Our founder, Elizabeth, has been preoccupied with understanding the genetic cause of human disease ever since she learned about DNA (shout-out to one of our favorites
Rosalind Franklin). Elizabeth received her PhD from Duke University in human genetics and genomics where she learned how to analyze big data with an emerging technology known as next-generation sequencing. She has discovered linkages (or connections) between over 36 genes and specific human diseases. During her Postdoctoral Fellowship at UCLA she used machine learning to uncover 16 new autism genes, showing clear evidence of inherited risk for autism. She is personally driven to close the medical research gender gap.
Awards include: Charles J. Epstein Trainee Awardee for Excellence in Human Genetics Research, Jo Rae Wright Fellowship for Outstanding Women in Science, Neurobehavioral Genetics Fellow, and Ray J. Tysor Graduate Fellowship awardee
20+ peer-reviewed publications can be found in journals such as: AJHG, Cell, Neuron, and Nature.