Dr. Crawford’s laboratory accesses large-scale epidemiologic and clinical data in electronic health records to characterize common and rare genetic variants associated with human diseases. A particular interest is in identifying pleiotropy (when a single gene influences two or more seemingly unrelated physical traits) and environmental modifiers of genetic associations, including pharmacogenomics (the study of how genes affect a person’s response to drugs). She has published more than 160 peer-reviewed manuscripts.\n\nAmong her accomplishments was serving as principal investigator of the NIH’s Electronic Medical Records & Genomics (eMERGE) Network Coordinating Center and co-chair of the eMERGE Network’s Genomics Working Group. She also played a leadership role in the NIH’s Population Architecture using Genomics and Epidemiology (PAGE) study. She is currently serving a three-year term as an elected member of the American Society of Human Genetics Board of Directors.\n\nIn addition to her primary research, Dr. Crawford promotes the cultivation of women and minorities in STEM education and research by organizing and participating in national and international workshops and educational lectures, that emphasize participation and perspectives or women and minorities. She is an advocate for diversity in research design and cohort recruitment, recognizing that perspectives and findings from diverse studies can unlock why people with diverse genetic, behavioral, and environmental backgrounds can have varied outcomes to interventions or treatments.\n\nHer honors and awards include the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine Faculty Diversity Award, Society for Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science Distinguished Research Mentor Award, Kavli Frontiers of Science Fellow, Keystone Symposia on Molecular and Cellular Biology Fellow, NCMHD/NIH Health Disparities Research Scholar, and the ASHG C.W. Cotterman Award.\n\nBefore coming to CWRU, Dr. Crawford spent eight years as tenure-track faculty in the Department of Molecular Physiology and Biophysics and Investigator in the Center for Human Genetics Research at Vanderbilt University.\n\n
