The original developer of the software, Dr. Randy Gerson, was a family theoretician and clinician who made major contributions to the fields of family therapy and family psychology. As collaborators, Drs. Monica McGoldrick and Randy Gerson published Genograms in Family Assessment (W. W. Norton, 1985), a book that quickly became a classic on the use of genograms in family therapy and family medicine. A second edition appeared in 1999, and a third edition in 2008.

In preparation for the original book, Dr. Gerson developed a computer program for producing genograms according to the conventions outlined in the book. Dr. Gerson died of leukemia in 1995, but his legacy of upgrading and developing software for health and mental health professionals continues.

Building on his original work, Genoware, Inc. introduced a totally new version of the software Genogram-Maker Millennium in 2000. Genoware’s upgrades of the software since then not only bring compatibility with the most popular modern operating systems, but also continue to expand the descriptive power of the software by incorporating new genogram symbols.