03/20/2026
Reminder… our zoom event is this coming Monday night. We do hope to see you there. This is a bio of Prof. Donna McDonald-McGinn who will be one of our presenters.
Prof. Donna McDonald-McGinn
Genetic Counselor
Clinical Professor of Pediatrics at the Perelman School of Medicine of the University of Pennsylvania;
Director of the 22q and You Center, Chief of the Section of Genetic Counseling, and Associate Director of the Clinical Genetics Center at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia
22q11.2 Society, Founding Trustee, Founding Secretary and Chair
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Donna McDonald-McGinn, MS, CGC, is a Clinical Professor of Pediatrics at the Perelman School of Medicine of the University of Pennsylvania; Director of the 22q and You Center, Chief of the Section of Genetic Counseling, and Associate Director of the Clinical Genetics Center at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.
Prof. McDonald-McGinn was born and raised in Philadelphia. She obtained her Bachelor of Arts Degrees in Biology and Sociology from Rosemont College, in Rosemont, PA and Master of Science in Human Genetics from Sarah Lawrence College, in Bronxville, NY. She arrived at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia as a Genetic Counseling student in 1983 hoping to shadow renowned dysmorphologist Elaine Zackai, MD, and never left – officially joining the Division of Human Genetics in 1985.
She began working on the chromosome 22q11.2 deletion syndrome following the development of a 22q11.2 specific FISH probe in the laboratory of Beverly Emanuel, PhD, in 1992. Shortly thereafter, she founded the 22q and You Center, a pioneering holistic care program for individuals and families affected by chromosome 22q11.2 differences, a program that remains to this day a trailblazer in the field. Prof. McDonald-McGinn has spent much of her professional career striving to support education, multidisciplinary care, and collaborative outcomes research involving the relationship of 22q11.2 deletion syndrome with associated birth defects, medical problems, cognitive deficits, and behavioral health. Within this area, she has published more than 300 manuscripts, chapters and reviews and led global cooperative initiatives including establishing chromosome 22q11.2 deletion syndrome specific pediatric and adult clinical practice guidelines. She is a regularly invited lecturer at national and international scientific and family meetings and academic institutes, as well as a much sought after webinar presenter. She is a perennial thesis advisor, teacher, and student mentor, endeavoring to inspire the next generation of chromosome 22q11.2 experts. She acts as principle investigator for several United States National Institute of Health research studies and privately funded programs.
