Meet the Team

Nicholas Ah Mew, MD

Locations

• Rare Disease Institute at the Research & Innovation Campus
• Main Hospital

Departments

• Rare Disease Institute

Seth Ian Berger, MD, PhD

Locations

• Rare Disease Institute at the Research & Innovation Campus
• Main Hospital

Departments

• Rare Disease Institute

Andrea Janet Cohen, MD

Locations

• Main Hospital
• Rare Disease Institute at the Research & Innovation Campus
• Prince George's County

Departments

• Rare Disease Institute

Jamie Lee Fraser, MD, PhD

Locations

• Rare Disease Institute at the Research & Innovation Campus
• Main Hospital

Departments

• Rare Disease Institute
• Leukodystrophy and Myelin Disorders Program
• Prenatal Pediatrics Institute

Christina L. Grant, MD, PhD

Locations

• Main Hospital
• Rare Disease Institute at the Research & Innovation Campus
• Montgomery County
• Northern Virginia

Departments

• Lysosomal Storage Disorders Program
• Rare Disease Institute

Cristal Imar Hernandez-Hernandez, MD

Locations

• Montgomery County
• Northern Virginia
• Rare Disease Institute at the Research & Innovation Campus

Departments

• Rare Disease Institute

Eyby Luz Leon Janampa, MD

Locations

• Rare Disease Institute at the Research & Innovation Campus
• Main Hospital

Departments

• Cardiogenetics Program
• Positive Reevaluation of Urogenital Differences (PROUD) Clinic
• Rare Disease Institute

Amy Feldman Lewanda, MD

Locations

• Rare Disease Institute at the Research & Innovation Campus
• Main Hospital
• Montgomery County

Departments

• Rare Disease Institute

Tucker L.C. Pyle, MD, PhD

Locations

• Rare Disease Institute at the Research & Innovation Campus
• Main Hospital

Departments

• Rare Disease Institute
• Positive Reevaluation of Urogenital Differences (PROUD) Clinic
• Prenatal Pediatrics Institute

Kenneth N. Rosenbaum, MD

Locations

• Rare Disease Institute at the Research & Innovation Campus
• Main Hospital
• Montgomery County

Departments

• Neuroscience and Behavioral Medicine Center
• Down Syndrome Clinic
• Neurofibromatosis Institute
• Prenatal Pediatrics Institute
• Rare Disease Institute
• Skeletal Dysplasia Clinic

Natasha Elizabeth Shur, MD

Locations

• Rare Disease Institute at the Research & Innovation Campus
• Montgomery County
• Main Hospital
• Northern Virginia

Departments

• Rare Disease Institute
• Growth Disorders Program
• Growth Program for Inflammatory Bowel Diseases

Anna Ferrigan

Locations

• Rare Disease Institute at the Research & Innovation Campus

Languages

• English

Departments

• Rare Disease Institute

Andrew Freiman, MS, CGC

Locations

• Rare Disease Institute at the Research & Innovation Campus

Languages

• English

Departments

• Rare Disease Institute
• Turner Syndrome Clinic

Kaitlyn Gmitro, MS, CGC

Locations

• Main Hospital

Languages

• English

Departments

• Rare Disease Institute

Biography

• Kaitlyn Gmitro, MS, CGC, has been a genetic counselor at Children's National since June 2025. She obtained her Bachelor of Science in genetics at Clemson University in 2023 and her Master of Science in genetic counseling at the University of South Carolina in 2025. She is board certified and is licensed in Virginia and Maryland. She specializes in general pediatrics, lysosomal storage disorders and newborn screening.

Heather Hain

Locations

• Rare Disease Institute at the Research & Innovation Campus

Languages

• English

Departments

• Rare Disease Institute
• Vascular Anomalies Clinic

Quinlyn Highsmith

Locations

• Rare Disease Institute at the Research & Innovation Campus

Languages

• English

Departments

• Rare Disease Institute

Sydney Huth, MS

Locations

• Main Hospital

Languages

• English

Departments

• Rare Disease Institute

Biography

• Sydney Huth, MS, completed her Master of Science in genetic counseling at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia. Prior to her graduate training, she earned a Bachelor of Science in biological sciences and psychology from Virginia Tech in 2024. During her training, Huth developed a strong interest in pediatric genetics and in working closely with patients and families. She is glad to be bringing her training into practice to support patients and families through thoughtful, compassionate care.

  Huth is originally from the Northern Virginia/D.C. area and is excited to be back in the region. Outside of work, she enjoys baking and is looking forward to getting a dog. 

Emily Kurjan, MS, CGC

Languages

• English

Departments

• Rare Disease Institute

Biography

• From the metro-Detroit area, Emily Kurjan, MS, CGC, completed her undergraduate studies at Michigan State University and worked in a research lab focusing on the effects of cannabinoid receptors. She completed her master’s degree in genetic counseling at Virginia Commonwealth University and started practicing in a hereditary cancer/general adult genetics clinic outside of Atlanta. She is now a genetic counselor in the Genetics and Metabolism division at Children’s National Hospital.

Darilyn Mahoney

Locations

• Rare Disease Institute at the Research & Innovation Campus

Languages

• English

Departments

• Rare Disease Institute

Stephanie Middleton

Locations

• Main Hospital
• Rare Disease Institute at the Research & Innovation Campus

Languages

• English

Departments

• Cancer Genetics Program
• Rare Disease Institute

• Stephanie Middleton, MS, CGC, is a genetic counselor certified by the American Board of Genetic Counseling. She received her master’s degree in genetic counseling from Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. Prior to this, she worked as a genetic counseling assistant in a pediatric cancer genetics clinic at Texas Children’s Hospital and in clinical research at Stanford University. She joined the Cancer Genetics Program at Children’s National Hospital in September 2023 and sees patients and families with or at risk of having a cancer predisposition syndrome.

Gabrielle Pomorski, MS, CGC

Locations

• Rare Disease Institute at the Research & Innovation Campus

Languages

• English

Departments

• Rare Disease Institute
• Cardiogenetics Program

Bio

• Gabrielle Pomorsky, BS, MS, is a genetic counselor at the Rare Disease Institute. She acquired her BS in behavioral neuroscience from Grand Valley State University in 2017 and an MS in genetic counseling from Wayne State University in 2020. Contact her.

Kara Simpson

Locations

• Main Hospital
• Rare Disease Institute at the Research & Innovation Campus

Languages

• English

Departments

• Rare Disease Institute

Biography

• Board Certifications: American Board of Genetic Counseling, Brandeis University, BS, 2005, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, MS, 2007

Joyce Turner

Locations

• Main Hospital
• Rare Disease Institute at the Research & Innovation Campus

Languages

• English

Departments

• Cancer Genetics Program

Biography

• Joyce Turner, MS, CGC, is a genetic counselor with over 25 years of experience. She is certified by the American Board of Genetic Counseling. She also received advanced training in cancer risk assessment from the City of Hope.

  Joyce worked at the National Human Genome Research Institute at the National Institutes of Health as a co-investigator and genetic counselor before taking a position at the Children’s National where she is now director of the Cancer Genetic Counseling Program, a program which she helped establish. Joyce’s current interests include research on somatic tumor analysis, Wilms tumors and cancer screening and prevention. She is an assistant clinical professor of pediatrics at the George Washington University Medical Center and serves as a supervisor for genetic counseling graduate students.

Julia Weston

Locations

• Rare Disease Institute at the Research & Innovation Campus

Languages

• English

Departments

• Rare Disease Institute

Bio

• Julia Weston is a genetic counselor in the Rare Disease Institute. She graduated from Virginia Tech in 2018 with a degree in biological sciences and graduated from Rutgers with a Master’s of Science in genetic counseling in May of 2020. She is originally from Roanoke, VA. Contact her.

Erin MacLeod

Locations

• Main Hospital
• Rare Disease Institute at the Research & Innovation Campus

Languages

• English

Departments

• Rare Disease Institute

Biography

• Erin MacLeod, PhD, RD, LD, completed her doctoral training at the University of Wisconsin in 2010 where her dissertation focused on the nutritional management of phenylketonuria. She joined Children’s National Hospital that same year and is the director of metabolic nutrition. Her research interests include nutrition education of metabolic disorders, PKU and urea cycle disorders.

Nina Mickle

Locations

• Rare Disease Institute at the Research & Innovation Campus

Languages

• English

Departments

• Rare Disease Institute

Biography

• Nina Mickle earned her Master of Nutrition from Hunter College in 2018. While completing her coursework, Nina developed a passion for metabolism after volunteering at the Mount Sinai metabolism clinic and seeing the impact metabolic dietitians had on their patients. Following graduation, Nina completed her dietetics training at the NIH Clinical Center in 2019, which included a rotation at Children’s National’s Hospital Genetics and Metabolism Clinic. Nina worked as an inpatient clinical dietitian at Children’s National from 2019-2021, with specific focus on patients with complex care needs. Now, her role as a Metabolic Dietitian at CNRIC feels like coming home.

Danielle Starin

Locations

• Main Hospital
• Rare Disease Institute at the Research & Innovation Campus

Languages

• English

Departments

• Rare Disease Institute

Biography

• Danielle Starin, RD, completed her nutrition education at the University of Maryland and her dietetic internship at the National Institutes of Health. She joined the Children’s National Rare Disease Institute in 2016. Her clinical interests focus on metabolic disorders. Her research interests focus on dietary treatment of metabolic disorders and associated outcomes.

Kiadra Blanton

Locations

• Rare Disease Institute at the Research & Innovation Campus

Languages

• English

Departments

• Rare Disease Institute

Grecia Llanos

Locations

• Rare Disease Institute at the Research & Innovation Campus

Languages

• English

Departments

• Rare Disease Institute

Kelly McNulty

Locations

• Rare Disease Institute at the Research & Innovation Campus

Languages

• English

Departments

• Rare Disease Institute

Domonique Miles, MSHS, PMP

Locations

• Rare Disease Institute at the Research & Innovation Campus

Languages

• English

Departments

• Rare Disease Institute

Natalie Morton

Locations

• Main Hospital
• Rare Disease Institute at the Research & Innovation Campus

Languages

• English

Departments

• Cancer Genetics Program
• Rare Disease Institute

• Natalie Morton, BSN, RN, BMT-CN, CPHON, is the Cancer Genetics coordinator. She received her BSN from Radford University’s Nursing School. She started her career as a bedside nurse on the Hematology/Oncology/BMT unit at Children’s National Hospital in 2018. She joined the Cancer Genetics Program in October 2022.

Danielle Schwalk

Locations

• Rare Disease Institute at the Research & Innovation Campus

Languages

• English

Departments

• Rare Disease Institute

Tiffany Swaringer

Locations

• Rare Disease Institute at the Research & Innovation Campus

Languages

• English

Departments

• Rare Disease Institute

Spencer Vause

Locations

• Rare Disease Institute at the Research & Innovation Campus

Languages

• English

Departments

• Rare Disease Institute

Anielka Zuniga Cruz

Locations

• Rare Disease Institute at the Research & Innovation Campus

Languages

• English

Departments

• Rare Disease Institute