Scott Turner, PhD
Interim Chair of the Division of Molecular Diagnostics; Director of Molecular Diagnostics; Associate Professor
Department: Pathology
Phone: (804) 828-9564
Fax: (804) 827-4738
Email: Scott.Turner@vcuhealth.org
Scott A. Turner, PhD, FACMG, serves as Interim Chair of the Division of Molecular Diagnostics, Director of Molecular Diagnostics, and Associate Professor of Pathology at the Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) School of Medicine. He directs the VCU Clinical Next-Generation Sequencing (NGS) Program, serves as Associate Program Director of the Laboratory Genetics and Genomics Fellowship, and oversees molecular diagnostics education for pathology residents and fellows.
Dr. Turner is an active member of the Association for Molecular Pathology (AMP) and the American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics (ACMG). His professional service activities focus on advancing standardization in molecular diagnostic reporting and developing evidence-based guidelines for the interpretation and reporting of somatic variants in both solid tumors and hematologic malignancies.
Dr. Turner's academic and clinical interests center on the translation of genomic technologies into patient care. His areas of expertise include next-generation sequencing, molecular oncology, assay development and validation, variant interpretation, precision medicine, measurable residual disease testing, and clinical bioinformatics. His scholarly work spans solid tumors, hematologic malignancies, hereditary cancer syndromes, prenatal and constitutional genetics, and laboratory quality improvement initiatives. Notably, his research on hereditary cancer variant reclassification has contributed to a better understanding of how evolving genomic knowledge influences patient management, risk assessment, and long-term clinical follow-up.
Clinical specialties: Molecular diagnostics; clinical molecular genetics and genomics; precision oncology; solid tumors and hematologic malignancies; hereditary cancer genetics; next-generation sequencing; variant interpretation; clinical bioinformatics; measurable residual disease; and clinical assay development.
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Dr. Scott Turner abbreviated CV
Education
2018 ABMGG Clinical Molecular Genetics Fellowship, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN
2014 Ph.D. Genetics, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH
2016 Clinical Genomics and Advance Technologies Post-Doctoral Fellowship, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, Lebanon, NH
2002 B.Sc. Biology, Bates College, Lewiston, ME
Licenses & Certifications
2019 American Board of Medical Genetics and Genomics (ABMGG), Clinical Molecular Genetics
Professional Service (outside)
American College of Medical Genetics (ACMG): Working Group, Technical laboratory standards for interpretation and reporting of acquired numerical and structural genomic abnormalities, and copy-neutral loss of heterozygosity in neoplastic disorders
Association of Molecular Pathology (AMP): Clinical Practice Committee Working Group, Somatic Variant Interpretation Across Clinical Laboratories (ISV)
Association of Molecular Pathology (AMP): Clinical Practice Committee Working Group, Somatic Interpretation of Sequence Variant (ISV) guideline update
Visiting Professor, NIH/NIGRI, GENE 527 Molecular Genetics in the Era of Cancer Genomics
Recent Invited Presentations
2025 “Classification of Somatic Variants; guideline updates and recommendation” Scott Turner, Association of Molecular Pathology Annual Conference, Boston, MA
2025 “Enhancing Clinical Trial Matching in Molecular Diagnostics: Using Natural Language Processing and Clustering Approaches in Hematological Malignancies” Scott Turner, Association of Molecular Pathology Annual Conference, Boston, MA
2024 “Low rate of clinical follow-up for potential germline variants identified in hematologic malignancies with a next generation sequencing panel” H Wollenzien, T Olson, K Rafferty, SA Turner, A Ferreira-Gonzalez, E Barrie, American College of Medical Genetics Annual Conference, Toronto, ON
2023 “Molecular Profiling in Hematologic Malignancies, National Institutes of Health, Invited Presentation for Cytogenetics and Molecular Genetics in the Era of Cancer Genomics Lecture Series. Washington, DC
2023 “Molecular Profiling in Solid Tumors”, National Institutes of Health, Invited Presentation for Cytogenetics and Molecular Genetics in the Era of Cancer Genomics Lecture Series. Washington, DC
2023 “NGS Library Quantification Standardization to Optimize Comprehensive Molecular Profiling in Hematologic Malignancy” F Sabato, E Barrie, A Ferreira-Gonzalez, SA Turner Association of Molecular Pathology Annual Conference, Salt Lake City, UT
2023 “Performance Evaluation of a Novel Multi-variant CFTR DNA Control” F Sabato, J Lynch, A Ferreira-Gonzalez, SA Turner, Association of Molecular Pathology Annual Conference, Salt Lake City, UT
2023 “Validation of BRAF Idylla Mutation Assay for the Detection of V600E/D and V600K/R/M Mutations in Patients with Advanced Melanoma”. J Collie, A Martelli, F. Sabato, R Abou Shaar, J Lynch, E Barrie, SA Turner, A Ferreira-Gonzalez. Association of Molecular Pathology Annual Conference, Salt Lake City, UT
2023 “Application of Molecular Techniques in the Clinical Laboratory: An Immersive Educational Experience for Clinical Learners” SA Turner, G Goa, C Jackson-Cook, E Barrie, A Ferreira-Gonzalez. Association of Professors of Human and Medical Genetics Annual Conference, Kiawah Island, SC
Selected Publications
Peer Reviewed Papers
Gilliam, J, Turner, SA, Mochel, M Cutaneous Rosai-Dorfman disease with MAP2K1 mutation, initially mimicking an infection with parasitized histiocytes. J Cutan Pathol. 2024, 51(12):942-947, PMID: 39122669
Zobril EK, Grible JM, Boyd DC, Hairr NS, Leftwich TJ, Esquivel MF, Duong AK, Turner SA, Ferreira-Gonzalez A, Olex AL, Sartorius CA, Dozmorov MG, Harrell JC. Stratification of Tamoxifen Synergistic Combinations for the Treatment of ER+ Breast Cancer. Cancers 2023 14;15(12):3179, PMID 37370789
Boyd DC, Zobril EK, Olex AL, Leftwich TJ, Hairr NS, Byers HA, Valentine AD, Altman JE, Alzubi MA, Grible JM, Turner SA, Ferreira-Gonzalez A, Dozmorov MG, Harrell JC. Discovering Synergistic Compounds with BYL-719 in PI3K Overactivated Basal-like PDXs. Cancers 2023 3;15(5):1582, PMID 36900375
Li MM, Cottrell CE, Pullambhatla M, Roy S, Temple-Smolkin RL, Turner SA, Wang K, Zhou Y, Vnencak-Jones CL. Assessment of Somatic Variant Classification Using the Association for Molecular Pathology/American Society of Clinical Oncology/College of American Pathologist Guidelines: A Report from the Association of Molecular Pathology. Journal of Molecular Diagnostics 2023 25(2):69-86. PMID 36503149
Turner SA, Abou Shaar R, Yang Z. The basics of commonly used molecular techniques for diagnosis, and applications of molecular testing in cytopathology. Diagnostic Cytopathology 2023; 51(1):83-94, PMID 36345929
Rafferty KA, Barrie ES, Turner SA, Ferreira-Gonzalez A, Jackson-Cook C, Paulraj P, Severe Graft-Versus-Host Disease Following Solid-Organ Transplant Confirmed by Chimerism Studies and Cytogenetic Analysis, Exp Clin Transplant 2022, PMID 35297330
Finlay-Schultz, J., Jacobsen, B.M., Riley, D., Turner, S.A. et al. New generation breast cancer cell lines developed from patient-derived xenografts. Breast Cancer Res 22, 68 (2020). PMID 32576280
Reichert, SC, Li, R, A. Turner, S, et al. HNRNPH1‐related syndromic intellectual disability: Seven additional cases suggestive of a distinct syndromic neurodevelopmental syndrome. Clin Genet. 2020; 98: 91-98. PMID 32335897
Yang, C, Austin F, Richar H, Idowu M, Williamson V, Sabato F, Ferreira-Gonzalez A, Turner SA. Lynch syndrome-associated ultra-hypermutated pediatric glioblastoma mimicking a constitutional mismatch repair deficiency syndrome, Cold Spring Harbour Molecular Case Study, 2019 23;5(5) PMID 31604779
Scott A. Turner, Smita Rao, Cindy Vnencak-Jones, Georgia Wiesner. The Impact of Variant Reclassification on Management of Hereditary Cancer Syndromes, Genet Med. 2018 6. doi: 10.1038/s41436-018-0063-z. PMID: 29875428
Book Chapters and Monographs
Turner SA Perspectives on Homologous Recombination Repari Deficiency (HRD), Advances in Molecular Pathology 8 ed Academic Press Elsevier 2025
Turner SA, Muthusamy S. Minimal (Measurable) Residual Disease in Solid Tumors, Advances in Molecular Pathology, 6 ed Academic Press Elsevier 2023
Media
Turner SA “Changing Interpretations of Sequencing Results – Clinical Impact in the Realm of Hereditary Cancers Genetics In Medicine GenePod Podcast Audio, Nature Publishing Group, 2018 https://www.nature.com/collections/bafjcicdai/2018-archive
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