Turner syndrome is a condition in which females are missing all or part of one X chromosome. While the condition affects each woman differently, it does raise the risk of heart problems, hearing loss, vision problems, and various other medical complications, as well as infertility.
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Anna C. E. Hurst, MD, is a medical geneticist with board certification in clinical genetics and pediatrics. She is an associate professor in the department of genetics at University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) and an adjunct faculty member at the HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology. Prior to medical school, she received a master’s degree in genetic counseling, which inspired her interest in the communication of genetic information to patients and families with rare diseases.
Dr. Hurst is a physician for the UAB Undiagnosed Disease program, Turner syndrome clinic, and general genetics clinic, and she provides hospital consultations for inpatients at UAB and Children’s of Alabama for general genetics and inborn errors of metabolism. She also is the medical geneticist for the Smith Family Clinic for Genomic Medicine in Huntsville, Alabama.
Hurst's research focuses on expanding the availability of genomic sequencing for children with complex healthcare needs. She also has an interest in how the patient’s physical exam and facial features can be clues to a rare disease diagnosis (dysmorphology) and serves on the scientific advisory board of Facial Dysmorphology Novel Analysis. She has published over 45 peer-reviewed articles in the field of medical genetics, largely focused on the clinical delineation of rare disease phenotypes. She also serves as an associate editor for the American Journal of Medical Genetics.
Hurst is also passionate about education and serves as the program director of the UAB genetics residency programs (categorical, pediatrics-genetics, and internal medicine-genetics) and medical director of the UAB Genetic Counseling Training program. She is an officer with the Association of Professors in Human Medical Genetics.
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