NYMAC Leadership Team

Michele Caggana, ScD, FACMG
Project co-Director

Joann Bodurtha, MD, MPH, FACMG
Project co-Director

Luba Djurdjinovic, MS
Project Administrator, NYMAC/Director Genetic Counseling Program, Ferre Genetics

Patricia Bish
Project Manager, NYMAC/Ferre Institute, Inc.

Alissa Bovee Terry, ScM, CGC
NYMAC Genetic Services Outreach Coordinator and Telegenetics Navigator

Andrea Durst, MS, DrPH, LCGC
Assistant Professor, University of Pittsburgh/NYMAC Advisory Committee Chair

Melissa Raspa, PhD, RTI International
Evaluation Consultant
Molly Lynch, MPH, RTI International
Evaluation Consultant
Project co-Director, Michele Caggana, ScD, FACMG
Michele Caggana, ScD, FACMG is the Co-Project Director for the New York Mid-Atlantic Caribbean Regional Genetics Network. She received her doctoral degree from the Harvard School of Public Health and completed post-doctoral work in clinical molecular genetics at the Mt. Sinai School of Medicine. She is board certified in clinical molecular genetics by the American Board of Medical Genetics and a fellow of the American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics. Dr. Caggana has been employed by the Wadsworth Center since 1996, where she is Deputy Director of the Division of Genetics, Chief of the Laboratory of Human Genetics, and Director of the Newborn Screening Program. She has been involved in many national newborn screening efforts, including the national pilots for severe combined immunodeficiency, Pompe disease, spinal muscular atrophy and Duchenne muscular dystrophy. Dr. Caggana works with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Health Resources and Services Administration and the Association of Public Health Laboratories. She is a member of the National Advisory Child Health and Human Development Council and the Newborn Screening and Translational Research Network’s Steering Committee. She chairs the Newborn Screening Committee for the Association of Public Health Laboratories and Co-Chairs the Pilot Implementation Work Group for the Newborn Screening Translational Research Network. Her laboratory has developed several new newborn screening tests and uses DNA technology to improve newborn screening.
Contact Information:
NYMAC
Wadsworth Center, NYS DOH
David Axelrod Institute
120 New Scotland Ave.
Albany, NY 12208
Phone: (518) 473-3854
Fax: (518) 486-2693
michele.caggana@health.ny.gov
Project co-Director, Joann Bodurtha, MD, MPH, FACMG
Joann Bodurtha, MD, MPH is the Co-Project Director for the New York Mid-Atlantic Caribbean Regional Genetics Network. She is a Professor of Genetic Medicine, Pediatrics and Oncology in the McKusick-Nathans Department of Genetic Medicine at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine with appointments in the Department of Health, Behavior and Society in the Bloomberg School of Public Health and the School of Nursing. She sees genetic patients in the Harriet Lane Clinic, via telegenetics and by in-patient consultation. She transitioned from Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) in 2011. She received her BA from Swarthmore College and her MD and MPH from Yale University. She did a year of research at the Nagasaki University School of Medicine as a Luce Scholar. Dr. Bodurtha completed her residency in pediatrics at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and worked as a US Public Health Service physician on the Turtle Mountain Chippewa Reservation in North Dakota. She completed her medical genetics fellowship at VCU. She helped start the Masters in Genetic Counseling program at VCU in 1990, the Va-LEND (Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental Disabilities) program in 1995, and the Familial Cancer Clinic in 1998. She served on the American Academy of Pediatrics Committee on Native American Child Health for ten years. She received the Genetic Alliance Art of Listening award in 2008, the Association of University Centers on Disabilities Professional Achievement award in 2009, the VCU School of Medicine Women in Science, Dentistry, and Medicine Professional Achievement award in 2010, and the David Valle Clinical Teaching award in 2019. She was chair of the Virginia Genetics Advisory Committee. Her career goals are helping make genetics work to help individuals and families and helping communities be welcoming to persons with disabilities.
Contact information:
McKusick-Nathans Dept. of Genetic Medicine
Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions
600 N. Wolfe Street, Blalock 1008
Baltimore, MD 21287
Phone: (410) 955-1699
Fax: (410) 367-3231
Jbodurt1@jhmi.edu
NYMAC Advisory Committee
Andrea Durst, MS, DrPH, LCGC
Assistant Professor, University of Pittsburgh/Chair
Jerry Vockley, MD, PhD
University of Pittsburgh Cleveland Family Endowed Chair in Pediatric Research Professor of Human Genetics UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh Chief of Medical Genetics Director of the Center for Rare Disease Therapy
Kathy H. Wibberly, PhD
Director, Mid-Atlantic Telehealth Resource Center, University of Virginia Center for Telehealth
Dana Yarbrough
Director, Center for Family Involvement, Virginia Commonwealth University
Robert J. Ostrander, MD
SUNY Upstate Medical University
Danielle Louder
Director – Northeast Telehealth Resource Center, Co-Director MCD Public Health
Natasha Shur, MD
Children’s National Hospital, Washington, D.C.
Lin Perry, MPA
Project Director, Family to Family Health Information Center (F2FHIC), Parent to Parent of NYS
Bruce L. Orr
Ability Advocates