DrDeborah Morris-Rosendahl

Deborah Morris-Rosendahl is a Consultant Clinical Scientist in Genomics and is the Asmarley Senior Research Fellow in the Molecular Genetics and Genomics Group in the National Heart and Lung Institute. She is the Director of the Clinical Genetics and Genomics Laboratory in the Royal Brompton and Harefield Hospitals, Heart Lung and Critical Care Group and Scientific Lead of the Genomics Innovation Unit at Guy's and St. Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust.

Dr. Morris-Rosendahl obtained her BSc Honours Degree in Zoology with distinction from the University of Cape Town and then the Mammal Research Institute (MRI), University of Pretoria. With the dawn of recombinant DNA technology, she moved into the field of Human Genetics in 1983 and completed her PhD in human molecular genetics at the South African Institute for Medical Research and University of the Witwatersrand in 1989. Post-doctoral positions in the Mammal Research Institute, University of Pretoria, South Africa and Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, USA, were followed by her move to Germany after being awarded an Alexander von Humboldt Research Fellowship. After two years in in the Institute of Human Genetics in the Free University Berlin, she took up the position as head of the molecular genetics diagnostic laboratory in the Institute of Human Genetics, University of Freiburg Medical Center, where she obtained the “Habilitation” (Associate Professor) in 2003, before moving to London in 2012.

Dr. Morris-Rosendahl’s research has mostly involved the mapping and identification of new disease genes for both single gene disorders as well as complex neuropsychiatric conditions. Her focus on neurodevelopmental disorders led to the identification of novel genes and new genotype-phenotype associations for various disorders of cortical development, as well as to refining the genotype-phenotype correlations for lissencephaly, primary microcephaly and microcephaly syndromes. More recently, she has turned her attention to inherited cardiac and respiratory conditions for which her laboratory is commissioned to deliver specialist testing. In addition to refining genotype-phenotype relationships, research in the laboratory focuses on developing new and innovative approaches to increasing diagnostic yield and delivering cutting-edge genomic diagnostics.