The 2025 Annual General Meeting will be held on Wednesday, June, 11, 2025 from 1:00-3:00 pm ET. The meeting will held virtually on zoom. Registration will open shortly and is open to all CCMG-CCGM members.
Close to the meeting date, you will receive an automated email from zoom which will have the link to join the meeting as well as the option to add it to your calendar. Please remember to check your spam filter if you don’t see it.
Documents will be distributed by May 21st and posted HERE. Login is required to access the page.
Call for Volunteers
There open positions on some of the CCMG-CCGM Committees and Working Groups.
If you would like to get more involved in the CCMG and gain experience working on a committee, please take a moment to fill out the short volunteer form below.
We have the following open committee positions:
Accreditation Committee (1 clinical geneticist)
Credentials Committee (1 clinical or lab biochemist and 1 cytogenetics or GGD-trained member)
Scientific Planning Committee (1 regular member)
Open working group position:
CCMG Clinical Genetics Fellowship CBD-based training guidelines development WG (1 clinical geneticist)
Did you know you can get CME Credits for Committee activities?
CCMG committee activities that can be logged for MOC: The MOC framework
Survey: Education and Practice Resource Asset Map for Canada
At the workshop “Filling the genomics gap: what every healthcare professional needs to know” last year, we heard that you have many tools and resources that you use within your practice and training at each of your sites. The CCMG Continuing Professional Development committee, in collaboration with the Canadian Rare Disease Network (CRDN), would like to catalogue the educational and practice resources and tools as well as the training opportunities that you provide to non-genetics healthcare providers (HCPs).
The survey should take no more than 15 minutes. Responses will be compiled to generate an Education and Practice Resource Asset Map for Canada. The results will be shared with the CCMG membership. We know that there may be multiple entries from each centre. These will be consolidated. We hope that by sending this out to the full membership, we will get a complete picture of resources across Canada. In the future, we would like to share with permission your tools and resources across Canada through the CCMG website.
One of the core missions of the CCMG is to develop Clinical and Laboratory Practice Guidelines and Position Statements to enhance the practice of medical genetics.
The CCMG Board of Directors has recognized a need for more structure and guidance with respect to the process for document development and review. Importantly, we recognize that there is a need to adopt a framework for systematic reviews of current evidence to support the development of practice guidelines. This is in line with the direction taken by similar medical and scientific societies nationally and internationally.
A Working Group* was tasked to create a new Document Guidance framework and to update related forms. In addition, an inventory of current documents was undertaken to identify all existing practice guidelines, practice resources, positions statements and other documents.
CCMG committees and working groups will use these resources and Chairs will be responsible for ensuring documents are periodically reviewed and updated.
Document Review and Approval Process (previously named “Document generation process”)
CCMG Proposal form (updated)
CCMG Project Member Details (updated)
CCMG Confidentiality Agreement & Conflict of Interest form
Working Group Terms of Reference (updated)
*The Board of Directors would like to thank the working group for their commitment to this project: Hilary Vallance (Chair), Tracy Tucker, Elaine Goh, Tanya Nelson and Darren O’Reilly
Indigenous Background Library
Version 1.2 of the Silent Genomes Project Indigenous Background Variant Library (IBVL) is now released. This on-line version is strictly for diagnostic purposes only. The IBVL has been developed under the guidance and now governance of the Silent Genomes IBVL Governance Committee (previously the Silent Genomes Indigenous Rare Disease Diagnosis Steering Committee). The SG-IBVL Governance Committee has determined that the IBVL should be broadly available to support the diagnosis of any individual who could benefit from Indigenous genetic variation frequency data. This commitment to supporting diagnosis is balanced with understanding of the sensitivity of the data and commitment to Indigenous Data Sovereignty. Therefore, the data is available under registered access, with a commitment of users to read, consider and reflect upon the nature of the data and their obligations to use the data for the intended purpose of diagnosis. If research is being proposed, or if publications emerge, there will be a separate process for approval.
Version 1.2 of the IBVL includes data from four participating communities spread geographically across Canada where 596 samples were provided. Variant frequency data has been processed to be available in GRCh37 and GRCh38. Of note, for GRCh38, first degree relatives have been removed to prevent inflation of variant frequencies. This is not yet been done for GRCh37.
Other limitations include that there are large geographic regions that are not yet represented, such as for Vancouver Island and for the East Coast. Furthermore, only samples from First Nations communities have been received. We are hoping that version 2.0 will include much broader coverage.
The only data provided online is frequency data for individual variants, and this is based on the entire sample. If, for clinical reasons, regional frequency is deemed important, please contact the SGP Genetic Counselor. In some cases, with appropriate approvals, we may be able to provide more specific information.
Our current SGP Genetic Counselor is Emma Ewasiuk, who can be reached at .
Committee News
The CCMG GGD second specialty guidelines were recently revised and approved by the board.
The revised guidelines can be found on theCCMG Specialty Guidelines page.Please note that after June 30, 2026, the Clinical Cytogenetics and the Molecular Genetics single Specialty exams will not be offered by the CCMG.
Events
SAVE THE DATE! Therapeutics in the era of post-genomic medicine. New roles for the clinical geneticist?
Friday, June 6, 2025, Time: 10:00 AM – 2:00 PM EST
CCMG Virtual Symposium: Therapeutics in the era of post-genomic medicine. New roles for the clinical geneticist?
Expert panels with representation from Canada, USA, and Europe, followed by Q&A.
Provide a landscape for the role Canadian clinical geneticists could play in implementing therapeutics, with national and international examples of work in progress.
Explore the role that general geneticists may wish to have in this field, working with colleagues from other branches of medicine, and/or providing counseling & education
Set the ground for a framework on therapies in genetics through collaborations at the national and international level.
Call for Abstracts is still open
The CAGC & CCMG Joint Conference Call for Abstracts is still open! The Scientific Planning Committees (SPC) are actively inviting proposals for poster and/or oral presentations for the 2025 Joint Annual Conference at the Banff Centre for the Arts and Creativity in Banff, AB.
Please note that this Call for Abstracts differs from the previous Call for Session Proposals. Abstracts may be presented as either a poster or a 15-minute oral presentation, though oral presentation slots are limited. All submitted abstracts must adhere to approved standards for scientific quality and consistency and must be properly formatted. Submissions will undergo peer review by the planning committees. Additionally, abstract data must not have been previously published in a copyrighted journal.
The DEADLINE to submit your abstract is May 15th 2025 at 11:59pm ET.
Note that you will be notified by June 6th regarding acceptance. All presenters will be required to confirm acceptance, learning objectives, and biography/photo by June 30th.
Registration for the CAGC & CCMG Joint Conference on October 5-8, 2025 is now open!
Join us at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity in Banff, Alberta.
The CAGC & CCMG Joint Conference will be a unique gathering of medical and laboratory geneticists and genetic counsellors with diverse expertise, all sharing a common interest in education and advocating for best practices in clinical and laboratory genetics. Through presentations, workshops, breakout sessions, abstract sessions, and engagement with industry partners, the event propels forward clinical practice, scientific advancements, and excellence across all aspects of genetics in Canada.
Objectives:
At the end of this year’s meeting, participants will be able to:
Describe recent developments in the fields of medical genetics, laboratory genetics, and genetic counselling, including diagnosis, management and emerging ethical, legal and social issues in the field.
Identify recent advancements in genomics, including developments in precision medicine.
At the Short Course: explore different aspects of fertility genetics, including management, review of technologies such as pre-implantation genetic testing, and the patient journey.
Nancy E Simpson, PhD, FCCMG
1924-2025The CCMG marks the recent passing of one of its founding members, Dr. Nancy E Simpson. Dr. Simpson was one in a small group of geneticists who filed the application for the incorporation of the College (1975). She was the College’s first Secretary Treasurer (1975-79), its President (1985-87) and served on several of its committees.
In 1994, her contributions to the College’s beginnings were recognized with a Founders’ Award. Her commitment to the CCMG, its functions and mission went hand-in-glove with her passion for genetics, the provision of genetic services in health care, and research and teaching of genetics.
Following her PhD with Dr. Norma Ford Walker at the University of Toronto (UofT), Dr. Simpson worked briefly in research at the Hospital for Sick Kids, was a Queen Elizabeth II Fellow at the MRC Population Genetics Unit in Oxford and held an appointment in the Department of Pharmacology at UofT. In 1965 she was recruited by Queen’s University as a Queen Elizabeth II Scientist and subsequently was appointed to the Departments of Paediatrics and Biology. On arrival, she established a genetic counselling clinic (a first at Queen’s). In recognition of her involvement in the early-days of the provision of genetic services, she was invited to participate in the writing of the Report on Genetic Services for the Ontario Council of Health (1976), a report which led to the establishment of the Ontario Advisory Committee on Genetic Services. Dr. Simpson served on this standing committee of the Ministry of Health for a considerable time.
In the field of research, Dr. Simpson’s early work on the genetics and epidemiology of juvenile diabetes mellitus earned her international recognition. She applied her investigations of variations in cholinesterases and other enzymes to the study of population genetics. In the 70’s she focused her biochemical genetics research on linkage-studies for the purposes of gene mapping, transitioning to molecular techniques in the 80’s. This led, among other findings, to the mapping of the locus for multiple endocrine neoplasia type 2. During that time Dr. Simpson was active on international committees focused on gene mapping (eg. HUGO chromosome 10 committee).
Last, but certainly not least, a mention of Dr. Simpson’s steady commitment to teaching genetics: In 1966 she, along with colleagues, represented Queen’s University in a pivotal meeting of Canadian Medical Schools to carve-out a portion of the undergraduate medical education curriculum for the teaching of genetics. Throughout her long career, Dr. Simpson taught genetics to undergraduate life science/biology students as well as to undergraduate medical students and supervised the research of many MSc and PhD students. She was a wonderful mentor and role model for her graduate students and junior colleagues, instilling her passion for genetics and scientific rigor as well as high ethical standards of conduct and collegiality in collaborative research.
Alessandra MV Duncan, PhD, FCCMG, Montreal, with assistance from HC Soltan, ed, Medical Genetics in Canada (1992), The University of Western Ontario Regional Medical Genetics Centre, London, Ontario
The Can-GARD/CCMG Leading Strand Series is a self-approved group learning activity (Section 1) as defined by the Maintenance of Certification Program of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada
