About Us
What is MotherToBaby Texas TIPS?
MotherToBaby Texas TIPS is a free counseling and information resource for both the general public and healthcare professionals. We provide information regarding potentially harmful exposures (a.k.a. teratogens) during pregnancy or breastfeeding such as prescription medication, nicotine, alcohol, maternal infections or environmental exposures.
This service is funded by the Texas Department of State Health Services (TDSHS) under the direction of Dr. Hope Northrup, Professor and Director of the Division of Medical Genetics in the Department of Pediatrics at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth.
Our Team
Dr. Hope Northrup
Professional
Hope Northrup, M.D. is a medical geneticist (clinical, biochemical and molecular areas) in the Department of Pediatrics at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth. She is a professor and Director of the Division of Medical Genetics in the Department of Pediatrics. Dr. Northrup is the medical director of the medical genetics residency/fellowship program. Her clinical interests are metabolic disease and chromosome disorders. Dr. Northrup’s research interests focus on unraveling the basis of neurogenetic diseases, specifically tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC) and spina bifida (SB). She provides lectures in genetic counseling and medical genetics courses and supervises rotating students in their clinical activities.
Education
Dr. Northrup obtained an M.D. degree from the medical university of South Carolina. She completed a pediatric Residency at Children’s Medical Center/Southwestern Medical School in Dallas, Texas and a medical genetics fellowship at the Institute for Molecular Genetics, Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas.
Myla Ashfaq, MS, CGC
Professional
Myla Ashfaq is a certified Genetic Counselor and Associate Professor in the Department of Pediatrics, Division of Medical Genetics at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth. In addition to providing teratogen counseling, she provides genetic counseling to families of pediatric patients at Shriners Hospitals for Children and in UTHealth’s general genetics clinic. She is involved in facilitating courses and supervising students from the University of Texas genetic counseling training program. Additionally, she provides medical genetics education to the medical students at McGovern Medical School. She is a member of the National Society of Genetic Counselors and is interested in multi-cultural and international genetic counseling.
Education
Myla graduated from Ohio Wesleyan University in 2005 with a BA in Genetics and received her MS in Human Genetics and Genetic Counseling from Stanford University in 2011.
Kate Richardson, MS, CGC
Professional
Kate Richardson is a certified Genetic Counselor and Assistant Professor in the Department of Pediatrics, Division of Medical Genetics at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth. In addition to providing telephone and text counseling, she provides genetic counseling to families of patients at Shriners Hospital for Children, Tuberous Sclerosis Complex Clinic, and in UTHealth’s general genetics clinic. She is involved in the supervising and education of master students attending the University of Texas genetic counseling program. She is a member of the National Society of Genetic Counselors and enjoys running a camp for children with a metabolic disorder every summer.
Education
Kate graduated from University of Texas at Austin in 2014 with a BS in Human Biology with a minor in Children and Family studies. She then received her MS in Genetic Counseling from The University of Texas Genetic Counseling Program in 2018.
Sophia Kulkarni, MS, CGC
Professional
Sophia Kulkarni is a certified Genetic Counselor and Clinical Instructor in the Department of Pediatrics, Division of Medical Genetics at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth. In addition to providing telephone and text counseling, she provides genetic counseling to families of patients currently admitted at Children’s Memorial Hermann Hospital and in an outpatient setting at UTHealth’s general genetics clinic. She is involved in the supervising and education of masters students attending the University of Texas genetic counseling program. She is a member of the National Society of Genetic Counselors and her research interests include postmortem genetic testing and genomic health literacy.
Education
Sophia graduated from Saginaw Valley State University in 2020 with a BA in Psychology with minors in Biology and Chemistry. She received her MS in Genetic Counseling from the Wayne State University School of Medicine in 2024.
Goals*
- Provide counseling to patients and health care professionals about exposures related to pregnancy and breastfeeding, so they can make informed treatment choices.
- Reduce risks and decrease the number of preventable birth defects by educating the public and health care professionals about specific agents of concern.
- Empower patients with accurate information about the true risks of an exposure, thereby preventing unnecessary terminations of wanted pregnancies.
*As a teratogen information service, Texas TIPS shares the same goals as MotherToBaby, a service of the non-profit Organization of Teratology Information Services (OTIS).