On July 1, Maria Stanley, MD, professor and chief, Division of Developmental Pediatrics and Rehabilitation Medicine, will expand her current leadership roles and become interim chief of the Division of Genetics and Metabolism. In this new interim position, Stanley will provide leadership for the division’s team of genetics physicians, genetic counselors, dietitians, and nurses.
This leadership change arrives with the decision by Kim Keppler-Noreuil, MD, professor, to step away from her role as chief of the Division of Genetics and Metabolism in order to focus on her clinical, educational, and clinical research efforts. Keppler-Noreuil will continue in her role as clinical director of the genetics and metabolism clinics that are jointly managed by UW Health Kids and the Waisman Center as well as continue her clinical and clinical research work in the Birth Marks and Vascular Anomalies (BVAC) clinic and on the Gender and Sexual Development (GSD) service. In addition, she will serve as program director of the Medical Genetics and Genomics Residency.
Megan Moreno, MD, MSEd, MPH, professor and interim chair, credits Keppler-Noreuil with strengthening the division in recent years. “I would like to thank Dr. Keppler-Noreuil for her dedication to the division and its patients,” Moreno said. “She advanced the division through expansion of the clinical faculty and APPs, leaving a lasting legacy. And I am grateful that she will continue to lead our clinical program in genetics and metabolism while remaining an active teacher, mentor, researcher, and colleague.”
Since joining the Department of Pediatrics in 2020 as chief of the Division of Genetics and Metabolism, Keppler-Noreuil has been involved in clinical and research efforts around the diagnosis and management of individuals with genetic rare diseases. During her tenure as division chief, she expanded genetic services with the addition of staff and faculty, clinic sites, genetic testing, and involvement in multidisciplinary clinics. She developed a clinic for individuals with segmental overgrowth/vascular conditions, including PIK3CA-Related Overgrowth Spectrum (PROS). And by building relationships on campus and nationally, she led the UW Center for Rare Diseases in achieving status as a Center of Excellence.
Part of Keppler-Noreuil’s current research interests involving the Centers for Birth Defects Research and Prevention (CBDRP) data have been in descriptive and genetics studies of OEIS complex/cloacal exstrophy, Dandy-Walker malformation, and hydrocephalus. She has continued clinical research interests about the natural history, clinical characterization, genetic studies, and therapeutic interventions leading clinical trials of somatic overgrowth disorders, including Proteus syndrome and PROS, as well as other malformations and rare genetic disorders such as OEIS complex/cloacal exstrophy and Bardet-Biedl syndrome.
In her interim role, Stanley will focus on the division’s future. “I look forward to supporting the division’s members and to working to recruit a new division chief who will carry the division forward and build on Dr. Keppler-Noreuil’s vision for genetics at the UW,” Stanley said.
The Division of Genetics and Metabolism serves patients and families with a wide range of birth defects and genetic conditions through diagnosis, counseling, and care coordination. Its research programs are focused on the causes of developmental disabilities and new treatments and interventions. Division faculty also support three fellowship programs.
The Department of Pediatrics is actively recruiting a Clinical Genetics/Division Chief to join the department.
Updated 6/22/2023