2017 Green Professor outlines advances in genetic research
By Lin Lofley
Dr. Elizabeth M. McNally, Director of the Center for Genetic Medicine at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine, recently served as the 2017 Ida M. Green Distinguished Professorship Honoring Women in Science and Medicine.
The Professorship, now in its 19th year, is a two-day event hosted by the Women in Science and Medicine Advisory Committee (WISMAC) and includes one-on-one meetings with senior faculty, small group gatherings with students, junior faculty, and trainees, as well as a University Lecture named for Mrs. Green.
Dr. McNally began her Feb. 1 address with reference to reversing advice she had shared with others on campus. “I told some of the trainees that I talked with that you have to learn to say ‘No.’ But invitations like the Green Professorship are things you quickly learn to say ‘Yes’ to. When an opportunity such as this one comes along, which has the opportunity to impact what others do, you say ‘Yes!’”
Dr. McNally’s laboratory studies genetic mechanisms responsible for inherited human diseases, including heart failure, cardiomyopathy, muscular dystrophy, arrhythmias, and aortic aneurysms. Her Northwestern team works with individuals and families to define the genetic mutations that cause many disorders.
“What we’re going to talk about is genetics and I will discuss these things in the context of inherited forms of muscle disease and heart disease, but you can substitute in many of the things I’m talking about in the area of cancer genetics and neurogenetics,” she said.
Genetic testing has made great strides in the past 10 years, Dr. McNally said, so now “you could order just a specific panel if you were studying, for example, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. Our strategy has been to generally order the largest panels we can get, and that has transformed our strategy of testing. We want to increase the likelihood that we will identify any mutation within a specific family.”
The Professorship is sponsored by Southwestern Medical Foundation, and was established in honor of the wife of Texas Instruments co-founder Cecil H. Green. The Greens are now deceased. Mrs. Green was a great supporter of opening career paths for women in science and medicine and provided a major bequest to the Foundation for the Professorship.
In introducing Dr. McNally, Dr. Sharon Reimold, Internal Medicine Vice Chair for Clinical Operations and Faculty Development, and Professor of Internal Medicine, noted that “When I think about the impact of somebody in medicine, I think about two things: clinical impact and basic science impact.
“Dr. McNally was a superb housestaff and Fellow [at Boston’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital, where they met 25 years ago]. She could have done anything she wanted, but she liked genetics, and she now runs a very large clinical center that provides care to people with rare disorders that are genetically based.”
Dr. Reimold said Dr. McNally’s work has resulted in personal success, success for those who have worked with her, and greater knowledge within the scientific community.
“Her basic science impact now spreads behind 200 personal manuscripts, and many trainees who are available to get awards for their own career development,” Dr. Reimold said. “As of early this afternoon, her articles have received 9,462 citations. So I think she’s going to hit 10,000 within the year.
“In fact, Dr. McNally is still young. So why not go for 20,000?”
Dr. Reimold holds the Gail Griffiths Hill Chair in Cardiology.
