Scott M Weissman, MS/CGC

Clinical Instructor of Medicine
Feinberg School of Medicine

Research Interests:
Scott Weissman graduated from the University of Illinois- Urbana/Champaign in 1998 with a B.S. in Biology. After graduation, he spent two years at the Molecular Oncology Diagnostic Laboratory at the University of Illinois at Chicago developing expertise in molecular genetic techniques used in various hematologic and oncologic disorders. He completed the Graduate Program in Genetic Counseling at Northwestern University, receiving a Master of Science degree and became a Certified Genetic Counselor in 2002.

Scott joined the Center for Medical Genetics and has been counseling patients in a variety of adult onset genetic disorders; he acts as a liaison to the Molecular Diagnostic Laboratory at Evanston Hospital. He is an active faculty member at the Graduate Program in Genetic Counseling at Northwestern University as well as an Instructor of Clinical Medicine in the Feinberg School of Medicine of Northwestern University. Scott served as Co-Chair of the National Society of Genetic Counselors (NSGC) Familial Cancer Risk Counseling Special Interest Group from 2004-2006 and is currently the NSGC liaison to the Commission on Cancer. He recently developed a family history assessment tool to identify individuals who may be at high risk of developing colon and other cancers; this tool is now given to all patients undergoing a colonoscopy at Evanston and Glenbrook Hospitals.

Selected Publications:
Lynch, H. T., Kaurah, P., Wirtzfeld, D., Rubinstein, W. S., Weissman, S., Lynch, J. F., Grady, W., Wiyrick, S., Senz, J. and Huntsman, D. G. (2008). Hereditary diffuse gastric cancer: diagnosis, genetic counseling, and prophylactic total gastrectomy. Cancer 112, 2655-63.

Rubinstein, W. S. and Weissman, S. M. (2008). Managing hereditary gastrointestinal cancer syndromes: the partnership between genetic counselors and gastroenterologists. Nat Clin Pract Gastroenterol Hepatol 5, 569-82.

Kaurah, P., MacMillan, A., Boyd, N., Senz, J., De Luca, A., Chun, N., Suriano, G., Zaor, S., Van Manen, L., Gilpin, C. et al. (2007). Founder and recurrent CDH1 mutations in families with hereditary diffuse gastric cancer. JAMA 297, 2360-72.

Lynch, H. T., Riley, B. D., Weissman, S. M., Coronel, S. M., Kinarsky, Y., Lynch, J. F., Shaw, T. G. and Rubinstein, W. S. (2004). Hereditary nonpolyposis colorectal carcinoma (HNPCC) and HNPCC-like families: Problems in diagnosis, surveillance, and management. Cancer 100, 53-64.

Devine, S. M., Bartholomew, A. M., Mahmud, N., Nelson, M., Patil, S., Hardy, W., Sturgeon, C., Hewett, T., Chung, T., Stock, W. et al. (2001). Mesenchymal stem cells are capable of homing to the bone marrow of non-human primates following systemic infusion. Exp Hematol 29, 244-55.