SSSA Annual Conference
July 11-13, 2025, Soneta Hotel, Philadelphia, PA

Speakers

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Jennifer Kalish, MD, PhD

Keynote Speaker

Dr. Kalish is a pediatric geneticist at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP). She received her PhD in Genetics and her MD from Yale University, and an MS in Translational Research from the University of Pennsylvania.

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Loryn Brantz

General Session

Loryn is a New York City-based author, illustrator, comic creator, and Emmy-winning producer who shares her life experience in raising her Sotos daughter, Dahlia.

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Brad Schaefer, MD

Dr. Shaefer is a professor of Pediatric, Genetics, and Internal Medicine, the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences.

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Jill Fahrner, MD, PhD

Dr. Fahrner is an assistant professor in the Departments of Genetic Medicine and Pediatrics at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Her area of clinical expertise is medical genetics.

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Alison Foster, MRCPCH, PhD

Dr. Foster is a Consultant in Clinical Genetics at Royal Devon University Hospitals and Honorary Consultant at Birmingham Women’s and Children’s Hospitals.

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Jacqueline Harris, MD

Dr. Harris is the director of the Epigenetics Clinic at Kennedy Krieger Institute and an associate professor in pediatrics, neurology and genetics at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

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Lauren West, MS, CCC-SLP

Lauren is a speech-language pathologist for the Omaha Public School system. She has a specific interest in and knowledge of the speech, language, and communication characteristics of individuals with Sotos.

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Megan Litkenhaus, DO

Dr. Litkenhaus is an Attending Physician of Obstetrics and Gynecology with Christiana Care, and a faculty member for the Delaware Christiana Care OB/GYN Residency Program.

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Marisa Gilstrop, MD

Dr. Gilstrop is the head of Prenatal Genetics at the Delaware Center for Maternal and Fetal Medicine. An authority on prenatal screening, genetic testing with IVF, diagnostic genetic testing in pregnancy, and pregnancy risk factors.

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Makaela Somma, MS, CCC-SLP

Makaela is a speech-language pathologist with experience working with Sotos children at the Department of Speech-Language Pathology and the Center at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.

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Melanie Hartzell

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Melissa Godesky