Name: Lois Starr, MD, PhD
Medical school attended: UNMC
Location of your residency/fellowship training: UNMC
What residency/fellowship program at UNMC are you serving as program director for? Medical genetics
Number of trainees: Two
How long have you been the program director? Six years
What made you chose to become the program director? I thoroughly enjoyed my time as a fellow in our genetics department and wanted to continue that involvement by working closely with our trainees.
What challenges do you foresee in graduate medical education in the future? The physician interest in specializing in medical genetics is not ramping up as quickly as the diagnostic potential is. The indications for genetics consults are exponentially increasing, while the output of clinical geneticists is only slowly growing.
What are the strengths of your training program? Our core faculty, department faculty and staff are absolute treasures. We are able to foster an ideal learning environment because our intentional focus is on education and success of our trainees in all aspects — never on work flow.
List some accomplishments that you are proud of:
- All of the fellows who have gone through our program have joined our department after graduation.
- While other areas of the country don’t have a single clinical geneticist, we have a relatively healthy physician faculty.
- Former trainees become valued colleagues beloved by their patients.
Tell us three things about you that others may not know:
- My husband and I are proud parents of three children – always running!
- While I love all aspects of rare disease diagnostics, seeing individuals in aortopathy cardiovascular genetics clinic — alongside cardiologist Anji Yetman, MD, and Drew Cratsenberg, genetic counselor — is my favorite area of genetics care.
- I have been a part of the Munroe-Meyer Institute since 2000. I was a volunteer and research tech in undergrad.