Professor Honored for Work in Genetic Epidemiology.
L. Adrienne Cupples, professor of biostatistics and epidemiology, received the International Genetic Epidemiology Society (IGES) Leadership Award at the annual IGES meeting at Queen’s College, University of Cambridge, in the UK on September 10.
The award recognizes significant contributions to the field of genetic epidemiology through teaching, research, and/or service. In addition, the nominee must have demonstrated consistent leadership in making IGES a vibrant research community that fosters the careers of young investigators.
Cupples came to SPH in 1981, and went on to serve as the founding chair of the Department of Biostatistics and co-executive director of the Graduate Program in Biostatistics. She has collaborated in the Framingham Heart Study for more than 30 years, and was recently co-principal investigator of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) Contract to Boston University for the Framingham Heart Study and co-chair of the Framingham Genetics Steering Committee. In addition, she has a long history with the study of the genetic etiology of Alzheimer’s disease in the MIRAGE Study (Multi-Institutional Research of Alzheimer’s Genetic Epidemiology), and of Huntington disease. She has been actively involved in genetic risk prediction and evaluation of how people interpret and respond to such predictions, particularly in the context of Alzheimer’s disease through the REVEAL (Risk Evaluation and Education for Alzheimer’s Disease) Study.
“I feel humbled and also honored,” Cupples says of the award. She notes genetics research has “exploded” in recent decades. “While we are only scratching the surface of the effects of genetics on public health and disease, we are gradually adding to the armamentarium of healthcare strategies to improve the health of the nation and the world,” she says.
“There is much to be learned as yet, providing fertile grounds for young investigators to extend our knowledge. The International Genetic Epidemiology Society is a leading society fostering these investigators.”
Founded in 1991, the International Genetic Epidemiology Society (IGES) is a scientific society including geneticists, epidemiologists, statisticians, mathematicians, biologists, related biomedical researchers, and students interested in research on the genetic basis of disease, complex traits, and their risk factors.