Neil Risch | |
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Education | California Institute of Technology (BS) University of California, Los Angeles (PhD) |
Known for | Emphasizing links between population genetics and clinical application |
Awards | American Association for the Advancement of Science; California Academy of Science; National Academy of Medicine; Curt Stern Award, American Society of Human Genetics; William Allan Award, American Society of Human Genetics; Paul Hoch Award, American Psychopathological Association |
Scientific career | |
Fields | Statistical genetics |
Institutions | Columbia University; Yale University; Stanford University; University of California, San Francisco |
Neil Risch is an American human geneticist and professor at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). Risch is the Lamond Family Foundation Distinguished Professor in Human Genetics, Founding Director of the Institute for Human Genetics, and Professor of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at UCSF. He specializes in statistical genetics, genetic epidemiology and population genetics.
Risch received undergraduate training in mathematics at the California Institute of Technology (1972) and his PhD in biomathematics at UCLA (1979). Prior to his position at UCSF, he held professorial positions at Columbia University, Yale University and Stanford University. He has been referred to as "the statistical geneticist of our time."[1]
Known for his work on numerous genetic diseases including torsion dystonia, Risch emphasizes the links between population genetics and clinical application, believing that understanding human population history and disease susceptibility go hand in hand.[2]