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Patricia A. Peyser, PhD

  • Professor Emeritus, Epidemiology

Patricia A. Peyser, Ph.D., professor of epidemiology in the School of Public Health, retired from active faculty status on December 31, 2020.

Professor Peyser received her B.A. (1968) degree from the University of Vermont and her Ph.D. (1975) degree from the State University of New York at Stony Brook. She joined the University of Michigan faculty as an assistant professor in 1979, and was promoted to associate professor in 1985, and professor in 1994.

Professor Peyser’s primary research focus was the epidemiology and genetics of atherosclerosis; its risk factors, including blood pressure, obesity and body fat distribution, hemostatic factors, and lipid and glucose metabolism; and their complications in diverse populations. The long-term goal was to improve scientific understanding of coronary artery calcification, a noninvasive measure of the presence and quantity of subclinical atherosclerosis. She and her colleagues received the first National Institutes of Health grant awarded to study coronary artery calcification in the general population. Her work in coronary artery calcification has involved international collaborations, including the Cohorts for Heart and Aging Research in Genomic Epidemiology (CHARGE) Consortium and the Trans-Omics for Precision Medicine (TOPMed) Program. Professor Peyser’s scholarly efforts have resulted in more than 200 published articles or book chapters. In the classroom, Professor Peyser introduced more than 1,000 graduate students to the principles and methods of epidemiology. She developed a graduate course that integrated genetics and epidemiology and taught that course for 35 years to hundreds of graduate students. She was the founding director of the Public Health Genetics Interdepartmental Concentration, currently a certificate program in public health genetics. A dedicated mentor, she was a chair, co-chair, or member of more than 60 doctoral dissertation committees. She also was a devoted mentor to numerous junior colleagues at Michigan and other academic institutions in the U.S. and abroad. Professor Peyser served the university as a member of many committees, including the Executive Committee and numerous faculty search committees. Nationally, she served on several study section committees as well as on the Institute of Medicine’s committee on assuring the health of the population in the 21st century. In 2014, she was elected a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

The Regents now salute this distinguished faculty member, scholar, and leader by naming Patricia A. Peyser, professor emerita of epidemiology.