Anil Mendiratta, MD

Amanda Bergner is a Professor Genetic Counseling at Columbia University Irving Medical Center, the founding Director for the Columbia University Program in Genetic Counseling, and a genetic counselor in the Department of Neurology. She earned her genetic counseling degree from the University of California Berkeley and has several decades of experience in education, research, and clinical care. Ms. Bergner’s clinical work is focused in neurogenetics, she has developed and worked with several multidisciplinary clinics for a variety of neurological and rare disease indications including epilepsy, neurofibromatosis, neuromuscular disorders, ataxia, Huntington disease and ALS. She is now the genetic counselor for both the Columbia University HDSA Center of Excellence and the Columbia University NF Clinic. She has extensive experience in genetic/genomic research and has primarily focused on improving care for people and families with neurogenetic disorders, as well as working to increase access to genetic counseling and genetic testing.

Elana received her MS in Human Genetics from Sarah Lawrence College, a MPH from King’s College London and is an ABGC board-certified genetic counselor. She first joined New York-Presbyterian Hospital /Columbia University Irving Medical Center in 2001 as a pediatric and prenatal genetic counselor. She joined the Cancer Genetics Program in 2011 where she provides genetic counseling for individuals and family members with inherited susceptibility to cancer. She is especially interested in inherited gastrointestinal cancers. Elana also supervises and teaches students in Columbia University’s graduate program in genetic counseling.

Joanna L. Urli is an ABGC-certified genetic counselor practicing within the fields of Maternal Fetal Medicine and Gynecologic Oncology. She received her undergraduate degree in Biological Sciences from The University of Alabama and her Master of Science degree in Genetic Counseling from Boston University School of Medicine in 2019. Joanna has worked in both reproductive and oncology genetics throughout her career, and she enjoys being able to counsel patients in both of these fields. She has particular interest in increasing access to genetic testing and in exploring the overlap between reproductive and oncology genetics.