Gonçalo Abecasis, DPhil

Gonçalo Abecasis, DPhil is Vice President and Chief Genomics and Data Science Officer at the Regeneron Genetics Center. He previously spent many years at the University of Michigan, where he was a colleague, collaborator, and mentee of Professor Michael Boehnke and served as Chair of the Department of Biostatistics. An internationally recognized leader in statistical genetics, Dr. Abecasis earned his doctorate in human genetics from the University of Oxford before joining the Michigan faculty in 2001, where his long-standing collaboration with Boehnke helped shape the modern era of complex trait genetics. He has led and contributed to landmark international initiatives, including the 1000 Genomes Project and numerous large-scale genome-wide association studies, and is widely known for developing computational tools that enable the analysis of massive genomic datasets to advance discovery in complex disease.

Karen L. Mohlke, PhD

Karen L. Mohlke, PhD is a Professor of Genetics and Associate Chair for Research at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she leads a research program focused on the genetic basis of complex human traits and diseases such as type 2 diabetes, obesity, and lipid variation. Dr. Mohlke received her PhD in Human Genetics from the University of Michigan and completed a postdoctoral fellowship there before joining UNC, giving her early professional ties to the Michigan biostatistics and genetics community. She has collaborated with leaders in statistical genetics, frequently including Michael Boehnke, on genome-wide and fine-mapping studies that helped identify biological mechanisms underlying cardiometabolic traits and diabetes risk. Dr. Mohlke’s work spans genome-wide association studies, computational identification of regulatory variants, and integrative functional genomics to advance understanding of how genetic variation influences disease-related biology. Her research contributions, recognized by her high citation impact and leadership in influential multi-investigator studies, have helped define key loci and mechanisms in complex trait genetics.

Yun Li, PhD is a Professor of Genetics and Biostatistics at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where her research focuses on the development and application of statistical methods and computational tools to the genetic dissection of complex human diseases and traits. With Michael Boehnke serving as co-chair of her doctoral committee, Dr. Li earned her doctoral degree in biostatistics from the University of Michigan in 2009, after which she joined the UNC faculty and has since led work on genotype imputation, rare-variant association analysis, local ancestry inference, and sequence-based study design — including contributions to the 1000 Genomes Project and large-scale sequencing studies of metabolic, cardiovascular, and neuropsychiatric traits. Her lab also develops methods for integrating multi-omics and chromatin interaction data to enhance interpretation of genome-wide association results, and she plays leadership roles in several multi-site consortia that advance statistical genetics and genomic analysis.

Xihong Lin, PhD is the Henry Pickering Walcott Professor of Biostatistics at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Professor and Chair of the Department of Statistics at Harvard University. Prior to joining Harvard in 2005, she spent more than a decade on the faculty in the University of Michigan Department of Biostatistics, where she rose from Assistant Professor to Professor and was a colleague of Professor Michael Boehnke. During her Michigan years and beyond, she collaborated with Boehnke and others on methodological advances and large-scale studies in complex trait genetics. An internationally recognized leader in statistical genetics and quantitative genomics, Dr. Lin has developed widely used methods for mixed models, sequencing studies, and integrative genomic analysis, and she is a member of both the National Academy of Medicine and the National Academy of Sciences.

Mark I. McCarthy, MA, MB, BChir, MD is Executive Director of Human Genetics and Principal Fellow at Genentech, where he leads efforts to use human genetic data to inform disease biology and therapeutic discovery. Previously the Robert Turner Professor of Diabetic Medicine at the University of Oxford, he led international consortia that identified hundreds of genetic loci influencing type 2 diabetes and related cardiometabolic traits. Dr. McCarthy has collaborated with Professor Michael Boehnke on large-scale genome-wide association and sequencing studies that advanced understanding of the genetic architecture of complex disease. His work has been instrumental in translating genetic discoveries into biological insight and opportunities for improved prevention and treatment.

Stephen S. Rich, PhD is a Professor of Public Health Sciences and Director Emeritus of the Center for Public Health Genomics at the University of Virginia. A leader in the genetic epidemiology of complex diseases, his research has focused on type 1 and type 2 diabetes, cardiometabolic traits, and multi-ancestry genomic studies. Over the past two decades, Dr. Rich has collaborated extensively with Professor Michael Boehnke through major international consortia, co-authoring numerous high-impact publications that have helped define the genetic architecture of complex traits in diverse populations. His work integrates statistical genetics, large-scale sequencing, and translational genomics to advance understanding of disease mechanisms and risk prediction.

Nicholas J. Schork, PhD is Research Director of Longevity, Prevention, and Interception at the HonorHealth Research Institute, where he leads initiatives applying genomics, large-scale data science, and artificial intelligence to disease prevention and precision medicine. He earned his PhD in Epidemiology from the University of Michigan in 1994, where Professor Michael Boehnke co-chaired his doctoral committee. Dr. Schork has held senior academic and research leadership positions at institutions including Harvard University, Case Western Reserve University, Scripps Research, the J. Craig Venter Institute, and the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen). An internationally recognized expert in quantitative medicine and clinical genomics, his work integrates statistical genetics, bioinformatics, and translational science to advance individualized approaches to disease risk assessment and intervention.

Gerard D. Schellenberg, PhD is Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and Director of the Penn Neurodegeneration Genomics Center, where he leads research on the genetics and genomics of Alzheimer’s disease and related neurodegenerative disorders. He earned his BS and PhD in Biochemistry from the University of California, Riverside, and completed postgraduate research training at the University of Washington. Early in his career, he collaborated with Michael Boehnke of the University of Michigan on human genetics research, reflecting a long-standing connection to the Michigan Biostatistics community. An internationally recognized leader in neurogenetics, Dr. Schellenberg has made foundational contributions to the study of Alzheimer’s disease, frontotemporal dementia, Parkinson’s disease, and related conditions through gene discovery, genomic analysis, and translational neuroscience.

Richard M. Watanabe, PhD is a Professor of Population and Public Health Sciences and Associate Dean for Health and Population Science Programs at the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California. His research focuses on the genetics and pathophysiology of type 2 diabetes and related metabolic traits, integrating genetic epidemiology with mathematical and physiological modeling. After earning his PhD in 1995, he completed postdoctoral training in statistical genetics at the University of Michigan, where Professor Michael Boehnke served as his mentor from 1995 to 1998. Dr. Watanabe later joined the Michigan faculty before returning to USC, and he has since contributed to major international consortia advancing understanding of glycemic traits and diabetes susceptibility.

Brooke N. Wolford, PhD is a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Fellow at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology’s HUNT Center for Molecular and Clinical Epidemiology, where she develops integrative genomic and artificial intelligence approaches to improve prediction and prevention of cardiovascular disease. She earned her PhD in Bioinformatics and MS in Statistics from the University of Michigan, where she was a trainee in the Genome Science Training Program under Professor Michael Boehnke, who also co-chaired her doctoral committee. Her research focuses on statistical genetics, precision medicine, and large-scale biobank analyses, with contributions to major multi-ancestry studies of cardiometabolic traits. Through her interdisciplinary work, Dr. Wolford advances quantitative genomic methods aimed at translating genetic discovery into clinical and population health impact.