Thursday, May 15 — 1 to 1:45 p.m.
Chair
James Li
University of Wisconsin–Madison
Dr. James Li is an A. A. Alexander Professor of Psychology and Director of Clinical Training in the Department of Psychology at UW-Madison. He received his PhD in Clinical Psychology from UCLA and completed his post-doctoral training at the Virginia Institute for Psychiatric and Behavioral Genetics. Dr. Li’s research bridges clinical and diversity science, quantitative psychology, genomics, neuroscience, and developmental psychopathology to study the causes of neurodevelopmental and externalizing conditions, features, and behaviors.
Panelists
Evelina Akimova
Purdue University
Dr. Evelina Akimova’s primary research areas are health inequalities, focusing on chronotype and wellbeing, using computational social science and statistical genetics methods. Her current research focuses on the use of molecular genetics, survey, and accelerometer data to understand the complex interplay between chronotype, depressive symptoms, and labor market decisions and trajectories.
Beyond social science genomics, Dr. Akimova is focusing on causal inference methods, particularly investigating the harmful consequences of different types of collider bias and sample selection. She is also engaged in meta-analytic techniques applied to social stratification research.
Dr. Akimova earned her PhD in Sociology from the University of Oxford in 2021, where she explored the combined roles of biological and socio-demographic determinants of depressive symptoms in the UK. Before joining Purdue University, she completed her postdoc at the Leverhulme Center for Demographic Science and Nuffield College, University of Oxford, in 2024.
Presentation or paper
The social and genetic contributions to the intergenerational transmission of fertility
Megan Cooke
Rutgers University, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School
Dr. Megan Cooke is a Research Associate in the Genes, Environment, and Neurodevelopment in Addictions (GENA) research program at Rutgers University. She received her PhD in Clinical and Translational Science with a concentration in Psychiatric, Behavioral, and Statistical Genetics from Virginia Commonwealth University. Dr. Cooke’s research combines her training in genetics, neuroscience, and clinical research with the goal of understanding how individual differences in these factors influence the development of substance use disorders.
Presentation or paper
Partner substance use and genetic predispositions as predictors of problematic alcohol use, relationship quality, and emotional wellbeing
Rossella De Sabbata
University of Bristol
Rossella De Sabbata is a PhD student in Economics at the University of Bristol affiliated with the Epidemiology unit and an ESSGN doctoral candidate at the European Social Science Genetics Network. Her research interests broadly lie in empirical microeconomics; in her PhD she is researching how environmental and genetic forces jointly shape health and well-being over the life course.
Presentation or paper
Low-dose ionizing radiation: Long-term health effects of the 1957 Windscale fire
LiChen Dong
University of Wisconsin-Madison
LiChen Dong is a PhD student in Clinical Psychology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, working with Dr. James Li in the Social and Behavioral Development Lab. His research focuses on integrating quantitative genetic and genomic methodologies to better understand the complex interplay of genetic and environmental influences on the development of externalizing and neurodevelopmental psychopathology, as well as its implication for precision intervention. He also has a general interest in quantitative modeling the structure and development of psychopathology.
Presentation or paper
Downstream Effects of Externalizing Genetic Risks on Adolescent Psychosocial Environments: A Twin-And-Sibling-Based Analysis
Jovana Jovanovska
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Jovana Jovanovska is a PhD student in Epidemiology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her research focuses on how genetic factors influence the onset and variability in the progression of Alzheimer’s disease.
Presentation or paper
Characterizing Age at Onset of Alzheimer’s Disease Using Polygenic Risk Scores: A Multi-Ancestry Perspective
Erin Lumpe
Rutgers University
Erin Lumpe, MS is a PhD candidate co-mentored by Dr. Jessica Salvatore and Dr. Danielle Dick in the Department of Psychology at Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey. Using genetically-informed longitudinal samples, she aims to identify the genetic and environmental etiological factors implicated in substance use disorders across the lifespan. As a second-year PhD student, she received the New Jersey Alliance for Clinical and Translational Science (NJ ACTS) pre-doctoral fellowship which provided extensive precision training in translational science. She is interested in leveraging her substance use research and translational science training to inform public health and social policies, with the ultimate goal of reducing the burden of disease on affected individuals, their families, and society at large.
Presentation or paper
Does parental AUD moderate associations between polygenic predispositions and substance use outcomes?
Nicolau Martin-Bassols
University of Bologna
Nicolau Martin-Bassols is a Post-doctoral Research Fellow at the Department of Economics at the University of Bologna. He obtained his PhD from Monash University’s Centre of Health Economics in 2022. He specializes in applied microeconomics and micro-econometrics, with a focus on health, labor economics, and social genomics. His research explores the impact of genetics, familial investments, and policy interventions on the construction of health and human capital, as well as economic disparities.
Presentation or paper
Tracing the Genetic Footprints of the UK National Health Service
Yuchang Wu
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Yuchang Wu is an Assistant Scientist in the BMI department at the University of Wisconsin-Madison working in Qiongshi Lu’s group. His research interests include statistical genetics and social genomics.
Presentation or paper
Genetic basis of misreporting height in AllofUs