The Importance of Perinatal Postmortem Evaluation with Rachael Bradshaw, MS, CGC

This webinar will address the importance of autopsy and post-mortem genetic evaluation in cases of perinatal loss. The process of postmortem evaluation will be summarized, including data about its efficacy at providing answers about the causes of these losses. Reasons for patients’ refusal of postmortem evaluation will be reviewed, including cultural and financial barriers. Alternatives to traditional autopsy will be detailed, including postmortem MRI and the “genetic autopsy”. Finally, a case series of postmortem genetic evaluations will be reviewed.

Rachael Bradshaw, MS, CGC | Presenter

Rachael Bradshaw is a Senior Genetic Counselor and an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at Saint Louis University School of Medicine as well as an Adjunct Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at Washington University School of Medicine. She obtained her Master’s in Genetic Counseling at the University of Cincinnati in 2004 and has over 14 years of experience providing prenatal genetic counseling, including extensive work in the field of fetal intervention and therapy. Her primary clinical interest is working with families who’ve received prenatal diagnoses of fetal anomalies. This passion impelled her to seek out funding to help pay for genetic and other indicated diagnostic testing after a fetal or neonatal loss and led to the creation of the Providing Answers After a Loss Program (PAAL), which serves families at SSM Health Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital and other SSM Hospitals in the St. Louis Metropolitan Area. She has also focused her volunteer work in the arena of fetal and neonatal loss, serving for many years as the Co-Leader of the Fetal & Infant Mortality Case Review Team in St. Louis.

Kelly D. F. Hagman, MS, CGC | Moderator

Prior to receiving her masters in Genetic Counseling in 2004, Kelly Hagman spent several years in a research lab studying DNA mutagenesis. She started her career as a genetic counselor at the Molecular Diagnostic Laboratory at City of Hope, where she continued her involvement in research, most of which focused on Li-Fraumeni Syndrome (LFS). Driven by her interest in new molecular technologies, in 2009 Kelly joined Ambry Genetics to lead the genomic services group where she gained expertise in multiple sequencing platforms and DNA/RNA enrichment techniques. In 2011, she transitioned to the clinical team to lead Ambry's clinical genomics offerings, most notably, diagnostic exome sequencing. Kelly is currently the co-chair of the National Society of Genetic Counselors (NSGC) Genomic Technologies Special Interest Group (SIG). Kelly is also a firm believer that the best patient care is achieved through open data sharing. She has more than 35 peer-reviewed publications in molecular genetics (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/myncbi/1rGP7EbZoVMAS/bibliography/48799477/public/?sort=date&direction=ascending) and has been an invited lecturer at several scientific meetings.