Internationally recognized geneticist appointed to the founding facultyof the Frank H. Netter M.D. School of Medicine at Quinnipiac University

Dr. Barbara R. Pober, of Guilford, an internationally
recognized geneticist, has joined the founding faculty of the Frank H. Netter MD School of Medicine at Quinnipiac
University.

"I am very pleased to have Dr. Pober as a member of our faculty,” said Dr. Bruce Koeppen, founding dean of the medical school. “She has a distinguished track record in medical genetics from both a research and a clinical perspective. Her experience and expertise will help the School of Medicine prepare our students in the areas of medical genomics and personalized medicine."

In her new position, Pober will teach genetics at
Connecticut’s newest medical school which will open this fall on Quinnipiac’s North Haven Campus. Pober comes to Quinnipiac from Harvard Medical School, where she was a professor of pediatrics, and a geneticist in the Department of Pediatrics at Massachusetts General Hospital.

“I am excited to be teaching genetics at Quinnipiac,” Pober
said. “Doctors need to understand genetics as it will increasingly become part of their practices.”

A National Institute of Health funded investigator, Pober
is recognized as an international expert on Williams Syndrome, a genetic disorder that is characterized by medical problems, including cardiovascular disease, developmental delays and learning disabilities. Those with the syndrome also tend to have strong verbal abilities, highly social personalities and an affinity for music.

The medical school’s newest faculty member also is an expert in the genetics of congenital diaphragmatic hernias. The common, and still highly lethal birth defect, involves underdevelopment of the diaphragm and lungs.

Pober earned her medical degree at the Yale University School of Medicine. She completed a residency in pediatrics at the Tufts Medical Center and a genetics fellowship at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School. She is board certified in clinical cytogenetics, clinical genetics and pediatrics. She also earned a master’s in public health from the Harvard School of Public Health and a bachelor’s degree from Yale College. She is a member of the American Society of Human Genetics and American College of Medical Genetics.

      
Pober has received numerous awards, including NIH’s National Research Service Award, the Williams Syndrome Association’s Lifetime Service Award and Boston Magazine’s Top Doctor Award for three consecutive years. She also has written more than 90 peer-reviewed publications and reviews.

        
The Frank H. Netter MD School of Medicine, which will train primary care physicians, has named St. Vincent’s
Medical Center, of Bridgeport, as its primary clinical partner. The medical school also has affiliations with Middlesex Hospital, of Middletown, and MidState Medical Center, of Meriden.

Quinnipiac is a private, coeducational, nonsectarian institution located 90 minutes north of New York City and two hours from Boston. The university enrolls 6,200
full-time undergraduate and 2,300 graduate students in 58 undergraduate and more than 20 graduate programs of study in its School of Business and Engineering, School of Communications, School of Education, School of Health Sciences, School of Law, Frank H. Netter MD School of Medicine, School of Nursing and College of Arts and Sciences. Quinnipiac consistently ranks among the top regional universities in the North in U.S. News & World Report’s America’s Best Colleges issue. The 2013 issue of U.S. News & World Report’s America’s
Best Colleges named Quinnipiac as the top up-and-coming school with master’s programs in the Northern Region. Quinnipiac also is recognized in Princeton Review’s “The Best 377 Colleges.” For more information, please visit www.quinnipiac.edu. Connect with Quinnipiac on Facebook at www.facebook.com/quinnipiacuniversity
and follow Quinnipiac on Twitter @QuinnipiacU.