Abdulrazak Alali, MD, joined the WVU Medicine Children’s team in November 2023 as chief of the Medical Genetics and Personalized Medicine Program. He is also an assistant professor of clinical and biochemical genetics.
Dr. Alali brings extensive experience and is excited to expand the genetics program to treat patients across West Virginia and the surrounding regions who may not have had access to this type of care before.
“My job at WVU Medicine Children’s provides me with a unique opportunity to serve patients who need me most, patients with metabolic disorders in an underserved area like the place where I grew up,” Alali said. “I also can enrich the program and bring new blood and life to serve the citizens of the state. I love the warm and supporting environment within my team and across the board at WVU Medicine.”
Alali earned his medical degree at the University of Aleppo Faculty of Medicine in Aleppo, Syria. He then completed residency training at Aleppo University Hospital and Woodhull Medical Center in New York. Alali also completed fellowships in pediatric genetics at Montefiore Medical Center in New York and in medical biochemical genetics at Emory University.
Alali is certified by the Arab Board of Pediatrics, the American Board of Pediatrics, the American Board of Genetics and Genomics, and the American Board of Biochemical Genetics.
Previously, he served as a medical and biochemical geneticist at Akron Children’s Hospital in Ohio.
“I am passionate about resolving diagnostic odysseys, helping families that went through years and even decades of uncertainty reaching final diagnosis and peace of mind,” Alali said. “Advocating for patients with very rare disorders who depend on you at all times is a blessing that is not provided by any other specialty.”
Under his guidance, the WVU Medicine Children’s Medical Genetics and Personalized Medicine Program expanded to become the only center in West Virginia to provide care for genetic, metabolic, and mitochondrial disorders. The program also includes the state’s only Newborn Screening Follow-up and Referral Clinic.
“We have the potential to grow our service and expand the care to areas where virtual medicine may not be suitable,” Alali said. “So, we go out there, to our people in smaller communities, to provide them with on-site service. This makes us a community-oriented program rather than a centralized one, the case in many larger centers.”
