Jessica Ezzell Hunter

Dr. Jessica Ezzell Hunter is a genetic epidemiologist whose work focuses on the impact of genomic variation on health outcomes. She has led and collaborated on numerous studies and consortiums to increase the identification of and improve health outcomes in individuals with hereditary cancer syndromes, genetic intellectual and developmental disability syndromes, and other complex genetic conditions. She has extensive experience in characterizing health outcomes with complex etiology, including gene and environment interactions, and elucidating the molecular etiology of health outcomes in individuals with genetic conditions involving genomic and epigenomic factors. She also works to ensure equitable access to genetic services, including increased access to genetic risk assessment and genetic testing.

Dr. Hunter is active with the National Institutes of Health-funded Clinical Genome Resource (ClinGen) as co-chair of its Actionability Working Group, which generates evidence-based assessments of clinical actionability associated with genome variation. She leads and collaborates on numerous studies to improve the identification of individuals at increased genetic risk for cancer to allow the implementation of appropriate health care interventions and services. Dr. Hunter has more than 15 years of experience in characterizing and improving health outcomes associated with the fragile X premutation allele, including maternal stress among mothers of children with fragile X syndrome. She also has extensive experience in characterizing risk factors related to chromosome 21 nondisjunction and clinical outcomes in children and adults with Down syndrome.