Our Mission
The Association of Chinese Geneticists in America (ACGA) is a non-profit organization formed by a group of American geneticists of Chinese ethnicity but its membership is open to individuals of any ethnicities. One of the missions of the Association is to facilitate the interaction between the US genetics community and their colleagues in mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore and other Chinese-speaking communities around the world. The goals of the Association include but are not limited to: to bring into close contact investigators in the field of genetics, to promote and encourage professional collaborations, and to provide a platform for social interactions to its members and Chinese geneticists worldwide whenever feasible.
Our History
During the ASHG meeting in Salt Lake City in 1985, Dr. Andrew T. Chen managed to gather fellow Chinese American geneticists who came to the meeting to sit together at two tables at the banquet dinner of the ASHG.
They enjoyed the friendship so much that they arranged to meet in Philadelphia again in 1986. During the ASHG meeting in Philadelphia in 1986, the idea of forming the Association of Chinese Geneticists in America (ACGA) was agreed upon and Andrew was elected the first President. He was charged with writing the bylaws and the ACGA was incorporated in Georgia, USA in 1987.
In addition to the annual meeting, ACGA had co-sponsored a number of international conferences with other organizations. These include the Society of Chinese Biologists in America (SCBA) International Symposium in Hong Kong in 1990, the International Congress of Genetics in Beijing in 1998, the SCBA International Meeting in Hong Kong in 1999, International Conference on Medical Genetics in 2004 (co-sponsored with Peking University School of Basic Medical Science, Chinese Society of Medical Genetics, and Fudan University School of Life Sciences), the International Symposium of Genomic Medicine in 2005 (co-sponsored with Fudan University), the International Congress of Global Chinese Geneticists in 2006 (co-organized with Peking University Center of Medical Genetics), the International Conference on Genetic and Genomic Medicine co-organized with the Hong Kong Society of Medical Genetics in 2008, Global Chinese Genetics Conference in Changsha 2014 and in Hangzhou 2016, the Asia Pacific Society Conference of Human Genetics Summer School and Post Summer School Bioinformatics Workshop in Hong Kong in 2016, the Genetic Counseling Intermediate Training Course in Pediatrics in Shanghai in 2017 (co-organized with Shanghai Children’s Medical Center), and the Sino-US Symposium on Women and Children’s Health in Nanning in 2017 (co-organized with Guangxi Women and Child Health Hospital).
There are currently 100 life-time members of ACGA. A WeChat group was established in 2014, which is open to all who are interested in genetics. In 2016, the first local chapter, ACGA-Boston Chapter, was established and led by Dr. Yiping Shen of Boston Children’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School. ACGA also established partnership with ClinGen in 2017 to bring clinical genetics standards to China and engage Chinese geneticists in the global curation and data sharing effort. Regular and special WebEx seminars and discussion on various genetic topics are held and open to all due-paying members. Many Chinese geneticists have joined ACGA and enjoyed the benefits. ACGA hopes to build the bridge between the US and China to improve genetics-related research, clinical services, education, and public awareness.