Laboratory Director
Sanford Medical Genetics Laboratory
Debbie Figueroa, PhD, DAMBGG(LGG), FACMG is the Cytogenetics Section Director at the Sanford Medical Genetics Laboratory. Dr. Figueroa received her PhD at Florida State University and completed the Laboratory Genetics and Genomics (LGG) fellowship at the National Institutes of Health-National Human Genome Research Institute (NIH-NHGRI). Dr. Figueroa completed two postdoctoral fellowships. The first was at Florida State University where she identified epigenetic changes in the X-linked macrosatellite repeat DXZ4 that coincided with human embryonic stem cell differentiation. Her second postdoc was at the NIH’s Heart Lung and Blood Institute (NIH-NHLBI) characterizing the role and mechanism by which apolipoproteins modulate fibrogenesis in the context of Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis. Currently, Dr. Figueroa reviews and verifies both cytogenetic and molecular test results. She also plays a central role in clinical validations most recently for cytogenetics (e.g., FISH, chromosome analysis), chromosomal microarray for constitutional disorders, and of a targeted NGS panel for pharmacogenetics. Additionally, Dr. Figueroa has a passion for education, as is evident by her development and overseeing of the remote pharmacogenetics and cytogenetics rotation for the NIH-NHGRI LGG Fellowship for which she was awarded the 2023 Junior Faculty Award for Outstanding Teaching.