Driven by Curiosity: A Life of Discovery in Clinical Genetics

Set on her way towards a traditionally male profession by a mother who loved biology, Judith Hall entered medical school just as the science of genetics was coming of age. She became interested in the genetics of short stature during her training, and that led her into career-long clinical research on all types of congenital anomalies, particularly multiple congenital contractures (arthrogryposis), discordant twins, and non-traditional inheritance. In her talk she will relate some of the clinical discoveries that she has witnessed and how long it took for them too to “come of age”—i.e., for their underlying mechanisms to be understood. She will also reflect upon her scientific life-journey in clinical genetics and pediatrics, her good fortune and sometimes dumb luck, and on how much she now likes being an academic Elder.