Pankhuri Gupta receives Richard King Trainee Award
Pankhuri Gupta, MS, CGC, is the recipient of the 2026 Richard King Trainee Award. This award was instituted by the ACMG Foundation for Genetic and Genomic Medicine to encourage American Board of Medical Genetics and Genomics (ABMGG), international equivalents, or genetic counseling trainees in their careers and to foster the publication of the highest quality research in Genetics in Medicine (GIM), an official journal of the American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics (ACMG).
Each year the Genetics in Medicine editorial board reviews all articles published by eligible trainees who served as a first or corresponding author during that year. A committee of editorial board members selects the manuscript demonstrating the highest scientific merit. Gupta received the award for her article, “Imprecision medicine: Systematic gaps in reporting variants of uncertain significance (VUS) and their reclassifications,” which was published online in GIM in September 2025. Conducted in Dr. Andrew Stergachis’s laboratory, the study examined gaps in variant reclassification workflows and demonstrated that at least 1.6% of variant classifications used in the electronic health record for clinical care were outdated based on current ClinVar classifications.
Gupta is a Research Genetic Counselor at the University of Washington (UW) with experience in variant interpretation, long-read sequencing, and translational genomic medicine. After earning her master’s degree in genetic counseling from UW in 2024, she was selected as one of ten genetic counselor fellows nationwide to receive the Career Ladder Education Program for Genetic Counseling through the Warren Alpert Foundation, supporting innovative research to advance genomic medicine. As a CLEP–WAF Fellow, she led a multi-site national study under Danny Miller, MD, PhD, evaluating the clinical utility of whole-genome long-read sequencing for pediatric genetic disorders.
In her current role at UW, Pankhuri leads efforts to reclassify variants of uncertain significance within the Brotman Baty Institute Clinical Variant Database, which includes clinical genetic data from over 8,000 patients. She also curates functional datasets, develops training modules on functional evidence, and has organized national and international workshops on applying functional data in variant interpretation. Gupta serves on the Advisory Board of the UW Genetic Counseling Graduate Program, where she mentors students, provides programmatic guidance, and contributes to strengthening the training pipeline for future genetic counselors.
“I am deeply honored to receive the Richard King Award. I am especially grateful to Dr. Andrew Stergachis, and to the entire research team whose guidance and collaboration made this work possible. Uncertainty in genomic medicine can be challenging for patients, and it is deeply motivating to see work centered on patient impact and transparency recognized in this way,” said Gupta.
“The Genetics in Medicine team is delighted to present this year’s Richard King Award to Pankhuri Gupta. The journal received many outstanding papers from trainees this year, and the submission by Pankhuri was selected on its merits,” said Robert D. Steiner, MD, FAAP, FACMG, editor-in-chief of GIM.
The award is given by the ACMG Foundation and is named in honor of Dr. Richard King, in recognition of his instrumental role in founding Genetics in Medicine and serving as the journal's first editor-in-chief.