Ambroise Wonkam, MD, PhD, DMSc

Dr. Ambroise Wonkam is a Professor of Genetic Medicine and Director of the McKusick-Nathans Institute and Department of Genetic Medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

After receiving his medical degree from the Faculty of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at the University of Yaoundé I in Cameroon, he completed a thesis in medical sciences at the University of Geneva in Switzerland and a Ph.D. in human genetics at the University of Cape Town, South Africa.  Dr. Wonkam received his training as a medical geneticist from the genetics department at the University of Geneva in Switzerland. He practices medical genetics in both European and African contexts.

His research interests are reflected in more than 250 peer-reviewed publications, which are in molecular, clinical, educational and ethical aspects of medical and human genetics. His research focuses on genetic modifiers of sickle cell disease, the genetics of hearing loss and ethical and educational issues in human genetics.

Over the past five years, Dr. Wonkam has let successfully led an NIH/NHGRI funded sickle cell disease project and is a co-applicant for a Wellcome Trust - DELTAS grant to develop capacity in human genetics on the African continent. He has recently received a $3.7 million award from NIH/NHLBI to pursue research activities of the Sickle Africa Data Coordinating Centre (SADaCC) for various studies in Tanzania, Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Uganda, Mali and Ghana. In addition, under the current round of funding for the H3Africa Consortium, he was awarded three grants for the following projects: Hearing Impairment Genetic Studies in Africa (HI Genes Africa) from the NIH/NHGRI ($1.25 million), an AESA/Wellcome Trust project ($2.07 million) and a collaborative center grant from the NIH/NHGRI ($2.5 million) to support the study of Incidental Findings in Genetic Research in Africa (IFGENERA). He also received $2 million in NIH/NIMH support to fund the Public Understanding of Big Data in Genomics Medicine project in Africa (PUBGEM-Africa) for the next five years.

Dr. Wonkam was awarded the 2003 Denber-Pinard Prize for the best thesis from the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Geneva in Switzerland. He received the Clinical Genetics Society International Award in 2014 from the British Society of Genetic Medicine. In 2021, he received the Alan Pifer Award, which honors a University of Cape Town researcher whose outreach work has contributed to the advancement and welfare of South Africa’s disadvantaged people. He received the Human Genome Organisation African Prize in 2023 and was selected in 2022 as a faculty scholar by the Human Genome Organisation (HUGO). In 2022, he received the Gold Medal for Excellence in Research, awarded by the South African Medical Research Council. In 2021, he was elected as a member of the South African Academy of Sciences.

Dr. Wonkam is an associate editor of the American Journal of Human Genetics, the American Journal of Medical Genetics and the Journal of Community Genetics. He is an academic editor of PLoS One and a member of the editorial board of Human Genetics.

Dr. Wonkam is president of the African Society of Human Genetics, chair of the steering committee of H3Africa Consortium, a board member of the International Federation of Human Genetics Societies and a steering committee member of the Global Genetic Medicine Collaborative (G2MC).