative, patient-centered clinical care to serve the needs of our local, national, and global communities.

The roots of our program date back to individual training programs in Clinical Cytogenetics and Clinical Molecular Genetics. Since then, we have a consistent track record of training fellows who go onto become excellent, independent practitioners in Genomic Medicine. Our fellows are at the forefront of genomic medicine research and clinical care, in both academia and industry.

During the two-year training program, our fellows gain hands-on experience in performing clinical assays, evaluating and interpreting test results, participating in quality assurance activities of the different genomics laboratories, and validating new assays. The fellows gain experience in analysis of data from technologies like karyotyping, copy number microarrays, FISH testing, Southern blotting, PCR-RFLP, Sanger sequencing, high throughput genotyping, and next generation sequencing. Fellows participate in multiple conferences, including the Chief of Service Conference, Clinical Genetics conferences, the Hematopathology/DNA/Cytogenetics Rounds, Tumor Board, MFM Case Conference and attend didactic lectures in Clinical Pathology, Clinical Genetics, and Genomics, in addition to the opportunity to attend the numerous research conferences every week at the Medical Center. Fellows are also encouraged to participate in clinically oriented research projects.

Our fellows thus gain immense experience in both constitutional and oncology genomics to develop into well-rounded clinician-scientists who would be an integral part of multidisciplinary clinical care teams.

Requirements

Applicants must hold an M.D. or Ph.D. (or equivalent) degree; the Ph.D. degree must be in genetics, molecular biology, or a related field within the biological sciences.

Individuals with an M.D. or Ph.D. earned outside of the United States or Canada must have their degree reviewed by the ABMGG Credentials Committee prior to entering this training program.

For more details, please check the following link: http://www.abmgg.org/pages/cert_forcredential.shtml.

An ideal candidate should have clinical laboratory or research experience in human genetic diseases and/or genomic testing technology, a strong peer-reviewed publication record, excellent oral and written communication skills, and the commitment to a minimum of two-year intense fellowship training. Candidates with post-doctoral experience in related fields are preferred.

Types and numbers of appointments

One position is usually available each academic year.

Dates and deadlines

Each academic year starts on July 1st and deadline for receipt of completed application (including recommendation letters) is September 30th of the previous year.

Application

Applications should include a curriculum vitae, personal statement, three recommendation letters, and credential approval letter from ABMGG (for candidates with foreign degrees).

All enquiries should be directed to pathlggtraining@cumc.columbia.edu

Please arrange to have three letters of recommendation sent to us via email to pathlggtraining@cumc.columbia.edu. Recommendation letters should be addressed to:

Vimla S. Aggarwal, MBBS, FACMG
Program Director, Laboratory Genetics and Genomics Fellowship
Columbia University Medical Center
Department of Pathology and Cell Biology
630 West 168th Street, P&S16-408A,
New York, NY 10032

Current Laboratory Genetics and Genomics Fellows

  • Tian Yu, PhD (2024-2026)

    Tian Yu, CUIMC LGG fellow 2024-2026
  • Xinming Zhuo, PhD (2023-2025)

    Xinming Zhuo - CUIMC LGG fellow (2023-2025)

Laboratory Genetics and Genomics Fellowships Graduates

  • Xin Bi (2022-2024)
  • Bilal Azab (2021-2023)
  • Meng-Chang Hsiao (2021-2023)
  • Madhu Pantrangi (2021-2023)
  • Nan Jiang (2020-2022)
  • Dina Ahram (2020-2021)
  • Subit Barua (2020-2021)
  • Avinash Dharmadhikari (2020-2021)
  • Heather Williams (2020-2021)
  • Akemi (Joy) Tanaka (2019-2020)