Week 6 2023

Sonia S. Kupfer is an Assistant Professor of Medicine in the Section of Gastroenterology at the University of Chicago Medical Center, Chicago, IL. She is the Director of the Gastrointestinal Cancer Risk and Prevention Clinic and co-Director of the Comprehensive Cancer Risk and Prevention clinic at the University of Chicago. She is funded by a K08 career development award from the NIH/NCI to study colorectal cancer genetic susceptibility variants in African Americans. Dr. Kupfer is also currently investigating genetics related to chemopreventive agents for colorectal cancer, notably vitamin D. In addition to her translational research, Dr. Kupfer is actively engaged in clinical studies in high-risk colorectal cancer primarily Lynch syndrome. Her clinical work focuses on hereditary GI cancer evaluation, testing and management. She also has served as co-Director of two CME conferences on genomics. Dr. Kupfer received her undergraduate degree from Yale University and then completed medical school, residency, chief residency and gastroenterology fellowship training at the University of Chicago. She is originally from a northern suburb of Chicago and currently resides in the Hyde Park area with her husband, an art dealer, and her two children.

Heather Hampel, MS, CGC is a Professor in the Department of Medical Oncology and Therapeutics Research and Associate Director of the Division of Cancer Genomics at City of Hope National Cancer Center. At City of Hope, she helps lead a team of 17 genetic counselors and 3 genetic counseling assistants and is actively involved in the Center for Precision Medicine INSPIRE study which provides universal germline genetic testing to all City of Hope patients. She has >200 publications on a variety of cancer genetics topics with an emphasis on Lynch syndrome. She was on the Board of Directors for the American Board of Genetic Counseling from 2006-2011 (President, 2009-10). She has been on the Steering Committee of the National Colorectal Cancer Roundtable since 2016. She was on the Council of the Collaborative Group of the Americas on Inherited Colorectal Cancer from 2016-2019 (President, 2017-2018). She was the Secretary/Treasurer of the National Society of Genetic Counselors in 2021-2022. In 2023, she received the Natalie Weissberger Paul National Achievement Award from the National Society of Genetic Counselors. In 2025, she received the Achievement Award from the Collaborative Group of the Americas for Inherited Gastrointestinal Cancers.

RACHELLE MANOOKIAN, MS, CGC is a licensed and board-certified cancer genetic counselor specializing in pediatric oncology at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA). She was previously with the Division of Clinical Cancer Genomics at City of Hope, and before that, a general genetic counselor at the West VA Medical Center. She brings her growing expertise in medical education to her role as an adjunct faculty member for the Keck Graduate Institute Genetic Counseling and Genomic Data Analytics master’s programs. She serves as a faculty mentor, graduate capstone supervisor, and rotation supervisor for current genetic counseling students. She is actively engaged in the Fanconi anemia community and has been a volunteer at Fanconi Anemia Family Week since 2016, and she is a two-time nominee of the Heart of Genetic Counseling Award from the National Society of Genetic Counselors.