The Medical Advisory Board of the Mowat-Wilson Syndrome Foundation is a group of physicians who are among the most respected and experienced in their fields. All are currently practicing physicians who can also be affiliated with an academic institutions. Members of the Medical Advisory Board are appointed by the Boards of Directors and act in an advisory capacity in medical matters related to Mowat-Wilson Syndrome.
Meredith Wilson
Meredith Wilson is a consultant medical geneticist based in the Department of Clinical Genetics at Children’s Hospital Westmead, one of the two major paediatric hospitals in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. After medical school in Adelaide, Meredith initially trained as a pediatrician in Sydney, then did further training in clinical genetics in Sydney and at the Murdoch Institute in Melbourne. She has been a consultant clinical geneticist since 1991 at the Children’s Hospital at Westmead and also at the Westmead adult hospital nearby. Meredith was Head of the Children’s Hospital Department of Clinical Genetics from 1998-2008 and head of the Westmead Hospital Adult Genetics service until this year, and was appointed as a Clinical Associate Professor in the University of Sydney in 2009. Meredith’s work involves many areas of clinical genetics, and includes consultations with families and patients of all ages, in prenatal, neonatal, paediatric and adult genetics areas. She has contributed to a number of scientific papers in regard to different genetic syndromes.
In the late 1990’s when David Mowat was also working at the Westmead Children’s Hospital, they together identified a group of children with very similar features, which they subsequently published in the Journal of Medical Genetics in 1998 as a “new” syndrome. That condition later became known as Mowat-Wilson syndrome, in acknowledgement of the fact that David and Meredith were the first to recognize and describe this important genetic syndrome.
David Mowat
Dr. David Mowat is an experienced clinician and researcher with a primary interest in the diagnosis of genetic causes of rare disease/ syndrome recognition and translational medicine to improve clinical outcomes. He is an AI in genomic projects in different disease cohorts including rare Mendelian disorders, intellectual disability and adult/ paediatric, neuromuscular disorders. He is responsible for the recognition of an important syndromal cause of intellectual disability – Mowat-Wilson syndrome and has contributed to the discovery of a number of novel disease-causing genes. He is the Co-Head of the Centre of Clinical Genetics and Co-director of the Tuberous Sclerosis clinic and research collaboration at Sydney Children’s Hospital.
Margaret L. P. Adam
Margaret L.P. Adam, MD, is an attending physician at Seattle Children‘s Hospital and a professor in the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Washington School of Medicine. Dr. Adam’s clinical interests include the diagnosis and management of infants, children, and adolescents with a variety of genetic conditions.
Dr. Adam has a special interest in Mowat-Wilson syndrome, for which she has conducted clinical research in the past. She is currently involved as the primary geneticist in the Multidisciplinary Differences in Sex Development (DSD) clinic at Seattle Children’s Hospital and she recently joined the Multidisciplinary 22q11 Deletion syndrome clinic. She also provides genetic consultations for pregnant women through the Prenatal Diagnostic Center at the University of Washington. Her current clinical research projects include working as a dysmorphologist on the Autoimmune Diseases in Pregnancy Project with the Organization of Teratology Information Specialists (OTIS) and on the Collaboration to Establish the Prevalence of Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders in association with the University of California, San Diego.
Jay L. Vivian
Dr. Vivian is a Research Associate Professor in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the University of Kansas Medical Center (KUMC). He also serves as the Scientific Director of KUMC’s Transgenic Facility and Gene Targeting Institutional Facility. Dr. Vivian’s research focuses on the use of pluripotent stem cells as genetic and developmental models, tools for genetic engineering of the mouse, and as reagents for regenerative medicine. His research team makes substantial use of pluripotent stem cells and genetically modified mice for modeling rare and undiagnosed neurodegenerative disorders. Dr. Vivian received his Ph.D. from University of Texas-Houston M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in 1999, and received postdoctoral training at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He has been at the University of Kansas Medical Center since 2004.
Merlin G. Butler
Dr. Butler was raised on a small farm or ranch in the Sandhills of Nebraska (Stuart) and attended a rural one room school house from kindergarten to eighth grade, then graduated from Stuart High School in a class of 17 students in 1970. He attended Chadron State College (CSC) with scholarship support and graduated in 1974 (B.A.) and 1975 (B.S.). He majored in biology (pre-med) and received his M.D. from the University of Nebraska in 1978, M.S. from the University of Nebraska – Lincoln in 1980 and Ph.D. in Medical Genetics and postgraduate training at Indiana University. He was certified in Clinical Genetics and Clinical Cytogenetics by the American Board of Medical Genetics in 1984 and became a Founding Fellow of the American College of Medical Genetics in 1993. He has held several academic positions at Indiana University, Vanderbilt University, Children’s Mercy Hospital and University of Missouri - Kansas City and currently Director of Research and Genetics, Medical Director of the KUMC Genetics Clinic and Professor of Psychiatry, Behavioral Sciences and Pediatrics at the University of Kansas Medical Center. Dr. Butler received the Distinguished Service Award from Chadron State College in 1986, received the Distinguished Alumni Award from Indiana University in 2007 and was recipient of the Chancellor’s Club Research Award from the University of Kansas in 2016.
He has been an active member of several professional organizations, NIH grant study sections, editorial boards of journals, and have conducted extramurally funded research on Prader-Willi syndrome and obesity-related disorders, alcoholism, the genetics of autism and intellectual disabilities and delineation of rare and uncommon genetic disorders such as Mowat-Wilson syndrome. He has an active medical practice in clinical genetics and has been selected by “Consumers Research Council of America, Guide to America’s Top Physicians”, “Best Doctors in America” and “Castle Connelly Top Doctors”. Dr. Butler has published over 500 peer-reviewed research articles, multiple book chapters and authored two textbooks: Management of Prader-Willi Syndrome and Genetics of Developmental Disabilities.
John M. Schreiber
Dr. John M. Schreiber is a Child Neurologist, Neurophysiologist, and Epileptologist at Children’s National Health System and Pediatric Specialists of Virginia. He completed Pediatrics and Child Neurology training at Children’s National Health System in 2011, and an Epilepsy and Clinical Neurophysiology fellowship at the National Institutes of Health in 2013. His primary research interests are in the evaluation and management of refractory epilepsy, specifically in rare genetically-mediated epilepsies.
Belinda Dickie
Belinda Dickie is a pediatric surgeon at Boston Children’s Hospital and is the co-director of the Colorectal Center and Pelvic Malformation Center. She obtained her medical degree at the University of Toronto, Ontario Canada and completed her general surgery residency and PhD at the University of Alberta, Alberta Canada. She continued her education by completing a fellowship in advanced minimally invasive surgery at the University of Alberta. Upon relocating to the United States, she continued her training in pediatric colorectal surgery at Cincinnati Children’s and Vascular Malformations and pediatric surgery at the University of Florida.
Dr. Dickie’s focus includes pediatric colorectal surgery (in particular anorectal malformations (cloacas) and reconstructive surgery, Hirschsprung disease, inflammatory bowel disease, and motility disorders). She is one of the leaders in using minimally invasive surgery and robotics to treat these conditions. She has participated in surgeries and taught courses around the world on advanced reconstructive colorectal and pelvic surgery. Her second focus is on vascular anomalies and the genetics of these disorders.
Outside of the Colorectal Center, Belinda is a dedicated mom of two boys and most of her time outside of work is at basketball, baseball and soccer games.
Jose Garza
In 2013, Dr. Garza joined the GI Care for Kids family. His training and interest in neurogastroenterology and motility bring specialized unique skills to our practice. Now GI Care for Kids is among a few centers in the country able to offer advanced motility studies for our patients.
Prior to joining GI Care for Kids Dr. Garza was Assistant professor of Pediatrics at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital; one of the leading centers in the country for gastrointestinal care, where he taught fellows and residents, performed motility studies and therapeutic endoscopy procedures with a particular focus in helping patients with gastroesophageal reflux disease, achalasia, constipation, fecal incontinence, gastroparesis, intestinal pseudo-obstruction, Hirschsprung’s disease, anorectal malformations, rumination and Ehlers-Danlos, among others.
Dr. Garza was born and raised in Mexico City, where he obtained his Doctorate in Medicine, graduating magna cum laude from Universidad Anahuac. In 2004, he moved to Cincinnati where he completed an internship and residency in Pediatrics at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, where he became interested in gastroenterology and earned the Schubert-Balistreri Award, he remained in Cincinnati to pursue a fellowship in Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology, and Nutrition. While doing his fellowship Dr. Garza also completed a Master of Science in clinical and translational research and trained in neurogastroenterology and motility disorders.
He has presented his work on motility studies and pH-Impedance at national and international meetings and has authored research papers and book chapters in various topics including Hirschsprung’s disease, gastroesophageal reflux, chest pain, anorectal malformations, gastroparesis, constipation, dysphagia, gastrointestinal manifestations of Fanconi Anemia among other topics.
He has participated in many invited lectures at the University of Cincinnati medical school, University of Cincinnati college of nursing, Pediatric Academic Society annual meeting, Neonatology Grand Rounds, Pediatric Update, Pediatric Board Review Course, Pulmonary Conference Series, EDS professional conference, Dysphagia Series, Fanconi Anemia Research Foundation annual family meeting to name a few.
He is board certified in Pediatrics and Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology, and Nutrition. He is a member of the North American Society for Pediatric Gastroenterology, and Hepatology, the American Gastroenterology Association and the American Neurogastroenterology and Motility Society.
Dr. Garza likes to spend time with his wife and 2 children, and is an avid soccer and football fan.
John Graham
I am a board-certified pediatrician and medical geneticist, with over 40 years of training and experience in clinical genetics, dysmorphology, teratology, developmental disabilities, communicative disorders, and public health aspects of birth defects. I completed a pediatric internship and residency, as well as fellowships in developmental disabilities and dysmorphology. During my dysmorphology training, I did original research on the teratogenic effects of alcohol, fetal constraint, and maternal hyperthermia. This work was published in peer-reviewed journals, and since that time, I have continued to publish on teratogenic syndromes, genetic syndromes, and other factors that cause birth defects. I hold a Professor of Pediatrics Emeritus Lifetime Appointment at David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, where I served on the UCLA Intercampus Medical Genetics Training Program Executive Committee for over 25 years. Beginning in 1988, I served as Director of Clinical Genetics and Dysmorphology at Cedars Sinai Medical Center (CSMC) in Los Angeles. I retired from this full-time position on June 30, 2013, but I have continued to consult on patients with birth defects and genetic conditions at CSMC and Harbor-UCLA Medical Center. Between 1981 and 1988, I held similar academic and teaching positions at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in New Hampshire.
