Lisa J. McReynolds Becomes the First Assistant Clinical Investigator of DCEG
Lisa J. McReynolds, M.D., Ph.D.
Lisa J. McReynolds, M.D., Ph.D., was appointed the first DCEG Assistant Clinical Investigator (ACI) in the Clinical Genetics Branch (CGB) in July 2019. In her new role, Dr. McReynolds will develop an independent research program focused on inherited predisposition to hematopoietic malignancies, incorporating genomics with epidemiology to understand their causes. Determining genetic susceptibility in patients with hematopoietic malignancies and its relationship to outcomes will be critical to improving clinical care and understanding the causes and progression of these cancers. Dr. McReynolds will also be continuing her work with the Inherited Bone Marrow Syndrome Study (IBMFS) and Transplant Outcomes in Aplastic Anemia (TOAA) study.
Dr. McReynolds has always had an interest in studying the genetic factors of blood disorders. She cultivated a multifaceted expertise in hematopoiesis (the production of blood cells), hematology/oncology, and immunology prior to joining DCEG. She earned her M.D. and Ph.D. at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, where she studied Smad signaling in a zebrafish model of hematopoiesis. Dr. McReynolds then completed residency in pediatrics at Morgan Stanley’s Children’s Hospital of New York-Presbyterian Hospital and fellowship through the joint program of Johns Hopkins University and the NCI.
Dr. McReynolds joined the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) as a clinical and postdoctoral research fellow in the laboratory of Dr. Steven Holland. At NIAID, her research focused on the bone marrow failure and immunodeficiency disorder, GATA2-deficiency, an inherited disorder caused by germline variation in GATA2, a gene essential to hematopoiesis and vascular development.
In August 2016, Dr. McReynolds joined the CGB as a Clinical Fellow under the mentorship of Sharon A. Savage, M.D., where she led the exome analyses in the IBMFS and TOAA studies. One aim of the IBMFS study is to identify the disease-causing genes in enrolled families, and their effect on patient outcomes. Within the TOAA study Dr. McReynolds has focused on identifying germline variants that affect hematopoietic cell transplant outcomes. She was awarded a DCEG Intramural Research Award in 2017 to perform a pilot study of somatic genetic mutations in blood derived from patients with dyskeratosis congenita and Fanconi anemia.
The ACI position is part of a DCEG-CCR collaboration within the Clinical Investigator Development Program (CIDP) and is designed to support clinical investigators in the critical transition period between clinical fellowship and scientific independence.