Pediatric geneticist to chair AMA international graduates council

June 23, 2015 — UC Irvine Health pediatric genetics expert Dr. June-Anne Gold was installed as the 2015-2016 chair for the International Medical Graduates Section (IMGS) Governing Council of the American Medical Association at its 18th annual meeting held in June in Chicago. 

Gold, a native of England who received her medical degree there, has served on the IMGS Governing Council since 2013 and has held positions as the AMA-IMG Section Delegate and chair of the IMG Section Resolutions and Graduate Medical Education committees.

Gold is a specialist in rare diseases in children, with a particular research interest in Prader-Willi Syndrome and long-term follow-up of genetic disorders and medical education. She serves on the boards of the Prader-Willi California Foundation (PWCF) and the International Prader-Willi Organization (IPWSO). She is a founding council member for the American Professors of Human Genetics (APHMG) Course Directors Special Interest Group.

Gold began her medical career as a nurse, then pursued a medical degree because of her commitment to patients. She graduated from Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry, one of the United Kingdom’s most prestigious teaching hospitals. During her time as a physician in England, she worked at London and Oxford University hospitals in both pediatrics and genetics.

She moved to the United States with her family in 2004 and became a medical genetics resident and researcher at UC Irvine School of Medicine, earning certification from the American Board of Medical Genetics. She is now an associate professor in clinical genetics at Loma Linda University Medical Center and a volunteer associate professor at UC Irvine.

Gold has held a medical license in California for six years. She obtained a license in Arizona in 2012 after a lengthy court battle with the state medical board. In her role on the AMA's IMGS governing council, she hopes to help international medical graduates like herself reach parity with U.S. medical school graduates in gaining licensure in all 50 U.S. states.

She is married to Jon Gold, co-founder of GJ2 guitars. The couple has four adult children and three granddaughters, of whom she is very proud.