Meet the Leadership Team
Meet the Leadership Team
Professor, UC Department of Pediatrics
Co-Director, Genetic Counseling Graduate Program
Melanie Myers has a broad background in public health genomics with specific training in genetic counseling, public health, social and behavioral sciences, and applied epidemiology. She is board certified in genetic counseling and worked in Seattle and Baltimore in prenatal and cancer genetic counseling settings.
Myers obtained her PhD in public health from the Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health.
Some of her interests and responsibilities with the Genetic Counseling Graduate Program include directing research training for graduate students, ensuring compliance with institutional / accreditation requirements, and developing and implementing a funded research program. Myers’ research interests include the integration of genomic technologies into public health research and practice to improve population health.
She has conducted population-, clinic- and community-based research using both quantitative and qualitative methodologies. Her recent funded research activities have included adolescent decision-making about genetic testing, patterns of communication about disease risk among families at increased risk of type 2 diabetes based on family history, and the use of family health history as a genomic tool to promote health and prevent disease.
Prior to joining the Cincinnati Genetic Counseling Graduate Program, Myers worked in the Office of Public Health Genomics at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). While there she led a multistate investigation to monitor the impact of the first direct-to-consumer marketing campaign for genetic testing for breast and ovarian cancer susceptibility (BRCA1/2).
Myers also served in the Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS) in the National Center of Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities at the CDC. As an EIS officer, she participated in several outbreak response teams, including Stop Transmission of Polio Team 9 in Bangladesh, the New York City Anthrax Team, the World Trade Center Terrorist Attack Response Team, the Dengue Fever Outbreak Response team in Maui and Kauai, Hawaii, and the West Nile Virus Response Team in Long Island, NY.
Associate Professor, UC Department of Pediatrics
Co-Director, Genetic Counseling Graduate Program
Carrie Atzinger is a board-certified and licensed genetic counselor and graduate of the Cincinnati Genetic Counseling Graduate Program. After graduation, she worked as a pediatric genetic counselor at the University of Maryland before returning to work as a pediatric genetic counselor at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center. Through her clinical roles, Atzinger worked with patients in general genetics clinics and acted as coordinator for the Cincinnati Children’s Marfan / Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome Clinic and Skeletal Dysplasia Center. Throughout this time, she supervised genetic counseling students and also maintained her involvement in didactic education of genetic counseling students and other trainees.
In her role as co-director of the Genetic Counseling Graduate Program, Atzinger teaches the advanced genetic counseling course throughout the second year and is both a research mentor and academic adviser. She is also the genetics faculty member for the Cincinnati Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental and related Disabilities (LEND) program. Atzinger’s research interests include professional and educational aspects of genetic counseling including aspects of fieldwork supervision and student and supervisor self-efficacy.
Atzinger is actively involved in genetic counseling professional organizations. She is an active member of the Association of Genetic Counseling Program Directors (AGCPD) and has served as a site visitor for the Accreditation Council of Genetic Counselors (ACGC). Atzinger has had many volunteer roles with the National Society of Genetic Counselors (NSGC) including serving on the Board of Directors, acting as secretary / treasurer, and beginning in 2021 co-leading the NSGC Leadership Development Program.
Fieldwork and Admissions Coordinator, Genetic Counseling Graduate Program
Emily Wakefield is board certified as a genetic counselor by the American Board of Genetic Counseling. She graduated from The Ohio State University with a bachelor of science in molecular genetics in 2010 and from University of Alabama at Birmingham with a master of science in genetic counseling in 2014. She practices as a clinical counselor in the Hereditary Cancer Program at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital.
As the fieldwork coordinator for the Genetic Counseling Graduate Program, Emily teaches the introduction to genetic counseling course taken by first year genetic counseling graduate students, facilitates fieldwork rotations, and oversees first year student progress as a clinical instructor. As admissions coordinator for the Genetic Counseling Graduate Program, she answers inquiries from prospective students, facilitates program information sessions and the review of applications, and leads the interview process each spring.
Additional responsibilities related to the genetic counseling program include academic advising and clinical supervision. Within the Division of Human Genetics, Emily is the co-instructor for Human Genetics, which is a course taken by genetic counseling students, laboratory fellows, and genetics residents.
Program Coordinator, Genetic Counseling Graduate Program
Isabel Castro is the Program Coordinator for the GCGP as well as for the Immunology graduate PhD and MS program. She has been working in the field of higher education for 30 years. She has a BA in Psychology and an MS in Educational Leadership. She is currently a Senior Specialist in Program Management. She has served as the Immunology Graduate Program Coordinator for 15 years (as of 2025) but has also served as Asst Director of Academic Advising and led multicultural affair programing on four different campuses. Isabel grew up in New York City and went to college in central Illinois, where she later worked for several years before moving to the Cincinnati Area.
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