Recent College Graduates Shining Bright at National Institute of Health Workshop

Congratulations to Daniel E. McGinn and Gelila Yitsege for winning, respectively, the Junior Investigator Award for Best Oral Presentation and the Junior Investigator Award for Best Poster Presentation at NIH's Heart and Soul Workshop.
The workshop was designed to promote cross fertilization in discussing brain, behavior and cardiovascular gene dosage effects in 7q11.23 (Williams syndrome) and 22q11.2 (DiGeorge syndrome) copy number variants. It was held on April 2-3, 2019 at the Porter Neuroscience Building in Bethesda, MD, USA.

The Heart and Soul workshop featured a number of internationally renowned invited speakers (including several members of the 22q11.2 Society Trustees/Advisors), as well as junior investigators whose work was submitted for review, vetted by the NIMH staff scientists, and selected for poster/platform presentations.

Thereafter, the posters/presentations were judged by 22q11.2 Society officials as 'best junior investigator platform and poster presentations' respectfully on behalf of the International 22q11.2 Foundation, Inc., which provided the winners with certificates (suitable for framing), 'Ask Me About 22q' buttons, and cash prizes.

Daniel E. McGinn, BS1,2 (Davidson College, Davidson, NC, USA '18) received the Junior Investigator Award for Best Oral Presentation on 22q11.2 deletion syndrome.

Daniel is seen here with invited speaker and cardiovascular surgeon, Dr. J. William Gaynor, from the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP).

Daniel's presentation, entitled Maternal Origin of Familial 22q11.2 Deletions Negatively Impacts FSIQ Scores, was selected for both platform and poster presentations.

Co-authors:
T. Blaine Crowley1, Marta Unolt1,3, Beverly S. Emanuel1, Elaine H. Zackai1, Ed Moss1, Bernice Morrow4, Ann Swillen5, and Donna M. McDonald-McGinn1

Institutions:
1. The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and the Perelman School of Medicine of the University of Pennsylvania
2. Davidson College, Davidson, NC
3. Sapienza University, Rome, Italy
4. Albert Einstein College of Medicine, NY, NY
5. KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.

Correspondence:
mcginnde (at) email.chop.edu



Gelila Yitsege, BS1 (Columbia University, New York, NY, USA '18) received the Junior Investigator Award for Best Poster Presentation on 22q11.2 deletion syndrome seen here with the onsite judges. Gelila's presentation was entitled Impact of Altering Maternal Vitamin A Intake on Pediatric Dysphagia in a Mouse Model of 22q11.2 Deletion Syndrome.

Co-authors:
Bethany Stokes2, Julia Sabatino1, Kelsey Sugrue2, Gabor Banyai1, Liz Paronett1, Thomas Maynard1, Anthony LaMantia1, and Irene Zohn2

Institutions:
1. The George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Washington , DC, USA
2. Children's National Medical Center, Washington , DC, USA

Correspondence:
GYITSEGE(at)childrensnational.org
Onsite judges included: Prof. Bruno Marino (Rome), Prof. Anne Bassett (Toronto), Prof. Bernice Morrow (New York), and Prof. Jacob Vorstman (Utrecht and Toronto).