Panel session 5: Thursday, June 6 — 2:45 to 3:45 p.m.
Chair

Jason Fletcher
University of Wisconsin–Madison
A specialist in health economics and social genomics, Professor Fletcher focuses his research on combining genetics and social science research and examining how in utero and early life conditions affect later-life health, cognition, and mortality. He is an affiliate of the Institute for Research on Poverty, Holtz Center for Science & Technology Studies, Center for Demography and Ecology, and the Data Science Institute at the University and a Research Associate with the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) and Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). He is co-author of the award winning book, The Genome Factor, and a 2023 Guggenheim Fellow.
Panelists

Manisha Jain
University of Wisconsin–Madison
Manisha Jain is a PhD student in the Economics department at UW-Madison. She is an applied microeconomist with an interest in social science genetics, labor, public, and development economics. Some of her other research focuses on studying fertility and sex ratio at birth in India, the impact of affirmative action on intergenerational mobility in India, and the impact of a federal hiring subsidy (WOTC) on labor market outcomes in the US.
Presentation or paper
The risks cannot be compensated”: The willingness to donate DNA for science and its relationship with economic preferences

Matthew Kucmanic
University of Iowa
Matthew Kucmanic is a Health Geography PhD student at the University of Iowa studying the understandings of space, place, environment, and genetics by researchers and neurodivergent peoples. Matthew is also a member of the Beyond the Medical Research team where they are looking at the ethical, legal, and social implications of sociogenic research and applications of polygenic scores. Matthew has master’s degrees in public health and bioethics from Case Western Reserve University where he also worked for five years prior to coming to Iowa. In his spare time, Matthew enjoys trail running, experimenting with various kinds of fermentation, and singing with local choirs.
Presentation or paper
Social networks of social genomic researchers and their domains

Zhiyuan (Effy) Yu
Johns Hopkins University
Dr. Effy Zhiyuan Yu’s research focuses on understanding and preventing the intergenerational transmission of adversity and its health consequences, with an overarching goal to improve health outcomes and equities among families and young children exposed to high levels of adversity. She received her BSN and PhD in Nursing from the University of Wisconsin–Madison and completed three-year postdoc in psychiatric-mental health nursing research at Johns Hopkins University. Supported by the NICHD, her current K99/R00 work focuses on elucidating the influences of adverse and positive childhood experiences on maternal sensitivity and child immune outcomes in the context of evidence-based parenting intervention RCT.
Presentation or paper
Childhood adversities and the ATTACHTM Program’s influence on immune cell gene expression