Bioinformatics & Computational Terminology for the Clinic: How to “Talk Shop” with a Lab

Brice Sarver, Ph.D., is a Senior Bioinformatics Scientist at Fluxion Biosciences. After graduating from Washington University in St. Louis, Dr. Sarver received his Ph.D. in biology, emphasizing bioinformatics, evolutionary genomics, and phylogenetics, from the University of Idaho. He subsequently completed a postdoc in computational genetics and mouse genomics at the University of Montana. Dr. Sarver is interested in the development of techniques and computational tools to analyze genomic data in non-model, near-model, and model systems, especially using high-performance computing. In particular, he is curious about how new and existing computational techniques can be leveraged to identify the genetic basis of human disease and build genomic datasets in non-model systems, such as those lacking a reference genome. He has led or contributed to studies in a variety of systems, including humans, mice, chipmunks, bears, and fungi. 

Rishona Lavy, MS, CGC, received a BS in biology and a minor in psychology from McGill University in 2004, and an MS in genetic counseling from California State University, Northridge in 2008. She spent the first part of her career as a prenatal genetic counselor, providing services to diverse patient populations in person, over the phone, and via telemedicine. She joined Ambry in 2015 as a general genetics reporting genetic counselor and after two years transitioned to the exome reporting team. She currently works cross-specialty, working on both exome sequencing reports and panel reports from the general genetics and neurology test menus. Additionally, she is involved in coordinating and leading discussions and educational trainings for internal teams, and she recently joined the ClinGen monogenic diabetes variant curation expert panel.

Shreya Malhotra is an oncology genetic specialist at Ambry Genetics for the coastal region of the USA. She received her MS in Genetic Counseling from Sarah Lawrence College. In her current role, she serves as a clinical liaison for the field team to educate health care providers and other key opinion leaders on genetic testing and genomic medicine.  Prior to her role at Ambry, Shreya served as the genetic counselor and clinic/ research coordinator for the PTEN clinic at Cleveland Clinic. Shreya received her BS in Economics from New York University. She is passionate about cancer genetics, business development and clinical research.

Tara Namey joined Ambry Genetics in 2016 as an Oncology Genetic Specialist.   Prior to joining Ambry, Tara was employed for 16 years at Lehigh Valley Health Network during which time she played an integral role in the development and growth of the Greg and Lorraine Harper Cancer Genetics Program.  During her time there, Tara served as both Manager and Senior Genetic Counselor.  Tara received her Bachelors of Science degree in Biology/Pre-Med from the University of Scranton.  She earned her Masters of Science degree in Genetic Counseling from California State University, Northridge and is board-certified by the American Board of Genetic Counseling.