About this series – Telehealth for Genetics Residents and Fellows. A monthly teaching session brought to you by the members of the RCPSC Specialty Committee in Medical Genetics.
To register, click the button below or go to https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_2LAO5jlHSQ-WA_xonc9ouA.
2025-2026 TeleGraf from 11:00am – 12:00pm ET on:
Friday, January 16, 2026
Review and Update of the Ehlers-danlos Syndromes (EDS) and the Hypermobility Spectrum Disorders (HSD)
We will review the last classification of Ehlers-Danlos syndromes (EDS) by the International Consortium on EDS (2017), describing 13 types (a fourteenth added since) and their genetic etiology. The diagnostic criteria of the most frequent type, hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (hEDS), and of the hypermobility spectrum disorders (HSD) will be presented. hEDS is an exception in that it clusters in families in a dominant fashion, but no known single gene is associated. We will review the recent genomic studies of this complex multisystemic and multifactorial disorder and possible overlapping mechanisms with HSD. Finally, we will review the numerous co-existing conditions with EDS, particularly with hEDS, demonstrating the multisystemic and variable expression of this disorder.
Learning Objectives:
- Identify the 14 types of Ehlers-Danlos syndromes (EDS) and their genetic etiology.
- Diagnose the frequent type, Ehlers-Danlos hypermobile type (hEDS), and the hypermobility spectrum disorders (HSD).
- Recognize the various conditions co-existing with EDS demonstrating its multisystemic nature and variable expression.
Speaker: Dr. Gail Ouellette
Gail Ouellette has a PhD. in molecular genetics (Université de Montréal) and MSc. in genetic counselling (McGill University). She was the founding-president of the Regroupement québécois des maladies orphelines, RQMO. She established the RQMO’s iRARE Centre and its EDS Support Centre. She has recently founded the Canadian iRARE Centres. Gail Ouellette is a member of the Board of Directors of the Groupe d’étude et de recherche sur le syndrome d’Ehlers-Danlos (GERSED, France) and is a medical advisor for the EDS Canada Foundation. She has obtained training on EDS through the EDS Canada Foundation’s annual education conferences and through the EDS Society’s international symposiums and ECHO programs for health professionals, including the continuing ECHO Genetics & Genomics program. She has taught courses on the molecular and genetic aspects of EDS as part of the University Certificate on Ehlers-Danlos syndrome offered by the Faculty of Medicine of Université Paris-Est (Créteil).
