Newborn screening platform powered by digital microfluidics

Rodney is Professor of Pediatrics and Chair Emeritus of the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Miami School of Medicine. He is Board Certified in Pediatrics as well certified as by the American Board of Medical Genetics in the area of Human Biochemical Genetics. He was the founding chair of the Secretary’s Advisory Committee of Heritable Disorders in Newborns and Children (SACHDNC), an eight-year effort to establish the US Department of Health and Human Services’ national screening guidelines in 2010, including the addition of many genetic and metabolic conditions to the core newborn screening panel. Rodney is the author of more than 150 papers dealing with genetic-metabolic diseases in childhood. He served as Senior Advisor to the Director of the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, MD (2004-2011). During this time, he oversaw some of the NICHD research initiatives in newborn screening. He served as President of the American College of Medical Genetics and has advised and led research on numerous efforts related to genetics, children’s issues and newborn screening. He is a graduate of Davidson College and the Duke University School of Medicine, where he was trained in Pediatrics and Genetics.

Priya is Chief, Division of Medical Genetics and Director of the Y.T. and Alice Chen Pediatrics Genetics and Genomics Center at Duke University Medical Center (DUMC). She also serves as Director of the Lysosomal Storage Disease Program, Biochemical Genetics Training Program and Metabolic Clinic at DUMC. Throughout her career, Priya has made innovative contributions translating laboratory science into the clinical arena related to the care and treatment of individuals with lysosomal storage disorders (LSDs), glycogen storage diseases (GSDs) and other inborn errors of metabolism. She has served as Principal Investigator on several clinical trials with a primary focus on the clinical implementation and development of new therapeutic interventions, especially in the areas of enzyme replacement therapy and small molecules. Priya is widely published in refereed journals, textbooks and scientific reviews and she follows many patients in the U.S. and abroad, providing consultation to colleagues treating patients with LSDs in India. She is a member of the International Collaborative Gaucher Group (ICGG) Gaucher Registry and also the Chairperson of the North America Pompe Registry Board. Priya is certified by the American Board of Medical Genetics and the American Board of Biochemical Genetics. She completed a residency in Pediatrics in Mumbai, India and a fellowship in clinical and biochemical genetics at Duke University Medical Center.

David is Professor Emeritus of Pediatrics at Duke University School of Medicine. He spent his career on the development and application of new techniques in mass spectrometry for biomarker discovery and diagnosis of inborn errors of metabolism. This eventually led to the development and application of fast atom bombardment tandem mass spectrometry methods to revolutionize newborn screening. David is the author or co-author of nearly 150 papers and 40 additional invited book chapters. He was born in the United Kingdom and trained as a chemist. After graduation from Liverpool University and postdoctoral studies in Urbana, Illinois and Cardiff, Wales (United Kingdom), he spent five years at Micromass Ltd, Altrincham (United Kingdom) and then moved to the United States. He was a recipient of the International Society for Neonatal Screening’s prestigious Guthrie Award in 2006 and gave the Robert Guthrie Memorial Lecture for the Society for Inherited Metabolic Disorders in 2014. He has also developed educational lectures and courses for newborn screening programs in the US and overseas.

Jan has spent several decades pioneering neonatal screening. As the former head of development for Newborn Screening Product Development at Wallac Oy (now part of PerkinElmer group) in Turku, Finland, he led the development of AutoDELFIA. This directly contributed to the improvement and advancement of the technology and focused on increased sensitivity of the methods and simultaneous measurement of analytes, saving invaluable dried blood material. Jan’s contributions also included automation of laboratory processes, with emphasis on a standard-format dried blood spot collection and consistent methods for interpreting demographic data. Originally trained as an electronics engineer in Copenhagen, Denmark, he is a frequent lecturer at neonatal screening meetings and a strong advocate for the use of international dried blood spot reference materials. He voiced his non-company biased concern for the development of neonatal screening systems all over the world in meetings with politicians and policy makers in many countries. Jan is the recipient of the International Society for Neonatal Screening’s 2004 Robert Guthrie Award.

Brad is currently the Director of the National Newborn Screening and Global Resource Center and Adjunct Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio (UTHSCSA). He retired as Research Professor at UTHSCSA in January 2013. In addition to his university work, he previously served for 28 years directing chemistry and newborn screening laboratory services at the Texas Department of State Health Services. He is a founding member of the International Society for Neonatal Screening (ISNS), serving as its first secretariat and second president. In 2000, he was awarded the prestigious ISNS Robert Guthrie Award for international service. Brad initiated and hosted the first U.S. National Newborn Screening Symposium in 1981 and over the years was an active member and officer in the Council of Regional Networks for Genetic Services and the Texas Genetics Network. He has spent more than 45 years in public service, which included expert consultant/reviewer activities in 40 U.S. and more than 35 foreign newborn screening programs. Brad’s extended activities include authoring or co-authoring more than 175 scientific publications and presenting more than 150 invited international lectures. He earned his BS in Chemistry from Mississippi College, and his MS and PhD degrees in Inorganic Chemistry from Florida State University. In 1997, he was awarded an honorary MD by Kunming Medical College, Kunming, China.