Faculty

The Certificate Program in Public Health Genetics is led by Director Jennifer A. Smith with a committee of School of Public Health faculty members.

Goncalo Abecasis, Dr.Phil.
Felix E. Moore Collegiate Professor of Biostatistics
Dr. Abecasis' research focuses on the development of statistical tools for the identification and study of genetic variants important in human disease.

Kelly M. Bakulski, PhD
Assistant Professor of Epidemiology
Dr. Bakulski is an environmental and genetic epidemiologist with expertise in epigenetic epidemiology. Her current research integrates and applies multiple genome-wide measures to understand disease risk.

Michael Boehnke, PhD
Richard G. Cornell Collegiate Professor of Biostatistics
Director, Center for Statistical Genetics
Director, Genome Science Training Program
Dr. Boehnke's research focuses on problems of study design and statistical analysis of human genetic data, with a particular emphasis on development of statistical methods for human gene mapping, and their application to diseases including type 2 diabetes and bipolar disorder.

Melissa Creary, PhD, MPH
Assistant Professor of Health Management and Policy
Professor Creary's research focuses on global health (Brazil), social movements, race, culture, and citizenship, sickle cell disease.

Dana Dolinoy, PhD
NSF International Chair of Environmental Health Sciences
Professor of Environmental Health Sciences
Professor of Nutritional Sciences
Environmental epigenetics/epigenomics, developmental origins of adult disease, role of diet and nutrition in modulating chemical exposure and epigenetic events including DNA methylation and chromatin structure.

Sharon Kardia, Ph.D.
Associate Dean for Education
Millicent W. Higgins Collegiate Professor of Epidemiology

Alison Mondul, PhD
Associate Professor, Epidemiology
Molecular and nutritional epidemiology, modifiable risk factors and cancer etiology.

 Belinda Needham, PhD
Associate Professor, Epidemiology
Health Disparities; Aging and the Life Course; Medical and Psychiatric Comorbidity.

 C. Leigh Pearce, PhD
Associate Professor, Epidemiology
Etiology and Prevention of Ovarian and Breast Cancer.

Patricia Peyser, PhD
Professor, Epidemiology
Dr. Peyser’s research focuses on genetics and epidemiology, the contribution of inherited differences among individuals to the prediction of diseases, and studies of diseases and traits that aggregate in families.  Community based studies in Rochester, MN and in the Old Order Amish in Lancaster, PA focus on cardiovascular disease and its genetic and  environmental etiologies.

J. Scott Roberts, PhD
Professor, Health Behavior & Health Education
Co-Director, Dual-Degree (MPH/MS) Program in Public Health and Genetic Counseling

Jennifer Smith, PhD, MPH
Director, Certificate in Public Health Genetics
Associate Professor, Epidemiology
Dr. Smith's research focuses on the genetic epidemiology of common chronic diseases and their risk factors. Her research investigates the relationships between genetic, epigenetic, transcriptomic, and proteomic variation and traits including blood pressure, kidney function, ischemic brain injury, and cognition. She is particularly interested in the way that gene-by-social and gene-by-psychosocial factor interactions are associated with chronic disease risk.

Laurie Svoboda, PhD
Research Assistant Professor, Environmental Health Sciences
Dr. Svoboda is interested in understanding the sex-specific metabolic and epigenetic mechanisms by which early environmental exposures lead to cardiovascular and metabolic diseases.

Wei Zhao, PhD
Dr. Zhao's research includes identifying genetic risk factors for an array of diseases and traits including cardiovascular disease, cognitive function and decline, and their risk factors. She also focuses on the development of efficient pipelines and algorithms to integrate genomics,  pigenomics, transcriptomics and the social environment in a “big data” computing environment.