Heidi Cope

Heidi Cope is a Senior Research Genetic Counselor at RTI with expertise in genomic counseling and the use of genomic sequencing to diagnose rare diseases. She has experience utilizing genomic tools such as ClinVar, gnomAD, and UCSC Genome Browser for exome and genome sequencing variant annotation, prioritization, and interpretation. Ms. Cope is the Associate Director of Early Check, a voluntary newborn screening study in North Carolina that is preparing to offer genome sequencing to parents of newborns in order to screen for hundreds of genetic conditions.  

Much of Ms. Cope’s career has been spent in multidisciplinary research groups seeking to use advanced technologies to find diagnoses for patients. She has experience in the design and use of quantitative and qualitative outcome measures. Before joining RTI, she was a genetic counselor at the Duke clinical site of the Undiagnosed Diseases Network. Ms. Cope is a Certified Genetic Counselor recognized by the American Board of Genetic Counseling. She is a member of the National Society of Genetic Counselors, American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics, and the North Carolina Medical Genetics Association.