GENETICS - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Assistant Professor
- Director, LCCC Translational Genomics Lab ( TGL )
Job Titles:
- Associate Professor of Genetics and Pharmacology / Director, Human Pluripotent Cell Core
Job Titles:
- Adjunct Assistant Professor
Job Titles:
- Assistant Professor of Computational Medicine and
Job Titles:
- Associate Professor of Medicine
Job Titles:
- Member of the PPMH Steering Committee
- Clinical Assistant Professor
- UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy As a Clinical Assistant Professor
Amber Cipriani joined the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy as a clinical assistant professor in the Division of Pharmacotherapy and Experimental Therapy in August of 2015. Cipriani's appointment is co-funded by UNC Hospitals, where she serves as the Precision Medicine Pharmacy Coordinator.
Dr. Cipriani worked to establish a pharmacy presence in the ambulatory oncology clinics for lung, sarcoma, head and neck and melanoma malignancies at UNC Hospitals before transitioning to her role in Precision Medicine. In her current clinical role, she works to implement initiatives that improve medication use and management through the utilization of technology, genetics, and clinical decision support tools. Dr. Cipriani focuses on implementation in the areas of pharmacogenomics and precision oncology. She is a member of UNC's Oncology Molecular Tumor Board and works closely with the Program for Precision Medicine in Health Care. At the School, Dr. Cipriani coordinates two electives offered to third year pharmacy students (PHC 837:Pharmacogenomics and PHCY 822: Hematology/Oncology Pharmacotherapy) along with her participation as a faculty member in PHCY 502, PHCY 510, and PHCY 733.
Dr. Cipriani received a BA in Biochemistry and in Molecular,Cellular, and Developmental Biology from the University of Colorado in Boulder. She developed her laboratory skills as a research assistant for a drug development company before completing her PharmD degree at the University of Colorado Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences in Denver. She then pursued PGY1 Pharmacy Practice and PGY2 Hematology/Oncology training at the University of North Carolina. She is board certified in Oncology.
Job Titles:
- Assistant Professor
- Associate Professor of Psychiatry
Job Titles:
- Associate Professor and Division Chief of Pediatric Genetics and Metabolism Genetics
Job Titles:
- Assistant Professor of Obstetrics & Gynecology and
Job Titles:
- Assistant Professor Joint Faculty, Department of Microbiology and Immunology
Job Titles:
- Professor of Genetics and Medicine - Pulmonary
Job Titles:
- Assistant Professor of Genetics and Medicine - Hematology
Job Titles:
- Assistant Professor of Medicine, Division of Oncology / Research Assistant Professor
Job Titles:
- Distinguished Professor of Genetics and Pathology Laboratory Medicine
Job Titles:
- Assistant Professor of Computational Medicine and
Job Titles:
- Professor
- Professor & Director of Research / Senior Associate Chair / Director, Office of Research Technologies
Adaptations are central to the study of evolution. Thus, it is surprising that we know so little about the molecular basis of adaptive evolution. The goal of Dr. Corbin Jones' research is to identify, clone, and characterize the evolution of genes underlying natural adaptations in order to determine the types of genes involved, how many and what types of genetic changes occurred, and the evolutionary history of these changes. These data will address key questions. For example, do adaptations involve many genetic changes or only a few? How important are changes in gene regulation versus amino acid expression in adaptation? How often are "new" genes involved in adaptations? Are most adaptive alleles new mutations or pre-existing alleles segregating at low to moderate frequency within a species? Clearly, a deeper understanding of how genes change during adaptation will give insight into the potential and limits of adaptive evolution.
Dr. Keet joined the Department of Pediatrics as faculty in 2021. Dr. Keet received her BA in Chemistry from the University of California at Berkeley in 1998 . She remained at UC - Berkeley through 2001 to complete a master's degree in Health Sciences. In 2004 she completed her medical degree at the University of California - San Francisco. Subsequently, Dr. Keet completed her pediatric residency in 2007 and fellowship in allergy/immunology in 2010, both at Johns Hopkins. After joining the faculty at Johns Hopkins in 2010, she earned a PhD in epidemiology at the Bloomberg School of Public Health in 2014. Dr. Keet is a successful researcher and has served in a variety of leadership roles.
Job Titles:
- Associate Professor
- Director, ClinGen - Affiliated UNC Biocuration and Coordination Core
Job Titles:
- Professor, Eshelman School of Pharmacy / Division of Pharmacotherapy and Experimental Therapeutics
Craig Lee, Pharm.D, Ph.D. is a professor and the chair of the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy's Division of Pharmacotherapy and Experimental Therapeutics. Lee is a licensed pharmacist in North Carolina, and is trained as a clinical/translational pharmaceutical scientist with expertise in cytochrome P450 metabolism, cardiovascular experimental therapeutics, and precision medicine/pharmacogenomics.
Since initiation of his faculty appointment in 2006, Lee has established a highly collaborative and translational research program that integrates mechanistically-driven rodent and cell-based preclinical models with observational and interventional clinical studies. He has received funding from the National Institutes of Health and American Heart Association, authored over 100 manuscripts and over 100 abstracts in the areas of cytochromes P450, eicosanoid and drug metabolism, pharmacogenomics, and experimental therapeutics, and has served as the major research advisor for over 40 graduate students, post-doctoral fellows, and professional students.
Lee served as director of the School's Research and Scholarship in Pharmacy pathway for Pharm.D. students from 2016-2021, the DPET vice chair for research and graduate education from 2019-2022, and is actively engaged as a teacher and mentor in the School's professional, graduate and fellowship programs.
He is also an active member of the UNC McAllister Heart Institute and UNC Program for Precision Medicine in Healthcare, and has an adjunct faculty appointment in the UNC School of Medicine's Division of Cardiology.
Job Titles:
- Retired Professor of Pediatric Genetics and Metabolism Genetics
Job Titles:
- Assistant Professor of Biostatistics and
Job Titles:
- Associate Professor of Biology and
Job Titles:
- Clinical Assistant Professor
Job Titles:
- Assistant Professor
- Director, LCCC Bioinformatics Core Facility
Job Titles:
- Senior Associate Dean for Translational Research, UNC School of Medicine / Medical Director, Center for Environmental Medicine, Asthma and Lung Biology
Dr. Peden is a pediatric allergist and immunologist, with particular interest in inflammation, inflammatory disorders, and environmental exposures. His primary research focus is the impact of environmental agents and pollutants on respiratory and systemic inflammation and physiology, which impacts airway diseases such as asthma, COPD, inhalational injury and airway infections as well as triggering cardiovascular events. Efforts in Dr. Peden's lab have led to identification of personal mitigation strategies (chemoprevention, personal monitoring) for pollutant-induced disease, and have provided scientific support for regulatory approaches to mitigate pollutant-induced disease at the state and national level. They have also identified and examined genetic, biological, behavioral and societal risk factors that increase risk for pollutant-induced disease.
Dr. Peden's secondary research focus is examination of inflammatory processes and mechanisms in the respiratory tract and extending the basic scientific findings to humans. This includes developing and performing innovative and high quality pre-clinical and clinical investigation of novel treatments for lung and allergic diseases.
These research interests are broadly focused on the biology of airway and systemic inflammation and lung function in humans, with emphasis on asthma, allergic disease and immunological processes in the lung, employing translational, clinical and epidemiological methods to examine these questions with four interrelated foci of interest. Dr. Peden has also developed a number of model airway challenge protocols with ozone, endotoxin, particulate matter and allergen, which allows for screening of potential interventions, testing sensor devices, and identification/confirmation or genetic or physiologic risk factors for pollutant-induced and airway disease.
Job Titles:
- Professor of Social Medicine
Dr. Gail E. Henderson, PhD, is professor of Social Medicine in the School of Medicine and adjunct professor of Sociology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. A medical sociologist with training in public health, she has extensive experience with interdisciplinary research and teaching. She was Department Chair from 2009 to 2015, Director of the UNC Center for Genomics and Society (CGS) from 2007-2019, and co-Director of the Center for AIDS Research (CFAR) International Core from 2004-2014. Henderson was the Ethical, Legal and Social Implications (ELSI) Editor of the journal, Genetics in Medicine, from 2009-2017, and was a Member of the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) Advisory Council from 2016-2019.
Her research focuses on these areas:
Dilemmas raised by early-phase clinical trials
Oversight of biobanks and specimen sharing
Preventive Genomic Screening
Race/ethnicity and genomics
Global health, HIV/AIDS, & research ethics
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Statement
To read more on Dr. Henderson's research, view her biography on the Social Medicine website here.
Job Titles:
- Associate Professor
- Member of the PPMH Steering Committee
- PPMH - Program for Precision Medicine in Health Care
Dr. Jamie Capal is a neurodevelopmental neurologist with a clinical and research focus on neurodevelopmental conditions across the lifespan. She is developing a multi-disciplinary, comprehensive program of translational research around detection (particularly early detection) and multi-modal interventions (including pharmacotherapeutics, cognitive-behavioral therapies, and community support and services).
Dr. Capal has great interest in expanding complementary pre-clinical studies relevant to developing therapeutics for rare neurogenetic neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs) across multiple levels of analysis and across multiple conditions throughout the lifespan, realizing that the developmental framework is a lifetime perspective. Individuals born with NDDs are at increased risk for conditions later in life. Whether occurring early (as in NDDs) or late (as in NDGDs), Dr. Capal is interested in studying the cascade of factors over the course of development that lead to disorders of the brain.
Dr. Capal is currently leading several clinical trials in Angelman syndrome, Fragile X syndrome, and Tuberous Sclerosis Complex through the Carolina Institute for Developmental Disabilities in collaboration with the Department of Neurology and UNC Neuroscience Center.
Clinically, she diagnoses and treats a variety of neurodevelopmental and neurogenetic conditions in children and adults.
Job Titles:
- Assistant Professor in the Psychiatry Department at UNC Chapel Hill
- Assistant Professor, Psychiatry
Dr. Rebekah Nash is an Assistant Professor in the Psychiatry Department at UNC Chapel Hill. Her clinical work involves consultation liaison psychiatry, with a specific emphasis in the transplant psychiatry and burn psychiatry fields. She also provides outpatient psychiatry consultation for the epilepsy surgery program within the Neurology and Neurosurgery Departments. From a research perspective, she is interested in exploring the various risk factors and underlying genetic mechanisms impacting the incidence of psychiatric co-morbidities, as well as overall outcomes, following solid organ transplant.
Job Titles:
- Research Manager, Epic@UNC, UNC Health
Emily Pfaff, PhD, MS, assistant professor in the division of endocrinology and metabolism, is co-director of Informatics and Data Science at NC TraCS. She has a PhD in Health Informatics and a master's in Information Science, both from UNC. Her primary expertise and research interests are in "computable phenotyping" and clinical data modeling in support of translational research.
Job Titles:
- Professor of Social Medicine and
- Professor, Social Medicine / Professor
Job Titles:
- Associate Professor of UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy - DPET and
Job Titles:
- Professor of Biostatistics and
Job Titles:
- Professor & Chair
- Professor of Genetics / Department Chair
Job Titles:
- Associate Professor of Genetics and Nutrition
Job Titles:
- Member of the PPMH Leadership & Key Staff
- EDGE Associate Director
- PARADIGM Director
Grace Byfield earned her Ph.D. in Microbiology from North Carolina State University in 2005 after completing a M.S. in Biology at North Carolina Central University in 2002. Her postdoctoral tenures included research in Human Genetics at Duke University School of Medicine, and Ophthalmology at UNC-CH School of Medicine.
Currently, Grace leads the initiative in Promoting Advocacy and Research Awareness for Diversity in Genomic Medicine (PARADIGM) under the UNC Program for Precision Medicine in Healthcare (PPMH). The PARADIGM initiative focuses on advocacy efforts to increase understanding of genomics in health care among underrepresented communities, raise student awareness about genomics-related careers, and address disparities in genomic medicine through research. She is also actively involved in other PPMH projects and initiatives.
Grace's scientific career spans 15 years of research and teaching in industry and academia. She has published her work in peer-reviewed journals and contributed to several book chapters. Before joining the UNC-CH Department of Genetics, Grace was the Interim Director for the Center for Outreach in Alzheimer's, Aging and Community Health (COAACH) at NC A&T State University. There she was involved in community outreach and research initiatives geared towards increasing education and awareness of Alzheimer's disease and promoting Healthy Aging among African Americans.
Grace is from Jamaica where she completed her undergraduate degree in Botany at the University of the West Indies.
Job Titles:
- Social / Clinical Research Assistant
Job Titles:
- Distinguished Professor of Pediatrics
Job Titles:
- Adjunct Clinical Assistant Professor
Job Titles:
- Adjunct Associate Professor
Job Titles:
- Professor of Genetics / Assistant Director of Shared Resources and Operations, Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center
Job Titles:
- Associate Professor of Genetics / UNC Neuroscience Center
Job Titles:
- Chief Care Innovation Officer, UNC Health
Job Titles:
- Professor of Peds - Hematology / Oncology and
Job Titles:
- Associate Professor
- Associate Professor of Pathology Laboratory Medicine and
- Associate Professor, Pathology & Laboratory Medicine
Job Titles:
- Associate Professor of Genetics / UNC Neuroscience Center
Job Titles:
- Professor of Genetics and Microbiology & Immunology
Job Titles:
- Professor, Social Medicine
Job Titles:
- Professor of Biology and Genetics / Director, Curriculum in Genetics and Molecular Biology
Job Titles:
- Member of the PPMH Steering Committee
- Director, Office of Research
Job Titles:
- Professor of Genetics / Associate Chair for Education
Job Titles:
- Associate Professor of Pathology Lab Medicine and
Job Titles:
- Bryson Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Genetics and Medicine / Adjunct Professor of Genetics
Job Titles:
- Adjunct Associate Professor
Job Titles:
- Associate Professor
- Member of the PPMH Leadership & Key Staff
- Bryson Distinguished Professor of Genetics and Medicine
- EDGE Principal Investigator
- PPMH Director
Dr. Berg is an Associate Professor in the Department of Genetics at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He also has a clinical appointment in the Department of Medicine, Division of Hematology-Oncology and the Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center. He graduated from Emory University with a B.S. in Biology and completed the M.D./Ph.D. program at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in the Curriculum in Neuroscience. He subsequently underwent residency training in Clinical Genetics at Baylor College of Medicine.
Dr. Berg is now a physician and researcher interested in the development and application of genetic tests in patients and their families. The recent revolution in genetic sequencing technology has led to an unprecedented opportunity to investigate the underlying etiology in families with genetic conditions, and yet raises potential pitfalls that must be addressed in order to translate these new technologies into the practice of clinical genomics. Dr. Berg is particularly interested in the range of "incidental" or "secondary" findings that are discovered during the course of genome-scale sequencing, including the pre-test counseling and informed consent process, computational analysis required to determine the likely clinical relevance of variants, best practices for return of these findings to patients, and the impact of genomic findings on patients and their families.
He is the director of PPMH, and co-PI of NIH grants investigating the use of genome-scale sequencing as a diagnostic test in patients with suspected genetic disorders and as a potential screening tool in healthy newborns, and to develop a publicly available database of clinically relevant genes and variants through the "ClinGen" project. He is also an Investigator in the UNC Center for Genomics and Society, which was recently renewed as an NHGRI Center for Excellence in ELSI Research to evaluate the prospect of using genomics to improve the health of adults in the general public.
Job Titles:
- Professor of Pediatric Genetics and Metabolism Genetics
Job Titles:
- Counselor
- Genetic Counselor
Julianne O'Daniel is an experienced genetic counselor with 10+ years dedicated to research and practice within the field of medical genomics. Julianne obtained her master's degree in genetic counseling from the University of Pittsburgh and is certified by the American Board of Genetic Counseling.
Recently, Julianne joined the clinical/research team within the UNC Department of Genetics where she is collaborating on several exome sequencing projects including the NCGENES whole-exome diagnostic sequencing project, an NIH CSER grant, as well as providing cancer and adult genetic counseling. Julianne started her career at Duke University and came to UNC via Illumina, Inc. where she was part of a unique team focused on the development and delivery of clinical whole-genome sequencing services including ethico-legal considerations and variant interpretation algorithms. Prior to joining Illumina in 2010, she was an Associate in Research within the Duke Institute for Genome Sciences & Policy, as well as a practicing genetic counselor within the Duke Executive Health Program.
Her research and clinical work has centered on assessing the impact and delivery of genetic and genomic risk information including variant interpretation and the development of educational and counseling resources. Julianne has been the Principle and Co-Investigator on several federally funded grant projects and has published and presented widely within the field of genomic medicine. She is active in several professional organizations.
Job Titles:
- Professor of the Practice
Job Titles:
- Professor & Associate Chair for Research
- Professor of Genetics / Associate Chair for Research
Job Titles:
- Clinical Professor of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine and
- PPMH - Program for Precision Medicine in Health Care
- Professor / Director of the Molecular Genetics Laboratory
Dr. Weck's major research interest is translation of new knowledge of the genetic causes of disease into diagnostic testing, with the goal of better characterizing the spectrum, incidence and genotype-phenotype correlation of mutations associated with disease and to develop clinical testing in those genes with clinical utility. Dr. Weck has been co-investigator of several NIH-funded grants to implement exome/genome sequencing for diagnosis of genetic diseases from prenatal testing to adults, and is a member of the NHGRI Clinical Sequencing Evidence-Generating Research (CSER) consortium. She has been co-investigator of several institutional clinical trials to study the clinical utility of pharmacogenomics guided therapy and of the UNCseq tumor sequencing study to implement genomic sequencing for somatic mutation testing in cancer. Dr. Weck's laboratory has developed mutation testing for genes associated with primary ciliary dyskinesia, X-linked Alport syndrome, and focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSGS). The UNC molecular genetics laboratory is now one of the few laboratories in the country that offers clinical genetic testing for mutations associated with these diseases.
Job Titles:
- Professor and Chair of Cell Biology and Physiology Professor
Job Titles:
- Assistant Professor of Urology and
Job Titles:
- Member of the PPMH Leadership & Key Staff
- Clinical Associate Professor & Genetic Counselor
- Genetic Counselor
Job Titles:
- Adjunct Assistant Professor
Job Titles:
- Adjunct Professor of Genetics and Neurology
Job Titles:
- PHGS Project Manager
- Social / Clinical Research Specialist
Kriste Kuczynski is a Social/Clinical Research Specialist and has been employed in various research positions at UNC-Chapel Hill since 1998. She has served as a Research Assistant, Study Coordinator, and Program Manager. Most of the research projects she has worked on have been funded by the Ethical, Legal, and Social Implications (ELSI) of Genomics Program of the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI). Currently, she also receives funding from the UNC School of Medicine's Office of Research to manage the Center for the ELSI of Biotechnology (formerly the Center for Genomics and Society).
She has much experience in qualitative and empirical research, specifically in data collection, management, and analysis, as well as in dissemination, grant writing, protocol development, and study design.
Research studies she has worked on have covered a range of topics. They include the following:
Beyond the Medical: The ELSI of Polygenic Scores for Social Traits
Incidental Enhancement: Addressing a Neglected Policy Issue in Human Genome Editing
Decision Support for Early Phase HIV Remission Trials
ReCCAP UNC: Return to Campus COVID-19 Assessment Project for UNC-CH Employees and Trainees
Program for Precision Medicine in Health Care: Precision Genomic Screening Initiative
Center for Genomics and Society: A Center for Excellence in Ethical, Legal and Social (ELSI) Research
GeneScreen (a project of the Center which explored a wide range of ELSI issues raised by the prospect of applying a DNA sequencing technology to identify rare but clinically significant genetic variants in the general adult population.)
Integrating Decision Making Studies into HIV Cure Trials: A real-time longitudinal assessment
Keeping the promise of translational research: Will biobank specimens be used?
Families' Interpretations of Genetic Knowledge
Fragile X Newborn Screening Study
Family Adaptations to Fragile X Syndrome
Family Life Project: Ethnography of Rural Communities, Families, and Young Children
Durham Child Health and Development Study
Welfare, Children and Families: A Three-City Study; Early Childhood Research Institute on Inclusion
Job Titles:
- Assistant Professor
- Member of the PPMH Leadership & Key Staff
- PPMH Associate Director
Laura Milko earned her B.S. in Biology from Howard University in 2000, and her Ph.D. from the University of New Orleans in Conservation Biology in 2007. Her postdoctoral research in molecular ecology and population genetics in the lab of Nick Haddad at North Carolina State University ultimately led to an interest in human molecular genetics and her current research interests in applied and translational genomics. Currently, Dr. Milko is the Executive Director of the UNC/Kaiser grant (PI: Jonathan Berg, MD/PhD) of the Clinical Genome (‘ClinGen') Resource and the Associate Director of the UNC School of Medicine's Program for Precision Medicine in Health Care (PPMH). Her research interests are focused on developing and utilizing standardized, evidence-based frameworks for implementation and expert assessment of genomic evidence to improve clinical care and public health. She is collaborating with PPMH members on The Precision Health Genetic Screen (PHGS), a pilot clinical implementation of genomic screening in 1000 otherwise healthy adults in primary care practices in the UNC Health System and with community stakeholders to support health equity in precision and genomic medicine as part of a proposed augmentation of newborn screening with genomic information. Dr. Milko is currently launching a Dissemination & Implementation Research Core of the PPMH with Dr. Megan Roberts (UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy) that will be responsive to the needs of clinicians, researchers, and students on campus who are interested in the science and practice of implementation.
Job Titles:
- Adjunct Assistant Professor
Liz Hutchins joined the Program for Precision Medicine in Health Care (PPMH) as Project Manager in March 2023. She received her undergraduate degree in Exercise Science with a minor in Anthropology from UNC Chapel Hill in 2013, and her master's degree in Nutritional Biochemistry from UNC Chapel Hill in 2020.
Liz joined the UNC Genetics Department in 2018, where she did her master's research studying the genetic regulation of vitamin D metabolism. After graduating, she stayed in the department, continuing genetic research and operating as lab manager to Dr. Folami Iderabbdullah. Within PPMH, Liz's project management duties span across all eight initiatives, with the main goal of driving the program forward as a whole. With a wet bench background, management experience, and a strong desire to help bridge gaps between research and health care, she brings a fresh perspective to research implementation. In her spare time, you can find Liz throwing clay on the pottery wheel or in nature with her dogs.
Job Titles:
- Professor, School of Nursing and Carolina Center for Genome Sciences
Job Titles:
- Professor of Genetics and Microbiology & Immunology
Job Titles:
- Deputy Director of Computational Science - NC TraCS
- Distinguished Professor / Director of Precision Health & Translational Informatics
Job Titles:
- Associate Professor of Genetics and Biostatistics
Mike Plesh has worked with data interoperability and analytics in health care for over 20 years. His current work as Executive Director of Information Technology at UNC Health has involved bridging data gaps across North Carolina for the improvement of patient care with hospitals, clinics, and government entities. He also provides the leadership for enterprise reporting, technical oversite of the Carolina Data Warehouse for Health, and clinical research built within the health system's flagship electronic health record application.
Job Titles:
- Assistant Professor of Computer Science and
Job Titles:
- Associate Professor, Maternal - Fetal Medicine and
Job Titles:
- PPMH - Program for Precision Medicine in Health Care
Nicholas Shaheen is a gastroenterologist and epidemiologist who is probably best known for his groundbreaking research on Barrett's esophagus. A major theme of his research has been developing and testing new endoscopic methods for treatment of patients with Barrett's. He was the principal investigator of a 19 center U.S. trial of radiofrequency ablation for dysplastic Barrett's esophagus, demonstrating the efficacy and safety of this procedure. The paper was published in the New England Journal of Medicine. He was also the lead investigator of a 10 center study defining the efficacy of cryotherapy in subjects with Barrett's and high-grade dysplasia. These endoscopic technologies have fundamentally changed the care of patients with early esophageal neoplasia. He is also a member of several consortia that are conducting translational studies of Barrett's patients.
Job Titles:
- Oliver Smithies Investigator
Job Titles:
- Executive Assistant to Fernando Pardo Manuel De Villena, Chair
Job Titles:
- Assistant Professor of Biology and
Job Titles:
- Distinguished Professor of Genetics and Psychiatry / Office: 5097 Genetic Medicine Building
Job Titles:
- Vice President: IT - System Relations, UNC Health
Job Titles:
- Assistant Professor
- Director, Systems Genetics Core Facility
Job Titles:
- Social / Clinical Research Assistant
Rachel Phillips graduated in 2022 with her B.A. in Biology and a minor in History from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She has experience working in administrative roles in clinical healthcare settings, and she plans to pursue graduate education in genetic counseling. She currently works as a Social/Clinical Research Assistant for the Program for Precision Medicine (PPMH) and the Age-Based Genomic Screening (ABGS) project, and she also provides administrative support for the EDGE Genomics program. In her spare time, Rachel is a competitive ballroom dancer.
Job Titles:
- Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and
Job Titles:
- Professor of Biology and Genetics / Chair, Department of Biology
Job Titles:
- Professor Emeritus of Pathology Lab Med and
Job Titles:
- Education Director
- Member of the PPMH Leadership & Key Staff
- EDGE Program Director
Sabrina Powell earned a B.S. in Applied Biology from the Georgia Institute of Technology, a M.S. in Marine Sciences from UNC-CH, and a Ph.D. in Environmental Sciences and Engineering from UNC-CH. Her graduate research focused on microbially-mediated methods to clean up contaminated soils. She has extensive experience working in science education as a curriculum designer. In Florida and Texas, she designed and taught science-themed professional development workshops for K-12 teachers.
Sabrina is the Education Director for the Program for Precision Medicine in Health Care (PPMH). Under her guidance, PPMH is developing education initiatives for a broad range of stakeholders - patients, clinicians, graduate students, undergraduate students, high school students, and the general public.
Outside of the lab, Sabrina enjoys playing piano, baking, and hiking.
Job Titles:
- Deputy Director of Computational Science - NC TraCS
- Distinguished Professor / Director of Precision Health & Translational Informatics
Job Titles:
- Associate Professor Emeritus
Job Titles:
- Business Officer / Grants Manager
Job Titles:
- Professor of Genetics and Biology
Job Titles:
- Professor, Medicine - Gastroenterology
Job Titles:
- Administrative Director, UNC Department Pediatrics' Children 's Research Institute ( CRI )
Job Titles:
- Member of the PPMH Leadership & Key Staff
- Clinical Assistant Professor at the UNC School of Medicine
- GENYSIS Director
Tam is a Clinical Assistant Professor at the UNC School of Medicine in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, and Director of Clinical Genomic Analysis Research for the UNC Program for Precision Medicine in Health Care (PPMH). He received a DPhil in Clinical Medicine at the University of Oxford and an MRes in Bioinformatics at the University of York. Both theses focused on the genomic characterization of the PKD1 gene (associated with polycystic kidney disease) and its homologues. Most recently, Tam completed the ABMGG Laboratory Genetics and Genomics Fellowship at UNC.
Past projects include leading the design and development of the dbVar database of large-scale genomic variants at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and, as a core team member, establishing the variant analysis workflow for the Stanford Clinical Genomic Service. As a proponent for open-source genomic resources and publicly available data, Tam is also a project-long member of ClinGen.
Job Titles:
- Professor of Genetics and Biology
Job Titles:
- Kay M. & Van L. Weatherspoon Eminent Distinguished Professor
- Office: 5014 Genetic Medicine Building
Job Titles:
- Adjunct Associate Professor of Genetics / Associate Professor, School of Pharmacy DPET
Job Titles:
- Retired Professor of Genetics and Microbiology & Immunology
Job Titles:
- Distinguished Professor and Chair of Medicine - Oncology / Professor
Job Titles:
- Professor of Statistics and Operations Research, Biostatistics, and
Job Titles:
- Professor of Genetics and Biostatistics