Faculty Information

Dr. Kathleen Arnos is a medical geneticist and Professor of Biology at Gallaudet University.  She directs the research and clinical activities of the Gallaudet Genetics Program, which she established in 1983.  She obtained a Ph.D. in Human Genetics from the Medical College of Virginia.

Sarah Burton  was formerly a genetic counselor at Gallaudet University and served as the program coordinator for the Summer Program in Genetics.  She was responsible for providing genetic counseling and coordinating follow-up for deaf and hard of hearing clients.  In addition, she was formerly the research coordinator for the project entitled Potential Societal Impact of Advances in Genetic Deafness.  She obtained her Master's of Science Degree in genetic counseling from Sarah Lawrence College.

Ginger Norris is a genetic counselor at Gallaudet University and the coordinator for the Gallaudet Genetics Clinic.  She is responsible for providing genetic counseling and coordinating follow-up for deaf and hard of hearing clients.  Additionally, she is the research coordinator for the DNA repository for the identification of genes for deafness.  She obtained her Master's of Genetic Counseling degree from the University of Maryland.

Dr. Andrew Griffith is the Acting Chief of the Hearing Section and the Section on Gene Structure and Function at the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, National Institutes of Health.  For the past several years, Dr. Griffith has worked actively in the field of hereditary deafness as a clinical otolaryngologist and a researcher in molecular genetics.  He has had an ongoing clinical and research collaboration with the Genetics Program at Gallaudet University.

Dr. Walter Nance has had a distinguished career as a human geneticist, investigating the clinical, epidemiological, molecular and ethical aspects of hereditary deafness.  Over the past 35 years he has developed a strong relationship with the deaf community and with Gallaudet University.  In the early 1970's, he first collaborated with the Gallaudet Office of Demographic Studies to perform an epidemiologic study of causes of deafness.  Since that time he has been actively involved in research and clinical work at Gallaudet, together with his former student, Dr. Kathleen Arnos.  Dr. Nance has also addressed the ethical and social aspects of identification and testing for hereditary deafness throughout his career.

Dr. Arti Pandya is a pediatric geneticist at the Medical College of Virginia who has identified hereditary deafness as her major research interest.  She is the Co-Principal Investigator on two NIH funded projects to map novel genes for hereditary deafness and to establish a national DNA repository on deaf probands.  Her current work focuses on the study of connexin 26 mutations and establishing genotype-phenotype correlations and the establishment of a pilot project for newborn screening of hereditary deafness using molecular strategies.  For the past five years, she has been a clinical consultant for the Gallaudet University genetics program.