Assistant Professor of Genetics, Harvard Medical School
Director, Harvard Medical School Genetics Training Program Course
Attending Physician in Clinical Genetics, Boston Children’s Hospital
Director, Pharmacogenomics Service
Dr. Picker graduated in Medicine from
Aberdeen University in Scotland. He followed this with training in Pediatrics
and a PhD in Molecular Biology (Agriculture), both carried out in Newcastle
upon Tyne, England. Following this he undertook clinical genetics and child and
adolescent psychiatry training at Boston Children’s Hospital where he has
stayed on as faculty.
He is focused on bringing personalized medicine into the mainstream. His research is focused on application of genomics with special reference to behavioral disorders.
At BCH, he is focused on development of
personalized medicine through leading the education of trainees (as director of
the Advanced Human Genetics Course at Harvard Medical School) as well as
directly via the co-founding and co- directorship of the BCH Pharmacogenomic
clinic, the first dedicated precision medicine clinical initiative at BCH. In
addition to clinical care, this clinic plays a central role in training and
support within and beyond the hospital.
Assistant Professor of Genetics, Harvard Medical School
Director, Harvard Medical School Genetics Training Program Course
Attending Physician in Clinical Genetics, Boston Children’s Hospital
Director, Pharmacogenomics Service
Dr. Picker graduated in Medicine from
Aberdeen University in Scotland. He followed this with training in Pediatrics
and a PhD in Molecular Biology (Agriculture), both carried out in Newcastle
upon Tyne, England. Following this he undertook clinical genetics and child and
adolescent psychiatry training at Boston Children’s Hospital where he has
stayed on as faculty.
He is focused on bringing personalized medicine into the mainstream. His research is focused on application of genomics with special reference to behavioral disorders.
At BCH, he is focused on development of
personalized medicine through leading the education of trainees (as director of
the Advanced Human Genetics Course at Harvard Medical School) as well as
directly via the co-founding and co- directorship of the BCH Pharmacogenomic
clinic, the first dedicated precision medicine clinical initiative at BCH. In
addition to clinical care, this clinic plays a central role in training and
support within and beyond the hospital.
Journal article
Fragile X syndrome (FXS) is characterized by variable neurobehavioral abnormalities, which leads to difficulties in developing and evaluating treatments and in determining accurate prognosis. We employed a pediatric cross-sectional sample (1,072 males, 338 females) from FORWARD, a clinic-based natural history study, to identify behavioral subtypes by latent class analysis. Input included co-occurring behavioral conditions, sleep and sensory problems, autistic behavior scales (SCQ, SRS-2), and...
Journal article
Neurodevelopmental disorders are highly heterogenous conditions resulting from abnormalities of brain architecture and/or function. FBXW7 (F-box and WD-repeat-domain-containing 7), a recognized developmental regulator and tumor suppressor, has been shown to regulate cell-cycle progression and cell growth and survival by targeting substrates including CYCLIN E1/2 and NOTCH for degradation via the ubiquitin proteasome system. We used a genotype-first approach and global data-sharing platforms to...
