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Department of Genetics Heersink School of Medicine

UAB Laboratory Genetics and Genomics (LGG) Fellowship

Program Overview

The Laboratory Genetics and Genomics (LGG) fellowship offered at the UAB Department of Genetics is accredited by the Accreditation Council of Graduate Medical Education (ACGME). This is a three-year program that is open to PhD and/or MD candidates with a strong interest in medical genetics and clinical laboratory medicine.

The UAB LGG fellowship provides specialized postdoctoral training leading to board eligibility in the LGG specialty. The fellowship aims to provide a broad experience and exposure to different elements of clinical laboratory operations, including a wide range of clinical tests (prenatal, postnatal, carrier, and somatic testing), interpretation and report writing, troubleshooting, laboratory certification processes (i.e., CAP and CLIA), and new test development. The fellowship integrates both cytogenetic and molecular techniques, providing fellows with extensive training in a spectrum of techniques such as karyotyping, fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH), chromosomal microarray (CMA), multiplex ligation-dependent probe amplification (MLPA), Sanger sequencing, and Next-Generation sequencing (NGS). Fellows also rotate in the UAB Biochemical Genetics lab to get familiar with biochemical techniques.

The fellow learns to communicate test results and their implications to referring physicians and other healthcare providers. Fellows will rotate through pediatric, adult, prenatal, and cancer genetics clinics at the UAB hospital and Children’s of Alabama (COA) hospital.  The fellow will have the opportunity to develop and validate new clinical tests and participate in research projects. The fellow is exposed to clinical laboratory management, including lab regulatory issues, quality control procedures, test validations, and lab information systems. Fellows who complete the training program will be eligible to sit for the LGG certification exam offered by the American Board of Medical Genetics and Genomics (ABMGG).

Fellows accepted into the UAB LGG training program will be provided with a competitive salary (based on the NIH stipend guidelines) and benefits package. 

Program Leadership

Program Director
Fady Mikhail, M.D., Ph.D., FACMG

Associate Program Director
Yunjia Chen, Ph.D., FACMG

Program Coordinator
Mandy Sharpe

Program Faculty

  • Andrew J. Carroll, Ph.D., FACMG
  • Dan Sharer, Ph.D., FACMG
  • Bruce Korf, M.D., Ph.D., FACMG
  • Anna Hurst, M.D., FACMG
  • Caterina Abdala-Villa, M.D.

Application Eligibility

  • Post-doctoral fellows entering the UAB LGG training program must hold an MD, DO, or PhD degree. The PhD degree must be in either genetics or a related field (Section III.A.1.a of the ACGME Program Requirements for Graduate Medical Education in Laboratory Genetics and Genomics).

  • All individuals with a doctoral degree earned outside of the U.S., Canada or Puerto Rico who are planning to sit for the certification examination are strongly urged to have the ABMGG Credentials Committee review their credentials prior to the onset of training in an accredited fellowship for determination of equivalency of the doctoral degree. For more information, please check the ABMGG website.

  • Please note: All applicants must be a U.S. Citizen, noncitizen national, or have a permanent U.S. resident status or a valid work Visa.

Required Application Documents

  • Curriculum vitae
  • Cover letter detailing experience and interest
  • Two (2) letters of reference
  • ABMGG Credentials Review Committee approval letter (required for international doctoral degrees)

Application Process

The UAB LGG fellowship application is currently closed and will resume accepting applications in Spring 2025.

Contact Us

For further information/inquiries regarding the UAB LGG fellowship, please contact:

Mandy Sharpe
Program Coordinator
Department of Genetics, Heersink School of Medicine, UAB
Phone: 205-975-0061, Email: asharpe@uabmc.edu