People

Dr. Engelman earned her MS in Public Health (2002) and PhD in Epidemiology (2006) from the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center and has been a faculty member in Population Health Sciences at UW-Madison since 2007.  Her research focuses on the study design and data analysis of genetic, demographic, socioeconomic, behavioral, physiological and environmental factors of complex diseases, including biomarkers and preclinical traits related to Alzheimer’s disease, and also vitamin D deficiency. Dr. Engelman’s group uses epidemiological, statistical, and bioinformatic approaches to analyze large-scale ‘omic data, including that from whole genome array genotyping; whole-genome sequencing; DNA methylation beadchip; and metabolomic, lipidomic, and proteomic mass spectrometry. Her research integrates ‘omic and questionnaire data to understand, predict, prevent, and/or treat health conditions. Dr. Engelman is especially interested in identifying interactions with modifiable factors (e.g., social, behavioral, and environmental) to inform precision medicine and health.

Yuetiva is interested in analyzing quantitative traits to help further understanding of complex diseases. Currently her research integrates genomics, metabolomics, and bioinformatics methods to help determine the underlying biology impacting Alzheimer disease (AD). Yuetiva received her Bachelor’s degrees in Neuroscience and Molecular Biology from the University of Colorado in Boulder, and earned her PhD from Washington University in St Louis School of Medicine where she focused on genetic associations with AD biomarkers such as CSF amyloid and tau to help uncover biological pathways associated with AD pathology.

Yuexuan received his master’s degree in public policy (Health Economics track) at the University of Southern California and is currently a Ph.D. student in the Population Health Science program. He is interested in social science genetics. His current research explores integrating genetics into social science research to better understand the relationship between social/genetic determinants and multiple health and social outcomes.

Diandra’s interests are in exploring risk assessment and nutritional epidemiology in the context of chronic diseases including Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) and Cancer. She earned her Master’s in Cell and Molecular Biology (2013) from Towson University in Maryland, and is currently a Ph.D student in the Interdepartmental Graduate Program in Nutritional Sciences (IGPNS).

Jerome’s research interests include applications of genomic epidemiology, data science and bioinformatics. He is interested in exploring the relationships between social/environmental determinants and genetic modifications. Jerome earned his Master’s degree in statistics at the University of Michigan and is currently a Ph.D. student in epidemiology.

Andrew is a current graduate student in the Population Health Sciences program who previously earned his Master’s degree in biochemistry at Iowa State University.  His current research focuses on metabolomic shifts relating to the chronicity of amyloid positivity in Alzheimer’s Disease progression.  More broadly, his interests include exploring the relationship between lifestyle factors and health outcomes as mediated by changes in the metabolome and proteome.