Samantha Baxter, MS, CGC, is Adjunct Associate Professor in the School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences and teaches in the Master of Science in Genetic Counseling program at MGH Institute of Health Professions. Ms. Baxter is a Senior Clinical Genomics Specialist at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard's Center for Mendelian Genomics where she focuses on novel gene discovery and variant/gene interpretation. She has worked in clinical and research laboratories for the last 12 years.

During her time in the laboratory, her primary specialties have been cardiovascular genetics, post mortem genetic testing, IT-facilitated data sharing and genomic sequencing. Ms. Baxter has been the chair of multiple Specials Interest Groups (SIGs), subcommittee, and committees for the National Society of Genetic Counselors (NSGC) and served on the Board of Directors as a member-at-large. She also won their New Leader Award in 2012.

  • BS, Behavioral Neuroscience, Lehigh University, Bethlehem, PA
  • MS, Genetic Counseling, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA

Posey JE, O’Donnell-Luria AH, Chong JX, Harel T, Jhangiani SN, Akdemir ZHC, Buyske S, Pehlivan D, Carvalho CMB, Baxter S, et al, Lupski JR. “Insights into genetics, human biology and disease gleaned from family based genomic studies” Genetics in Medicine.  Accepted for Publication.

Chanock S, Cline M, Liao RG, Parsons MT, Paten B, Alquaddoomi F, Antoniou A, Baxter S, Brody L,Cook-Deegan R , et al., Spurdle AB. “Challenge: BRCA Exchange as a global resource for variants in BRCA1 and BRCA2” PLOS Genetics. Accepted for Publication

Arachchi H, Wojcik MH, Weisburd B, Jacobsen JOB, Valkanas E, Baxter S, Byrne AB, O'Donnell-Luria AH, Haendel M, Smedley D, MacArthur DG, Philippakis AA, Rehm HL “matchbox: An open-source tool for patient matching via the Matchmaker Exchange.” Human Mutation. 2018 Dec;39(12):1827-1834. doi: 10.1002/humu.23655.

Neri P, Klinkenberg-Ramirez S, Volk L, Samaha S, Newmark L, Pollard S, Varugheese M, Baxter S, Samuel A, Rehm H, Bates D. “Evaluation: A Qualitative Pilot Study of Novel Information Technology Infrastructure to Communicate Genetic Variant Updates” Appl Clin Inform. 2016 Jun 1;7(2):461-76

Alfares AA, Kelly MA, McDermott G, Funke BH, Lebo M, Baxter S, Shen J, McLaughli , Clark EH, Babb L, Cox S, DePalma S, Ho C, Seidman JG, Seidman, CE, Rehm HL, “Results of Clinical Testing of 2912 Probands with Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy” Genetics in  Medicine. 2015 2015 Jan 22

Middleton O, Baxter S, Demo E, Honeywell C, Jentzen J, Miller F, Pinckard K, Reichard R, Rutberg J, Stacy C and MacLeod, H. “National Associate for Medical Examiners Position Paper on Retaining Postmortem Samples for Genetic Testing”. Acad Forensic Pathol 2013 3(2): 191-194

Lakdawala NK*, Funke BH*, Baxter S, Cirino AL, Roberts AE, Judge DP, Johnson N, Mendelsohn NJ, Morel C, Care M, Chung WK, Jones C, Psychogios A, Duffy E, Rehm HL, White E, Seidman JG, Seidman CE, Ho CY. “Genetic testing for dilated cardiomyopathy in clinical practice.” Journal of Cardiac Failure. 2012 Apr;18(4):296-303.

Neri PM, Pollard SE, Volk LA, Newmark LP, Varugheese M, Baxter S, Aronson SJ, Rehm HL, Bates DW. “Usability of a novel clinician interface for genetic results.” J Biomed Inform 2012 (in press).

Aronson S, Clark E, Babb L, Baxter S, Farwell L, Funke B, Hernandez AL, Joshi V, Lyon E, Parthum A, Russell F, Varugheese M, Venman TC, Rehm HL "The GeneInsight Suite: A Platform to Support Laboratory and Provider Use of DNA based Genetic Testing" Human Mutation 2011 Hum Mutat. 2011 May; 32(5): 532–536.

Jordan D*, Baxter S*, Kiezun A*, Lebo M, Sunyaev S, Funke B. “Development and validation of a computational method for assessment of missense variants in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.” American Journal Human Genetics 2011 Feb 11;88(2):183-92

Caleshu C, Day S, Rehm H, Baxter S. “Use and interpretation of genetic tests in cardiovascular genetics” Education in Heart. 2010 October; 96(20):1669-75

*Contributed equally