News Release

Biostatistician Goncalo Abecasis chosen as Pew Scholar in Biomedical Sciences

June 29, 2005 press release from the University of Michigan School of Public Health

Goncalo Abecasis The Pew Charitable Trusts and the University of California at San Francisco announced on June 27 that SPH Assistant Professor Gonçalo Abecasis is among 15 gifted researchers who have been chosen as 2005 Pew Scholars in the Biomedical Sciences. As a Pew Scholar, Abecasis, a member of the Department of Biostatistics, will receive a $240,000 award to help support his research over a four-year period.

Abecasis is using powerful statistical methods, which he developed, to identify the genetic changes that lead to psoriasis, a chronic skin condition. Using a collection of large families where multiple individuals are susceptible to psoriasis, Abecasis proposes to identify master regulatory genes responsible for the gene-expression profile characteristic of psoriasis.

Launched in 1985, the Pew Scholars in the Biomedical Sciences program provides crucial early support to investigators in the early-to-mid stages of their careers who show outstanding promise in the basic and clinical sciences.

Contact: Terri Mellow, director of communications
Phone: (734) 764-8094
E-mail: twm@umich.edu