Amy M. Brower, PhD

Amy M. Brower, PhDAmy M. Brower, PhD
American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics (ACMG)

Genetic Medicine
Munroe-Meyer Institute
985450 Nebraska Medical Center
Omaha, NE 68198-5450

Email

Professional Summary

Amy Brower holds an adjunct professor faculty appointment in the Department of Genetic Medicine at the UNMC Munroe-Meyer Institute.

Dr. Brower earned her Ph.D. from the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha, Nebraska in 2001. During her doctoral studies, Dr. Brower’s son was born with Severe Combined Immune Deficiency (SCID). Due to his treatment and follow-up care, in 1998, Dr. Brower joined the US Department of Energy – Joint Genome Institute, Lawrence Berkley National Laboratory in California as a scientist for two years and contributed to the initial sequencing and analysis of three chromosomes as part of the Human Genome Project. From 2001 to 2009, Dr. Brower led several initiatives at a biotechnology company in Madison, WI, including the development of novel molecular approaches as part of the International Haplotype Map Project. During her time in Wisconsin, Dr. Brower developed a medical genomics course for Aurora St. Luke’s Medical Center as part of the Patient-Centered Research, Personalized Medicine Institute.

In 2003, Dr. Brower was appointed to the Secretary’s Advisory Committee on Heritable Disorders in Newborns and Children (ACHDNC). ACHDNC was created under Section 1111 of the Public Health Services Act, 42. U.S.C. 300b-10 to advise the Secretary of Health and Human Services about newborn and childhood screening, and this appointment led to Dr. Brower’s current position at the American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics (ACMG) in Bethesda, MD. As a recognized expert in newborn screening research and genomics, Dr. Brower collaborates with researchers, clinicians, public health teams, parents, families, advocates, and policy makers across the United States to advance the use of genomics to screen, diagnose treat and manage genetic disease in newborns and children.

Dr. Brower currently leads the Newborn Screening Translational Research Network (NBSTRN), a key component of the newborn screening portfolio at the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) Hunter Kelly Newborn Screening Research Program. In its fifteenth year, NBSTRN is an established research hub for innovative and impactful efforts to advance NBS research. Dr. Brower was co-editor of a recent special issue in newborn screening research of the American Journal of Medical Genetics (AJMG) Seminars in Medical Genetics Part C to showcase work facilitated by the NBSTRN. In addition, Dr. Brower hosts a podcast about advancements in rare disease research as told by health professionals, researchers, parents, and advocates. With this podcast, the Dr. Brower strives to educate and inform listeners about the life-saving benefits of newborn screening research, new technologies, and rare disease treatments. The “Newborn Screening SPOTlight Podcast” shares stories from experts who treat babies, the families who care for them, and the researchers who make it all happen (https://nbstrn.org/podcast).

Education

Teaching

Research Interests and Projects

Publications (past 5 years)

  1. Lekstrom-Himes J, Augustine E, Brower A, Defay T, Finkel RS, McGuire AL, Skinner MW, Wu TW. Data sharing to advance gene-targeted therapies in rare diseases. AJMG. 2023. doi: 10.1002/ajmg.c.32028.
  2. Brower A, Chan K. Special issue: Newborn screening research. Am J Med Genet C Semin Med Genet. 2022;190(2):135-137. doi:10.1002/ajmg.c.32007.
  3. Brower A, Chan K, Williams M, et al. Population-Based Screening of Newborns: Findings from the NBS Expansion Study (Part One). Front Genet. 2022;13:867337. Published 2022 Jul 22. doi:10.3389/fgene.2022.867337.
  4. Chan K, Brower A, Williams MS. Population-based screening of newborns: Findings from the newborn screening expansion study (part two). Front Genet. 2022;13:867354. Published 2022 Sep 1. doi:10.3389/fgene. 2022.867354.
  5. Köhler S, Gargano M, Matentzoglu N, Carmody LC, Lewis-Smith D, Vasilevsky NA, Danis D, Balagura G, Baynam G, Brower AM, et al. The Human Phenotype Ontology in 2021. Nucleic Acids Res. 2021;49(D1):D1207-D1217. doi:10.1093/nar/gkaa1043.
  6. Hartnett MJ, Lloyd-Puryear MA, Tavakoli NP, Wynn J, Koval-Burt C, Gruber D, Trotter T, Caggana M, Chung WK, Armstrong N, Brower AM. Newborn Screening for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy: First Year Results of a Population-Based Pilot. Int J Neonatal Screen. 2022;8(4):50. Published 2022 Sep 22. doi:10.3390/ijns8040050.
  7. Wilhelm K, Edick MJ, Berry SA, Hartnett M, Brower A. Using Long-Term Follow-Up Data to Classify Genetic Variants in Newborn Screened Conditions. Front Genet. 2022;13:859837. Published 2022 May 26. doi:10.3389/fgene.2022.859837.
  8. Gruber D, Lloyd-Puryear M, Armstrong N, Scavina M, Tavakoli NP, Brower AM, Caggana M, Chung WK. Newborn screening for Duchenne muscular dystrophy-early detection and diagnostic algorithm for female carriers of Duchenne muscular dystrophy. Am J Med Genet C Semin Med Genet. 2022;190(2):197-205. doi:10.1002/ajmg.c.32000.
  9. Brower A, Chan K, Taylor J, et al. Accelerating the Pace of Newborn Screening Research to Advance Disease Understanding and Improve Health Outcomes: Key Efforts of the Newborn Screening Translational Research Network (NBSTRN). Dela J Public Health. 2021;7(5):36-37. Published 2021 Dec 15. doi:10.32481/djph.2021.12.010.
  10. Brower A, Chan K, Hartnett M, Taylor J. The Longitudinal Pediatric Data Resource: Facilitating Longitudinal Collection of Health Information to Inform Clinical Care and Guide Newborn Screening Efforts. Int. J. Neonatal Screen. 2021 7, 37. PMID: 34208910.
  11. Milko, L.V., Chen, F., Chan, K., Brower, AM, et al. FDA oversight of NSIGHT genomic research: the need for an integrated systems approach to regulation. npj Genom. Med. 4, 32 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41525-019-0105-8.
  12. Lloyd-Puryear M, Brower A, Berry SA, Brosco JP, Bowdish B, Watson MS. (2019) Foundation of the newborn screening translational research network and its tools for research. Genetics in Medicine. Jun;21(6):1271-1279.
  13. Goldenberg AJ, Lloyd-Puryear M, Brosco JP, Therrell B, Bush L, Berry S, Brower A, et al. (2019) Including ELSI research questions in newborn screening pilot studies. Genetics in Medicine. Mar;21(3):525-533.

Professional Affiliations