Alan E. Guttmacher, M.D.
Deputy Director
Senior Clinical Advisor to the Director
National Human Genome Research Institute
National Institutes of Health
Bethesda, Maryland
www.genome.gov

Dr. Guttmacher received an A.B. degree in 1972 from Harvard College and his M.D. from Harvard Medical School in 1981. From 1982 to 1985, Dr. Guttmacher was an intern and resident in pediatrics at Children’s Hospital Boston. In 1985, he earned a two-year National Research Service Award from the U.S. Public Health Service as a fellow in medical genetics at Children’s Hospital Boston and Harvard Medical School. Dr. Guttmacher is a Fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics and a Fellow of the American College of Medical Genetics.

Currently, Dr. Guttmacher is the second Deputy Director of the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI), the institution responsible for leading the Human Genome Project (HGP). As the NHGRI Deputy Director, Dr. Guttmacher plays a lead role in integrating genomics into medical practice, helps NHGRI develop new research tools to translate the findings of the HGP into new diagnostic tests and therapies, and oversees strategic planning for the institute and its impact on the field of genomics.

Dr. Guttmacher came to NHGRI in 1999 as the Senior Clinical Advisor to the Director. In 1999, he also co-founded a group called “Genetic Resources On the Web (GROW)”, which works with organizations sponsoring genetic websites to ensure they contain high-quality information. GROW’s membership includes approximately three dozen organizations.

Dr. Guttmacher also has played a critical role in guiding the National Coalition for Health Professional Education in Genetics (NCHPEG). This non-profit coalition promotes health-professional education and access to information about advances in human genetics. For its first three years, NCHPEG operated from within the genome institute. Dr. Guttmacher oversaw the maturation of NCHPEG into a freestanding entity with more than one hundred member organizations and its own executive director.

Dr. Guttmacher is the acting Director of the NHGRI Office of Policy, Planning, and Communications. Dr. Guttmacher also co-edited with Dr. Francis Collins a series about the application of advances in genomics to medical care for The New England Journal of Medicine. These two authors wrote the first and last articles in the series, which were published in Fall 2002.

Prior work experience for Dr. Guttmacher includes his role in 1987 as director of the Vermont Regional Genetics Center at the University of Vermont College of Medicine. While there, he launched a series of public health genetics programs. In addition, he directed the Vermont Cancer Center’s Familial Cancer Program, the Vermont Newborn Screening Program, Vermont’s only pediatric intensive care unit, and an NIH-supported initiative that was the nation’s first statewide effort to involve the general public in discussion of the Human Genome Project’s ethical, legal, and social implications. He also had a busy practice in clinical genetics, conducted research, and was a tenured associate professor of pediatrics and medicine at the University of Vermont College of Medicine.