Meeting Monday, October 18th, 2010

Dr. R. Brian Lowry MD, DSc, FRCPC

Congenital and Hereditary Hearing Loss

Congenital hearing loss means that the hearing loss has been present from birth and may be inherited or not inherited, e.g., rubella in mother's pregnancy.

People with hereditary hearing loss are divided into two major groups.

the group in which hearing loss is the only factor and is called non syndromic hearing loss (NSHL)
the group in which hearing loss is associated with other abnormalities in other systems, e.g., eyes, limbs, brain, etc and is called syndromic hearing loss

Patterns of inheritance will be described as well as information on how geneticists investigate hearing loss. The three major inheritance patterns are autosomal dominant, autosomal recessive and X-linked recessive genetic disorders.

Biography

Dr. Brian Lowry MD, DSc, FRCPC is a Professor Emeritus of Medical Genetics and Pediatrics at the University of Calgary, the Medical Director Alberta Congenital Anomalies Surveillance System, Alberta Health & Wellness and a member of the medical staff at the Alberta Children's Hospital.

Dr. Lowry received his medical education at Queen's University, Belfast, which was followed by a year in general practice in Alberta and then partial residencies in internal medicine, obstetrics and gynecology, and pathology before completing residence requirements in pediatrics at the Hospital for Sick Children Toronto and the Vancouver General Hospital. He obtained Royal College certification in pediatrics in 1963 and in Medical Genetics in 1993. He spent two years as a research fellow in the department of Pediatrics, University of British Columbia and joined that department's faculty in 1965 where he took training in medical genetics. In 1977 he moved to Alberta where he was Professor of Pediatrics and Community Health Sciences and later Medical Genetics at the University of Calgary. He played a major part in the formation of the Alberta Hereditary Diseases Program and the establishment of a clinical and research program of Medical Genetics at the Alberta Children's Hospital and the University of Calgary. He served on the Board of the Canadian College of Medical Geneticists including a two-year term as President.

He has been involved in congenital anomaly and handicapped systems surveillance since 1965 where he was a medical consultant to the BC Registry for Handicapped Children and Adults later called the Health Surveillance Registry and since 1982 has had a similar post for the Alberta Congenital Anomaly Surveillance System. He was responsible for the acceptance of Alberta into the International Clearinghouse for Birth Defects Monitoring Systems.

His recent awards include one of the 100 physicians of the Century by the Alberta Medical Association and the College of Physicians & Surgeons of Alberta, the Alberta Government Centennial Medal and the Calgary Health Region's People First Award.

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CHHA-Calgary promotes self-help, advocacy, information and visibility for Calgarians with hearing loss.

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Meeting Monday, October 18th, 2010