What is MotherToBaby Texas TIPS?

MotherToBaby Texas TIPS is a free counseling and information resource for both the general public and healthcare professionals. We provide information regarding potentially harmful exposures (a.k.a. teratogens) during pregnancy or breastfeeding such as prescription medication, nicotine, alcohol, maternal infections or environmental exposures.

This service is funded by the Texas Department of State Health Services (TDSHS) under the direction of Dr. Hope Northrup, professor and director of the division of medical genetics in the Department of Pediatrics at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth.

Our Team

希望贝蒂博士(contact)

Professional

Hope Northrup, M.D. is a medical geneticist (clinical, biochemical and molecular areas) in the Department of Pediatrics at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth. She is a professor and director of the division of medical genetics in the Department of Pediatrics. Dr. Northrup is the medical director of the genetic counseling program and the director of the medical genetics residency/fellowship program. Her clinical interests are metabolic disease and chromosome disorders. Dr. Northrup’s research interests focus on unraveling the basis of neurogenetic diseases, specifically tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC) and spina bifida (SB). An additional academic focus of Dr. Northrup is delineating the phenotypes associated with rare chromosome disorders. She provides lectures in genetic counseling and medical genetics courses and supervises rotating students in their clinical activities.

Education

Dr. Northrup obtained an M.D. degree from the medical university of South Carolina. She completed a pediatric rResidency at Children’s Medical Center/Southwestern Medical School in Dallas, Texas and a medical genetics fellowship at the Institute for Molecular Genetics, Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas.

Myla Ashfaq, MS, CGC (contact)

Professional

Myla Ashfaq is a genetic counselor and assistant professor in the Department of Pediatrics, division of genetics at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth. In addition to providing telephone teratogen counseling, she provides genetic counseling to families of pediatric patients at Shriners Hospitals for Children – Houston. She is involved in facilitating courses and supervising students from the University of Texas genetic counseling training program. She is a member of the National Society of Genetic Counselors and is interested in multi-cultural and international genetic counseling.

Education

She graduated from Ohio Wesleyan University in 2005 with a BA in genetics and received her MS in human genetics and genetic counseling from Stanford University in 2011.

Jennifer Lemons, MS, CGC (contact)

Professional

Jennifer Lemons is a certified genetic counselor and assistant professor in the Department of Pediatrics. In addition to providing telephone teratogen counseling, she provides pediatric genetic counseling services in Houston. She works with the University of Texas genetic counseling program students on rotation and helps facilitate coursework. She is a member of the National Society of Genetic Counselors.

Education

Jennifer graduated from Purdue University in 2007 with a BS in biology and received her MS in medical genetics from the University of Cincinnati in 2011.

Goals*

• 为病人提供咨询服务and health care professionals about exposures related to pregnancy and breastfeeding, so they can make informed treatment choices.
• Reduce risks and decrease the number of preventable birth defects by educating the public and health care professionals about specific agents of concern.
• Empower patients with accurate information about the true risks of an exposure, thereby preventing unnecessary terminations of wanted pregnancies.

*As a teratogen information service, Texas TIPS shares the same goals as MotherToBaby, a service of the non-profitOrganization of Teratology Information Services (OTIS).