Kathryn Lunetta
Profiles

Kathryn L. Lunetta, PhD

Professor, Biostatistics - Boston University School of Public Health

617-358-2589
klunetta@bu.edu
Crosstown Center - 313
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Biography

Kathryn L. Lunetta, Ph.D. is a Professor of Biostatistics and a statistical geneticist with more than 20 years of experience in statistics and genetics research. She has extensive experience with the design and analysis of genome- wide association studies and sequencing studies and collaborate on several large, national and international genetic epidemiology studies at Boston University and with the Framingham Heart study. Her methodological research focuses on statistical problems and study design and analysis issues in human genetics, particularly in the mapping of complex genetic diseases. Her collaborative work spans several fields, including the genetics of atrial fibrillation and related phenotypes, the genetics of healthy aging and reproduction, and Alzheimer disease. She is a member of the CHARGE (Cohorts for Heart and Aging Research) consortium and participates on the Steering and Analysis committees, and also a TOPMed investigator and analysis committee member. She is senior/primary statistician on several Alzheimer Disease related projects and for the Framingham Heart Study Atrial Fibrillation working groups, where she advises on methodology and long-term goals and provide day- to-day supervision of analyses. She is multi-PI of a Framingham Immune cell and brain aging project that seeks to identify immune cell and inflammatory biomarkers related to cognitive aging.

Other Positions

  • Investigator - Framingham Heart Study
  • Member, Genome Science Institute - Boston University
  • Member, Evans Center for Interdisciplinary Biomedical Research - Boston University

Education

  • University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, PhD Field of Study: Biostatistics
  • University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, MS Field of Study: Biostatistics
  • Grinnell College, BA Field of Study: Sociology

Websites

Classes Taught

  • SPHBS859

Publications

  • Published on 9/1/2025

    Kang M, Ang TFA, Devine SA, Sherva R, Mukherjee S, Trittschuh EH, Scollard P, Lee M, Choi SE, Klinedinst B, Nakano C, Dumitrescu LC, Hohman TJ, Cuccaro ML, Saykin AJ, Kukull WA, Bennett DA, Wang LS, Mayeux RP, Haines JL, Pericak-Vance MA, Schellenberg GD, Crane PK, Au R, Lunetta KL, Mez J, Farrer LA. Genome-wide pleiotropy analysis of longitudinal blood pressure and harmonized cognitive performance measures. Alzheimers Dement. 2025 Sep; 21(9):e70681. PMID: 40951946.

     Read At: PubMed
  • Published on 8/19/2025

    Huang J, Wang Y, Stein TD, Ang TFA, Zhu Y, Tao Q, Lunetta KL, Mez J, Au R, Farrer LA, Qiu WQ, Zhang X. The impact of blood MCP-1 levels on Alzheimer's disease with genetic variation at the NAV3 and UNC5C loci. Transl Psychiatry. 2025 Aug 19; 15(1):296. PMID: 40830334.

     Read At: PubMed
  • Published on 7/29/2025

    Ragab AAY, Doyle MF, Chen J, Lunetta KL, Murabito JM. Alcohol consumption and immune cell profiles: Insights from the Framingham Heart Study. Alcohol Clin Exp Res (Hoboken). 2025 Sep; 49(9):1953-1961. PMID: 40728111.

     Read At: PubMed
  • Published on 7/17/2025

    Rajabli F, Benchek P, Tosto G, Kushch N, Sha J, Bazemore K, Zhu C, Lee WP, Haut J, Hamilton-Nelson KL, Wheeler NR, Zhao Y, Farrell JJ, Grunin MA, Leung YY, Kuksa PP, Li D, da Fonseca EL, Mez JB, Palmer EL, Pillai J, Sherva RM, Song YE, Zhang X, Ikeuchi T, Iqbal T, Pathak O, Valladares O, Reyes-Dumeyer D, Kuzma AB, Abner E, Adams LD, Adams PM, Aguirre A, Albert MS, Albin RL, Allen M, Alvarez L, Apostolova LG, Arnold SE, Asthana S, Atwood CS, Auerbach S, Ayres G, Baldwin CT, Barber RC, Barnes LL, Barral S, Beach TG, Becker JT, Beecham GW, Beekly D, Benitez BA, Bennett D, Bertelson J, Bird TD, Blacker D, Boeve BF, Bowen JD, Boxer A, Brewer J, Burke JR, Burns JM, Buxbaum JD, Cairns NJ, Cantwell LB, Cao C, Carlson CS, Carlsson CM, Carney RM, Carrasquillo MM, Chasse S, Chesselet MF, Chin NA, Chui HC, Chung J, Craft S, Crane PK, Cribbs DH, Crocco EA, Cruchaga C, Cuccaro ML, Cullum M, Darby E, Davis B, De Jager PL, DeCarli C, DeToledo J, Dick M, Dickson DW, Dombroski BA, Doody RS, Duara R, Ertekin-Taner N, Evans DA, Faber KM, Fairchild TJ, Fallon KB, Fardo DW, Farlow MR, Fernandez-Hernandez V, Ferris S, Friedland RP, Foroud TM, Frosch MP, Fulton-Howard B, Galasko DR, Gamboa A, Gearing M, Geschwind DH, Ghetti B, Gilbert JR, Go RCP, Goate AM, Grabowski TJ, Graff-Radford NR, Green RC, Growdon JH, Hakonarson H, Hall J, Hamilton RL, Harari O, Hardy J, Harrell LE, Head E, Henderson VW, Hernandez M, Hohman T, Honig LS, Huebinger RM, Huentelman MJ, Hulette CM, Hyman BT, Hynan LS, Ibanez L, Jarvik GP, Jayadev S, Jin LW, Johnson K, Johnson L, Kamboh MI, Karydas AM, Katz MJ, Kauwe JS, Kaye JA, Keene CD, Khaleeq A, Kikuchi M, Kim R, Knebl J, Kowall NW, Kramer JH, Kukull WA, LaFerla FM, Lah JJ, Larson EB, Lerner A, Leverenz JB, Levey AI, Lieberman AP, Lipton RB, Logue M, Lopez OL, Lunetta KL, Lyketsos CG, Mains D, Margaret FE, Marson DC, Martin ER, Martiniuk F, Mash DC, Masliah E, Massman P, Masurkar A, McCormick WC, McCurry SM, McDavid AN, McDonough S, McKee AC, Mesulam M, Miller BL, Miller CA, Miller JW, Montine TJ, Monuki ES, Morris JC, Mukherjee S, Myers AJ, Nguyen T, Obisesan T, O'Bryant S, Olichney JM, Ory M, Palmer R, Parisi JE, Paulson HL, Pavlik V, Paydarfar D, Perez V, Peskind E, Petersen RC, Petrovitch H, Pierce A, Polk M, Poon WW, Potter H, Qu L, Quiceno M, Quinn JF, Raj A, Raskind M, Reiman EM, Reisberg B, Reisch JS, Ringman JM, Roberson ED, Rodriguear M, Rogaeva E, Rosen HJ, Rosenberg RN, Royall DR, Sabbagh M, Sadovnick AD, Sager MA, Sano M, Saykin AJ, Schneider JA, Schneider LS, Seeley WW, Slifer SH, Small S, Smith AG, Smith JP, Sonnen JA, Spina S, George-Hyslop PS, Starks TD, Stern RA, Stevens AB, Strittmatter SM, Sultzer D, Swerdlow RH, Tanzi RE, Tilson JL, Trojanowski JQ, Troncoso JC, Tsolaki M, Tsuang DW, Van Deerlin VM, van Eldik LJ, Vance JM, Vardarajan BN, Vassar R, Vinters HV, Vonsattel JP, Weintraub S, Welsh-Bohmer KA, Whitehead PL, Wijsman EM, Wilhelmsen KC, Williams B, Williamson J, Wilms H, Wingo TS, Wisniewski T, Woltjer RL, Woon M, Wright CB, Wu CK, Younkin SG, Yu CE, Yu L, Zhu X, Kunkle BW, Bush WS, Miyashita A, Byrd GS, Wang LS, Farrer LA, Haines JL, Mayeux R, Pericak-Vance MA, Schellenberg GD, Jun GR, Reitz C, Naj AC. Multi-ancestry genome-wide meta-analysis of 56,241 individuals identifies known and novel cross-population and ancestry-specific associations as novel risk loci for Alzheimer's disease. Genome Biol. 2025 Jul 17; 26(1):210. PMID: 40676597.

     Read At: PubMed
  • Published on 7/3/2025

    Song Z, Gunn S, Monti S, Peloso GM, Liu CT, Lunetta K, Sebastiani P. Learning Gaussian Graphical Models from Correlated Data. Front Syst Biol. 2025; 5. PMID: 40766210.

     Read At: PubMed
  • Published on 6/25/2025

    Fang Y, Chen J, Mez J, Satizabal CL, Alosco ML, Qiu WQ, Doyle MF, Murabito JM, Lunetta KL. Modeling heterogeneity in cognitive trajectories in the Framingham Heart Study. Front Aging Neurosci. 2025; 17:1471154. PMID: 40636900.

     Read At: PubMed
  • Published on 5/5/2025

    Cao Y, Salvati LR, Chen J, Ragab A, Mez J, Satizabal CL, Alosco ML, Fang Y, Qiu WQ, Lunetta KL, Murabito JM, Doyle MF. The Association of Circulating Immune Cells With Cognitive Function, Brain Imaging, and Incident All-cause and Alzheimer's Dementia: The Framingham Offspring Study. J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci. 2025 May 05; 80(6). PMID: 40168089.

     Read At: PubMed
  • Published on 4/15/2025

    Han X, Zhang Y, Petrosky JN, Bald S, Sherva RM, Labadorf A, Cherry JD, Chung J, Farrell K, Abdolmohammadi B, Durape S, Martin BM, Palmisano JN, Farrell JJ, Alvarez VE, Huber BR, Dwyer B, Daneshvar DH, Dams-O'Connor K, Jun GR, Lunetta KL, Goldstein LE, Katz DI, Cantu RC, Shenton ME, Cummings JL, Reiman EM, Stern RA, Alosco ML, Tripodis Y, Farrer LA, Stein TD, Crary JF, McKee AC, Mez J. A structural haplotype in the 17q21.31 MAPT region is associated with increased risk for chronic traumatic encephalopathy endophenotypes. Cell Rep Med. 2025 May 20; 6(5):102084. PMID: 40239644.

     Read At: PubMed
  • Published on 3/6/2025

    Choi SH, Jurgens SJ, Xiao L, Hill MC, Haggerty CM, Sveinbjörnsson G, Morrill VN, Marston NA, Weng LC, Pirruccello JP, Arnar DO, Gudbjartsson DF, Mantineo H, von Falkenhausen AS, Natale A, Tveit A, Geelhoed B, Roselli C, Van Wagoner DR, Darbar D, Haase D, Soliman EZ, Davogustto GE, Jun G, Calkins H, Anderson JL, Brody JA, Halford JL, Barnard J, Hokanson JE, Smith JD, Bis JC, Young K, Johnson LSB, Risch L, Gula LJ, Kwee LC, Chaffin MD, Kühne M, Preuss M, Gupta N, Nafissi NA, Smith NL, Nilsson PM, van der Harst P, Wells QS, Judy RL, Schnabel RB, Johnson R, Smit RAJ, Gabriel S, Knight S, Furukawa T, Blackwell TW, Nauffal V, Wang X, Min YI, Yoneda ZT, Laksman ZWM, Bezzina CR, Alonso A, Psaty BM, Albert CM, Arking DE, Roden DM, Chasman DI, Rader DJ, Conen D, McManus DD, Fatkin D, Benjamin EJ, Boerwinkle E, Marcus GM, Christophersen IE, Smith JG, Roberts JD, Raffield LM, Shoemaker MB, Cho MH, Cutler MJ, Rienstra M, Chung MK, S Olesen M, Sinner MF, Sotoodehnia N, Kirchhof P, Loos RJF, Nazarian S, Mohanty S, Damrauer SM, Kaab S, Heckbert SR, Redline S, Shah SH, Tanaka T, Ebana Y, Holm H, Stefansson K, Ruff CT, Sabatine MS, Lunetta KL, Lubitz SA, Ellinor PT. Sequencing in over 50,000 cases identifies coding and structural variation underlying atrial fibrillation risk. Nat Genet. 2025 Mar; 57(3):548-562. PMID: 40050430.

     Read At: PubMed
  • Published on 3/6/2025

    Roselli C, Surakka I, Olesen MS, Sveinbjornsson G, Marston NA, Choi SH, Holm H, Chaffin M, Gudbjartsson D, Hill MC, Aegisdottir H, Albert CM, Alonso A, Anderson CD, Arking DE, Arnar DO, Barnard J, Benjamin EJ, Braunwald E, Brumpton B, Campbell A, Chami N, Chasman DI, Cho K, Choi EK, Christophersen IE, Chung MK, Conen D, Crijns HJ, Cutler MJ, Czuba T, Damrauer SM, Dichgans M, Dörr M, Dudink E, Duong T, Erikstrup C, Esko T, Fatkin D, Faul JD, Ferreira M, Freitag DF, Ganesh SK, Gaziano JM, Geelhoed B, Ghouse J, Gieger C, Giulianini F, Graham SE, Gudnason V, Guo X, Haggerty C, Hayward C, Heckbert SR, Hveem K, Ito K, Johnson R, Jukema JW, Jurgens SJ, Kääb S, Kane JP, Kany S, Kardia SLR, Kavousi M, Khurshid S, Kamanu FK, Kirchhof P, Kleber ME, Knight S, Komuro I, Krieger JE, Launer LJ, Li D, Lin H, Lin HJ, Loos RJF, Lotta L, Lubitz SA, Lunetta KL, Macfarlane PW, Magnusson PKE, Malik R, Mantineo H, Marcus GM, März W, McManus DD, Melander O, Melloni GEM, Meyre PB, Miyazawa K, Mohanty S, Monfort LM, Müller-Nurasyid M, Nafissi NA, Natale A, Nazarian S, Ostrowski SR, Pak HN, Pang S, Pedersen OB, Pedersen NL, Pereira AC, Pirruccello JP, Preuss M, Psaty BM, Pullinger CR, Rader DJ, Rämö JT, Ridker PM, Rienstra M, Risch L, Roden DM, Rotter JI, Sabatine MS, Schunkert H, Shah SH, Shim J, Shoemaker MB, Simonson B, Sinner MF, Smit RAJ, Smith JA, Smith NL, Smith JG, Soliman EZ, Sørensen E, Sotoodehnia N, Strbian D, Stricker BH, Teder-Laving M, Sun YV, Thériault S, Thorolfsdottir RB, Thorsteinsdottir U, Tveit A, van der Harst P, van Meurs J, Wang B, Weiss S, Wells QS, Weng LC, Wilson PW, Xiao L, Yang PS, Yao J, Yoneda ZT, Zeller T, Zeng L, Zhao W, Zhou X, Zöllner S, Ruff CT, Bundgaard H, Willer C, Stefansson K, Ellinor PT. Meta-analysis of genome-wide associations and polygenic risk prediction for atrial fibrillation in more than 180,000 cases. Nat Genet. 2025 Mar; 57(3):539-547. PMID: 40050429.

     Read At: PubMed

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