Many of us had cared for patients of families coming from the Middle East, a region of multiple countries within proximity to each other’s not only in distance, culture, and language, but also, as we would expect, within much resemblance genetically. Within the Middle East, there is a wide variation from one country to the other, in providing genetic services, running diagnostic and research tests, and also in their infrastructure to support genetic testing and genetic services.

This session aims to highlight much of this genetically rich region. The session aims to discuss a history of progress of genetic knowledge, and their way of achieving advances in research along with much of the struggles that may have taken place along the way. Understanding the high rates of consanguinity in the region, and its accompanying discoveries of countless number of genes and founder variants have been added tremendous effects to the genetics field.

One acknowledged mission of the American College of Medical Genetics (ACMG), is to expand genetic services in other countries, and the International Outreach and Engagement Committee is a workgroup dedicated to this mission. In light of this mission, it is of utmost importance to learn the current status, current ability, and the challenges that some countries could be met with, and here we describe examples from the Middle East.

As a global effort, genomes of populations of various backgrounds are in much need like we all appreciate. This session aims to widen radars of scientists and clinical geneticists to regions in the world that they are far less familiar with. This could help build further collaborations, and by bringing patients to scientists worldwide we aim to better understand a long way of mysteries that we have yet to learn, along the genetic road.