Faculty & Staff

Emily Quinn, MS, CGC

Emily Quinn
Areas of Expertise

Human Genetics and Genomics

Emily Quinn is a licensed board-certified genetic counselor who joined the KGI faculty in August 2018 to help build the Master of Science in Human Genetics and Genetic Counseling (MSGC) program. Born and raised in California, she received her bachelor’s degrees in biology and psychology at the University of California, Santa Cruz before moving to New York City to complete her master’s degree in genetic counseling at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.

Given her particular interest in cancer genetics and a strong desire to work with children, Quinn moved to Memphis, TN in 2014 to join the newly-created Division of Cancer Predisposition at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. In her primary role as a clinical genetic counselor, Quinn provided genetic counseling services to St. Jude patients and their families and collaborated with colleagues to develop educational materials and tumor surveillance protocols. She also served as a study investigator for multiple genomics-based research protocols aimed to identify novel genes and better characterize the tumor spectrum of well-understood oncologic and hematologic syndromes.

Quinn’s primary academic passion is anchored in education and increasing the accessibility of genetics knowledge to patients and established healthcare providers and new trainees. In addition to her clinical and research responsibilities at St. Jude, Quinn pioneered several educational endeavors centered around genetic counseling. She established St. Jude as a formal clinical rotation site for multiple genetic counseling programs and served as the rotation site coordinator and primary supervisor for rotating genetic counseling students. In 2017, she also co-created and implemented a genetics rotation for the St. Jude hematology/oncology clinical MD fellows.

On a national level, Quinn is an active member of the National Society of Genetic Counseling (NSGC) and serves on the Li-Fraumeni Syndrome Association (LFSA) Genetic Counseling Advisory Board.

  1. Chang EY, Solomon I, Culver JO, Gorman N, Comeaux JG, Lerman C, Quinn EA, Ekstein T. Clinical and laboratory genetic counselor attitudes on the reporting of variants of uncertain significance for multigene cancer panels. J Genet Couns. 2023 Feb 6. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 36747331.
  2. Comeaux JG, Culver JO, Lee JE, Dondanville D, McArthur HL, Quinn EA, Gorman N, Ricker C, Li M, Lerman C. Risk-Reducing Mastectomy Decisions among Women with Mutations in High- and Moderate- Penetrance Breast Cancer Susceptibility Genes. Mol Genet Genomic Med. 2022 Aug 25:e2031. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 36054727.
  3. Newman S, Nakitandwe J, Kesserwan CA, Azzato EM, Wheeler DA, Rusch M, Shurtleff S, Hedges DJ, Hamilton KV, Foy SG, Edmonson MN, Thrasher A, Bahrami A, Orr BA, KlcoJM, Gu J, Harrison LW, Wang L, Clay MR, Ouma A, Silkov A, Liu Y, Zhang Z, Liu Y, Brady SW, Zhou X, Chang TC, Pande M, Davis E, Becksfort J, Patel A, Wilkinson MR, Rahbarinia D, Kubal M, Maciaszek JL, Pastor V, Knight J, Gout AM, Wang J, GuZ, Mullighan CG, McGee RB, Quinn EA, Nuccio R, Mostafavi R, Gerhardt EL, Taylor LM, Valdez JM, Hines-Dowell SJ, Pappo AS, Robinson G, Johnson LM, Pui CH, Ellison DW, Downing JR, Zhang J, Nichols KE. Genomes for Kids: The scope of pathogenic mutationsin pediatric cancer revealed by comprehensive DNA and RNA sequencing. Cancer Discov. 2021 Dec 1;11(12):3008-3027 PMID: 34301788.
  4. Lin B, Kesserwan C, Quinn EA, Einhaus SL, Wright KD, Azzato E, Orr BA, Upadhyaya SA. Anaplastic astrocytoma in a child with Coffin-Siris syndrome and germline SMARCE1 mutation: A case report. J Pediatr Hematol Oncol. 2020 Apr;42(3):e177-e180. PMID: 30499906.
  5. Desrosiers LR, Quinn EA, Cramer S, Dobek W. Integrating genetic counseling and testing in the pediatric oncology setting: Parental attitudes and influencing factors. Pediatr Blood Cancer. 2019 Oct;66(10):e27907. PMID: 31294517.
  6. Quinn EA, Maciaszek JL, Pinto EM, PhillipsAH, Berdy DB, Khandwala M, Upadhyaya SA, Zambetti GP, Kriwacki RW, Ellison DW, Nichols KE, Kesserwan C. From uncertainty to pathogenicity: Clinical and functional interrogation of a rare TP53 in-frame deletion. Cold Spring Harb Mol Case Stud. 2019 Aug 1;5(4):a003921. PMID: 30886117.
  7. Johnson LM, Sykes A, Zhaohua L, Valdez JM, Gattuso J, Gerhardt E, Hamilton KV, Harrison LW, Hines-Dowell S, Jurbergs N, McGee RB, Nuccio R, Ouma AA, Pritchard M, Quinn EA, Baker JN, Mandrell BN, Nichols KE. Speaking genomics to parents offered germline testing for cancer predisposition: Use of a 2-visit consent model. Cancer 2019 Jul 15;125(14):2455-2464. PMID: 30901077
  8. Johnson LM, Valdez JM, Quinn EA, Sykes AD, McGee RB, Nuccio R, Hines-Dowell SJ, Baker JN, Kesserwan C, Nichols KE, Mandrell BN. Integrating next-generation sequencing into pediatric oncology practice: Anassessment of physician confidence and understanding of clinical genomics. Cancer. 2017 Jun 15;123(12):2352-2359. PMID: 28192596.
  9. Quinn EA, Nichols KE. Cancer predisposition syndromes associated with myeloid malignancy. Semin Hematol. 2017 Apr;54(2):115-122. PMID: 28637615.
  10. Quinn EA, McGee R, Nuccio R, Pappo AS, Nichols KE. Genetic Predisposition to Neonatal Tumors. Curr Pediatr Rev. 2015;11(3):164-78. PMID: 26168939.
  11. Zhang J, Walsh MF, Wu G, Edmonson MN, Gruber TA, Easton J, Hedges D, Ma X, Zhou X, Yergeau DA, Wilkinson MR, Vadodaria B, Chen X, McGee RB, Hines-Dowell S, NuccioR, Quinn EA, Shurtleff SA, Rusch M, Patel A, Becksfort JB, Wang S, Weaver MS, Ding L, Mardis ER, Wilson RK, Gajjar A, Ellison DW, Pappo AS, Pui CH, Nichols KE, Downing JR. Germline Mutations in Predisposition Genes in Pediatric Cancer. N Engl J Med. 2015 Dec 10;373(24):2336-46. PMID: 26580448.
  12. Moriyama T, Metzger ML, Wu G, Nishii R, Qian M, Devidas M, Yang W, Cheng C, Cao X, Quinn EA, Raimondi S, Gastier-Foster JM, Raetz E, Larsen E, Martin PL, Bowman WP, Winick N, Komada Y, Wang S, Edmonson M, Xu H, Mardis E, Fulton R, Pui CH, Mullighan C, Evans WE, Zhang J, Hunger SP, Relling MV, Nichols KE, Loh ML, Yang JJ. Germline geneticvariation in ETV6 and risk of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukaemia: a systematic genetic study. Lancet Oncol. 2015 Dec;16(16):1659-66. PMID: 26522332.
  13. Topka S, Vijai J, Walsh MF, Jacobs L, Maria A, Villano D, Gaddam P, Wu G, McGee RB, Quinn EA, Inaba H, Hartford C, Pui CH, Pappo A, Edmonson M, Zhang MY, Stepensky P, Steinherz P, Schrader K, Lincoln A, Bussel J, Lipkin SM, Goldgur Y, Harit M, Stadler ZK, Mullighan C, Weintraub M, Shimamura A, Zhang J, Downing JR, Nichols KE, OffitK. Germline ETV6 Mutations Confer Susceptibility to Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia and Thrombocytopenia. PLoS Genet. 2015 Jun 23;11(6):e1005262. PMID: 26102509.
  14. Kostera-Pruszczyk A, Potulska-Chromik A, Pruszczyk P, Bieganowska K, Miszczak-Knecht M, Bienias P, Szczałuba K, Lee HY, Quinn EA, Ploski R, Kaminska A, Ptáček LJ. Andersen-Tawil syndrome: Report of three novel mutations and high risk of symptomatic cardiac involvement. Muscle Nerve. 2015 Feb;51(2):192-6. PMID: 24861851.
  15. Lee HY, Huang Y, Bruneau N, Roll P, Roberson ED, Hermann M, Quinn EA, Maas J, Edwards R, Ashizawa T, Baykan B, Bhatia K, Bressman S, Bruno MK, Brunt ER, Caraballo R, Echenne B, Fejerman N,Frucht S, Gurnett CA, Hirsch E, Houlden H, Jankovic J, Lee WL, Lynch DR, Mohammed S, Müller U, Nespeca MP, Renner D, RochetteJ, Rudolf G, Saiki S, Soong BW, Swoboda KJ, Tucker S, Wood N, Hanna M, Bowcock AM, Szepetowski P, Fu YH, Ptáček LJ. Mutations in the Gene PRRT2 Cause Paroxysmal Kinesigenic Dyskinesia with Infantile Convulsions. Cell Reports. 2012 Jan 26;1(1):2-12. PMID: 22832103.

Specific research interests include:

  • Age-appropriate tools and strategies for parents/guardians to discuss genetic information with their children
  • Best measures for facilitating informed decisions among individuals utilizing genomic services
  • Impact of personal/familial genetic information on individuals’ health behaviors, life-style choices, and self-esteem