Harry Ostrer

Harry Ostrer, MD, is Professor, Pathology, Genetics and Pediatrics at Montefiore Einstein. He is a medical geneticist who investigates the genetic basis of common and rare disorders.

After obtaining his Bachelor of Science from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1972, Dr. Ostrer earned his Doctor of Medicine from Columbia University in 1976. He then completed an internship in pediatrics at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in 1977 before becoming an assistant resident in pediatrics until 1978. Following this, Dr. Ostrer completed a neonatal and pediatrics clinical fellowship at the National Institutes of Health in 1981, followed by a postdoctoral fellowship in genetics in the department of pediatrics at Johns Hopkins in 1983.

In the diagnostic laboratory, Dr. Ostrer translates the findings of genetic discoveries into tests that can be used, either to identify people’s risks for having a disease prior to its occurrence or for predicting its outcome once it has occurred. He studies the genetic basis of breast, colon and prostate cancer and adverse outcomes associated with their treatment, as well as the genetic basis for disorders of sex development and other rare conditions — he identified the role of the signal-transducing Mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAP) pathway in gonadal development. Dr. Ostrer is also a long-time investigator of the genetics of Jewish people. For over 30 years, he has studied the genetic basis of single-gene disorders in Jewish populations and implemented new genetic tests and screening programs to benefit Jewish people. In 2007, he organized the Jewish HapMap Project, an international effort to map and sequence the genomes of Jewish people. In a series of publications about Abraham’s Children in the Genome Era, Dr. Ostrer and his team of investigators demonstrated that the history of the Jewish Diasporas could be seen in the genomes of contemporary Jewish people—an observation that gained worldwide recognition. He is also an investigator of the genetics of Hispanic and Latino people, including Puerto Ricans, Dominicans, Ecuadorians and Mexicans who currently reside in New York City.

Dr. Ostrer is board certified by the American Board of Medical Genetics and the American Board of Pediatrics. He is a member of the American Society of Human Genetics and founding fellow of the American College of Medical Genetics. Dr. Ostrer has received numerous awards for his work, such as the Henry W. Shotmeyer Award from the Skin Cancer Foundation and the Weizmann Institute of Science Award for Excellence. In 2010, he was recognized on the Forward 50 list of Jewish-Americans "who have made a significant impact on the Jewish story in the past year".