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Melissa A. Austin, PhD, MS


Professor, Epidemiology
Adjunct Professor, Bioethics and Humanities
Adjunct Professor, Department of Medicine
Adjunct Professor, Metabolism

Joint Member, Public Health Sciences, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center

Dr. Austin is Professor of Epidemiology in the School of Public Health and Director of the Institute for Public Health Genetics (IPHG) at the UW.


Contact Information
University of Washington
Box 357236
Institute for Public Health Genetics
F363 Health Sciences Building
Seattle, WA 98195-7236
Tel: 206-616-9286
Fax: 206-685-9651
http://depts.washington.edu/phgen/
maustin@u.washington.edu

Affiliations
Institute For Public Health Genetics ( IPHG, Director )
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center (Joint Member )

Research Interests
Dr. Austin's research program focuses on the genetic epidemiology of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and pancreatic cancer. Her NIH-funded projects have included two large-scale family studies, one studying the genetics hyperlipidemia and the other studying risk for diabetes and the metabolic syndrome among Japanese Americans. Most recently, she is investigating candidate genes for pancreatic cancer in two studies funded by the National Cancer Institute.
In her role as director of the IPHG, Dr. Austin leads an interdisciplinary team of faculty members from five different schools and colleges at the UW (Public Health, Law, Medicine, Pharmacy, Nursing), the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle Children's Hospital, and the Washington State Department of Health. She oversees academic activities for the IPHG, including the MPH and the Ph.D. in Public Health Genetics degree programs. She teaches PHG511/EPI517, Genetic Epidemiology in the spring quarter.

From 2005 to 2007, Dr. Austin was as Associate Dean for Academic Programs in the UW Graduate School. She served on the Advisory Council for the NIH National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute from 2000 to 2004, and was an Established Investigator of the American Heart Association from 1994 to 1999. Dr. Austin was on sabbatical in 2001 with support from the International Atherosclerosis Society and the Department of Epidemiology. During that time, she was an Honorary Visiting Fellow at the University of Cambridge attached to the Public Health Genetics Unit, and was a Visiting Professor at the Centre for Cardiovascular Genetics at University College London.

Teaching Interests
Dr. Austin teaches EPI517/PHG511, Genetic Epidemiology during Winter Quarter and PHG 580, Public Health Genetics Interactive Seminar, during Autumn, Winter, Spring Quarters.

Education
PhD, Epidemiology, University of California (Berkeley) 1985
MS, Biostatistics, University of California Los Angeles 1975

Links
For more information, you can go to Community of Science Expertise
FHCRC Faculty Homepage - for center news and research projects