Anna Pan

Anna Pan is a board eligible genetic counsellor; she joined SickKids in 2020 as a laboratory genetic counsellor in the Department of Paediatric Laboratory Medicine after completing her M.Sc. in Genetic Counselling at the University of Toronto. She received her honours bachelor of science in Human Biology and Biochemistry at the University of Toronto in 2015. Prior to pursuing a career in genetic counselling, she also completed a master’s thesis focused on Li-Fraumeni syndrome and cancer genetics research at the University of Toronto.

Research

Pan has always had a keen interest in genetic research. During her undergraduate studies, she pursued an Honours research project working with the model organism zebrafish, to study genes that are important in heart development. She also completed a master of science research thesis studying the role of genetic modifiers in shaping the wide range of cancer types and ages of cancer onset in families with Li-Fraumeni syndrome. As part of her training in the University of Toronto Genetic Counselling program, Pan pursued a research project examining the value of whole exome sequencing as a potential first line test in prenatal diagnosis, for pregnancies with abnormal ultrasound findings. In the future, she will be contributing to a study which examines the addition of whole exome/genome sequencing to the testing repertoire of Ontario laboratories.

Education and experience

• 2011–2015: Honours Bachelor of Science with High Distinctions, Department of Human Biology, Faculty of Arts and Science, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON
• 2015–2018: Master of Science, Genetics and Genome Biology/Institute of Medical Sciences, The Hospital for Sick Children/University of Toronto, Toronto, ON
• 2018–2020: Master of Science in Genetic Counselling, Division of Clinical and Metabolic Genetics/Department of Molecular Genetics, The Hospital for Sick Children/University of Toronto, Toronto, ON

Achievements

• 2011–2015: Queen Elizabeth II Aiming for the Top Scholarship – University of Toronto, Toronto, ON
• 2014: Undergraduate International Research Abroad Fellowship Award – University of Toronto, Toronto, ON/National University of Singapore, Singapore
• 2015: New College Student Council In-course Scholarship – University of Toronto, Toronto, ON
• 2015: Graduate Research Program Fellowship Award – University of Toronto, ON

Samuel, N., Wilson, G., Id Said, B., Pan, A., Deblois, G., Fischer, N. W., Alexandrova, R., Casallo, G., Paton, T., Lupien, M., Gariepy, J., Merico, D., Hudson, T. J., & Malkin, D. (2016). Transcriptome-wide characterization of the endogenous miR-34A-p53 tumor suppressor network. Oncotarget, 7(31), 49611–49622.