ABOUT ME
I am a computational human geneticist interested in the complex relationship between genotype, phenotype, and natural selection. My training and experience sit at the interface of multiple fields: theoretical genetics, molecular biology, bioinformatics and machine learning, medical genetics, biomedical informatics, protein physics, and more. My favorite projects are those that break new ground by reaching across multiple of these disciplines. My goal is to build innovative computational models and useful software tools that will enable new advances in the clinic and new insights into biological causation.
EDUCATION
RESEARCH INTERESTS
Variant Interpretation
I develop methods to predict the effects of novel variants on human phenotype.
2015-2020 Postdoctoral Fellowship
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
I did a joint postdoc under Ron Do and Eric Schadt in the Charles Bronfman Institute for Personalized Medicine and the Department of Genetics and Genomic Sciences. I worked on projects in complex trait genetics and computational systems biology.
Non-Additivity in Natural Selection
I develop models of recessivity and epistasis in purifying selection, especially in the context of human disease.
Polygenic Causation and Pleiotropy
I investigate the causal relationships between complex traits and diseases, and develop methods to explore the effects of genetic variation on these relationships.
2008-2015 Ph.D in Biophysics
Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences
I did my Ph.D. with Shamil Sunyaev in the Division of Genetics at Brigham and Women's Hospital. I studied the evolution of rare protein coding variation and developed methods to predict the effects of this variation on human health.
Systems Biology
I analyze state-of-the-art multi-omics data to learn about the biology and genetics underlying complex biological phenomena.
2002-2006 B.A. cum laude
Yale College
I majored in Physics and Philosophy at Yale.
DIVERSITY, EQUITY, AND INCLUSION
Equally to my scientific research interests, it is a longstanding career goal and deep interest of mine to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion, both in science generally and in human genetics specifically. Changing the culture of science in this way requires constant, active effort, and that effort far too often falls on marginalized scientists themselves. All of us, especially those with privilege, must support an antiracist culture in science and act as a model of inclusion and equity. This is an ideal I strive to meet every day with the power and privilege that whiteness and maleness afford me, and I will continue to strive towards it as my career advances and I gain more power and privilege.