Dr. Carolyn Mervis invited to Brazil to teach mini-course and deliver symposium opening address

From September 7 to 17, Dr. Carolyn Mervis visited UNESP (São Paulo State University) to teach a mini-course on Williams syndrome and 7q11.23 duplication syndrome. Dr. Mervis taught graduate students in speech-language pathology at the Marília campus of UNESP and graduate students and faculty in genetics at the Botucatu campus of UNESP. Dr. Mervis also gave the opening address at the International Symposium of the Research Group in Evaluation of Speech and Interdisciplinary Perspectives in Speech and Language, held in Marília. She attended the conference and taught the mini-course at the invitation of Dr. Danilo Moretti-Ferreira, PhD, Chief of the Genetic Counseling Service, Department of Genetics, IBB-UNESP (pictured at left).

Dr. Mervis also consulted with Dr. Moretti-Ferreira on the first known case of a child with 7q11.23 duplication syndrome in Brazil (from the state of Paraiba) and met (in Botucatu) with the child and his parents. They are planning an ongoing collaboration regarding this child, future cases of this syndrome in Brazil, and genotype/phenotype correlations in children who have Williams syndrome.

Click here for the press release (link is in Portuguese, from which the photo was taken)