Scientific Advisors

Dr. Lovett is Professor of Genetics and Pediatrics, Joint Director, Division of Human Genetics, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri. Dr. Lovett was previously Associate Professor of Otorhinolaryngology, Molecular Biology and Oncology, and a Member of the Eugene McDermott Center for Human Growth and Development at the University of Texas Southwestern (UTSW) Medical Center at Dallas. Prior to his move to UTSW, Dr. Lovett was a faculty member at UCSF and Senior Director of Molecular Genetics at Genelabs Incorporated. His research group has conducted pioneering work in gene identification methods and have participated in the positional cloning of several disease genes. Among these are the genes that cause ataxia-telangiectasia, Chediak-Higashi syndrome, diastrophic dysplasia and multiple exostoses. His current research interests include the genetics of non-syndromic hearing loss, new methodologies for gene discovery and analysis, and the molecular genetics of orthopaedic disorders. Dr. Lovett received his PhD. in Biochemistry from the University of London and his postdoctoral training in Genetics at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF).

In addition to serving as Assistant Professor of Genetics, Washington University School of Medicine, Dr. Mardis is also the co-director of the Washington University Genome Sequencing Center where she leads the Technology Development group. Dr. Mardis is an expert in the development of DNA sequencing technology and is responsible for the many procedures and high-throughput automated systems currently in use at the Genome Sequencing Center. Dr. Mardis has served as a technical consultant for several commercial high-throughput sequencing laboratories, including Monsanto and Millennium Pharmaceuticals. Dr. Mardis received her Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of Oklahoma.

Dr. McLeod is the Fred Eshelman Distinguished Professor at the University of North Carolina School of Pharmacy in the Pharmacotherapy and Experimental Therapeutics Division. Dr. McLeod is also the Principal Investigator for the CREATE Pharmacogenetics Research Network, a member of the NIH funded Pharmacogenetics Research Network and is a member of the FDA subcommittee on Clinical Pharmacology. Howard has published over 170 peer reviewed papers on pharmacogenomics, applied therapeutics, or clinical pharmacology and continues to work to integrate genetics principles into clinical practice to advance individualized medicine.

Dr. Richards is currently an Associate Professor of Biology at Washington University. He received his Ph.D. in Microbiology and Molecular Genetics from Harvard University in 1989. Dr. Richards' research program uses a combination of forward and reverse genetic approaches to study the function and regulation of cytosine methylation, principally using experimental models. In addition, the Richards lab studies the broader role of DNA modification and chromatin packaging in cementing alternative epigenetic states that influence inherited characters.

Dr. Watson is an Assistant Professor in the Division of Laboratory Medicine at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Missouri. He also currently serves as the Director of the Siteman Cancer Center Tissue Procurement Core Facility and as the Director of the Multiplexed Gene Analysis Core Facility at the Siteman Cancer Center in addition to serving as the Director of the American College of Surgeons Oncology Group Central Specimen Bank. Dr. Watson earned his Ph.D. in Neuroscience and his M.D. from Washington University in 1992. His laboratory specializes in characterizing the genes associated with solid tumor development in humans with the goal of developing new diagnostic tests and treatment strategies for these tumors. The Watson lab has a special focus on understanding the role that a group of novel proteins they identified, including mammoglobin, play in the development of human breast cancer.