Faculty members within the Center for Human Genomics come from various departments of Wake Forest University School of Medicine. Most members have faculty appointments in either internal medicine, pediatrics/medical genetics, or public health/epidemiology. Because of our strong ties to these diverse departments, we are in a position to rapidly assemble remarkable research teams for innovative research projects on an ongoing basis.

Please browse the alphabetical list of faculty members below for a quick summary of our group's interests. Click on an individual member's name for more details, including a biographical sketch, research interests, and lists of publications.


Directors:

Eugene R. Bleecker, MD
Main research focus is the genetics of pulmonary diseases, including asthma.

Deborah A. Meyers, PhD
Main research interests include both the genetics of pulmonary diseases and prostate cancer.

Associate Director:

Donald W. Bowden, PhD
Research interests are focused on the genetics of diabetes.

Stephen Peters, M.D, PhD
Main research interests include the genetics of pulmonary diseases, including asthma.

Jianfeng Xu, DrPH
Main research interest is the genetics of prostate cancer. Supervises most data analysis in the center.

Faculty:

Mark Dykewicz, MD
Research interests include Asthma,æRhinitis, Drug Allergy, Anaphylaxis, and Allergy Testing Methods.

Annette T. Hastie, PhD
Main research interests include the genetics of pulmonary diseases, including asthma and COPD.

Gregory A. Hawkins, PhD
Main research interests include a focus on pharmacogenetics related to asthma therapy, primarily in the corticosteroid and beta-2 agonist pathways and pharmacogenetics of beta-2 agonist therapy.æ Also, responsible for the high throughput sequencing lab.

David M. Herrington, MD, MHS
Research focuses on the pathogenesis and prevention of atherosclerosis.

Timothy D. Howard, PhD
Primary research focuses on identifying genes for complex diseases, with a focus on genes involved in cardiovascular and pulmonary disease.

Tamison Jewett, MD
One major research area is the improvment of medical genetics instruction for medical students. Clinical research interests include connective tissue disorders.

Patrick Koty, MD
Research focuses on Breast Cancer.

Yongmei Liu
Research focuses on the role of inflammatory factors in mediating the excess risk of cardiovascular disease.

Wennuan Liu, PhD
Research focuses on the genetics of prostate cancer.

Wendy Moore, MD
Current research focuses on defining gene-phenotype interactions in asthma to determine possible roles in disease expression and modulation of disease severity.

Maggie Ng, PhD
Research interest includes genetic epidemiology of diabetes, diabetic complications, obesity, metabolic syndrome and cardiovascular diseases.  Projects focus on genome-wide association studies and meta-analyses for metabolic traits including type 2 diabetes, obesity and cardiovascular risk factors in African American and European populations.

Barbara Nicklas, PhD
Major research areas include aging, obesity and exercise physiology. Projects integrate evaluations of genetics, behavior, and medication use.

Jill Ohar, MD
Primary area of interest is the genetics of inhalational diseases such as COPD, asbestosis and mesothelioma.

Rodolfo M. Pascual, MD
Main research interests include the genetics of pulmonary diseases, including asthma.

Mark Pettenati, PhD
Research interests include cytogenetics and new applications of FISH technology.

Bingzhong Xue, PhD
Interests include studying the role of endogenous anti-inflammatory pathways in the prevention of obesity-induced insulin resistance.  Projects study the role of AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) in the regulation of obesity induced inflammation and insulin resistance.

Sigun (Lilly) Zheng, MD
Supervises the high throughput genotyping lab. Involved in most major projects in the center, including those focused on prostate cancer, asthma, allergy, and cardiovascular disease.