Elizabeth Varga, MS, CGC, CCRP

“I have known Elizabeth Varga for many years (since she was in graduate school), and most recently enjoyed working with her at Nationwide Children's Hospital through the Institute of Genomic Medicine. Liz is a tremendous colleague, with an incredible fund of knowledge and seemingly endless energy. She organized several interdisciplinary work groups within NCH to determine best practices for genomic test ordering and to build order sets with test prioritization. She is a wonderful speaker and educator, a great resource for patients, clinicians and colleagues, and is well-liked by colleagues and patients alike. I definitely miss her presence at NCH, and would welcome the opportunity to work with her again!”

“I have known Liz since since my graduate training in genetic counseling when she came to talk to my class about hemophilia and thrombophilia genetic counseling issues. I learned more in that 2 hour class than in most of my other classes during training, and I used her PowerPoint presentation for years later as a clinical genetic counselor working with hematologists, especially when I received thrombophilia referrals. It was clear that Liz was an expert and able to take her knowledge and translate it into clear, practical, and interesting information for others. After many years working primarily as a cancer genetic counselor, I started delving into pediatric hematology and immunohematology genetic counseling, and when I wanted to consult with a genetic counselor who could help me in this area that was new to me, Liz was the obvious person to go to. Reaching out to her turned out to be incredibly helpful. At the same time that I wanted to learn about immunohematology, she was wanting to learn more about cancer genetics, and so we exchanged regular de-identified case conferences and I learned even more about how incredible Liz is as a clinician, educator, mentor, motivator, and positive role model. Our 2-person collaboration led to the creation of a National Society of Genetic Counselors' subcommittee focused on pediatric oncology which now helps over 100 genetic counselors bounce ideas and questions off of each other. Liz's work ethic, patience, and attitude are impressive, and she has a special ability to connect with others. I could go on and on about how lucky I am to have gotten to learn from and collaborate with Liz. I know that whatever she chooses to do in the future will be a success, and whomever she chooses to work with will be happy to have Liz's contributions. ”