Anthony Carrano, Director of the DOE Human Genome Center at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), became Vice President for the Americas of the Human Genome Organisation (HUGO) in March 1996. Grant Sutherland (Australia) is President of HUGO, which represents nearly 1000 members from 50 countries.

The three HUGO regional vice-presidents, who are also members of the 18-person International Council, serve as liaisons between their regions and the council. The Americas office representing North, South, and Central America is located in Bethesda, Maryland, and headed by Susan Wallace. The other two main offices are HUGO Europe (London), whose vice-president is Gert Jan Van Ommen, and HUGO Pacific (Osaka, Japan), for which Yoshiyuki Sakaki is the new vice-president.

Carrano is also Associate Director for Biology, Biotechnology, and Healthcare Research at LLNL. His lifelong interest is mutation research, specifically in the area of DNA repair genes; chromosome 19, which was mapped by the LLNL genome center, is particularly rich in such genes. Among the accomplishments of Carrano's research team, which is involved in numerous international collaborations, are discovery of the myotonic dystrophy gene and development of DNA research substrates for distribution to other laboratories. The group is now concentrating on sequencing chromosome 19.