
Kathryn L. Lunetta, PhD
Professor, Biostatistics - Boston University School of Public Health
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
Classes Taught
- SPHBS859
Publications
- 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
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
- 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 2/13/2025
Kang M, Ang TFA, Devine SA, Sherva R, Mukherjee S, Trittschuh EH, Gibbons LE, 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. medRxiv. 2025 Feb 13. PMID: 39990565.
Read At: PubMed
- Published on 1/30/2025
Tack RWP, Tan BYQ, Senff JR, Prapiadou S, Kimball TN, Khurshid S, Ashburner JM, Jurgens SJ, Singh SD, Weng LC, Gunn S, Roselli C, Lunetta KL, Benjamin EJ, Ellinor PT, Rosand J, Mayerhofer E, Lubitz SA, Anderson CD. Predicting Atrial Fibrillation After Stroke by Combining Polygenic Risk Scores and Clinical Features. Stroke. 2025 Apr; 56(4):878-886. PMID: 39882610.
Read At: PubMed
- Published on 1/9/2025
Sheehy S, Friedman D, Liu C, Lunetta KL, Zirpoli G, Palmer JR. Association between Apolipoprotein L1 genetic variants and risk of preeclampsia and preterm birth among U.S. Black women. Eur J Obstet Gynecol Reprod Biol X. 2025 Mar; 25:100365. PMID: 39895997.
Read At: PubMed
- Published on 1/2/2025
Weng LC, Rämö JT, Jurgens SJ, Khurshid S, Chaffin M, Hall AW, Morrill VN, Wang X, Nauffal V, Sun YV, Beer D, Lee S, Nadkarni GN, Duong T, Wang B, Czuba T, Austin TR, Yoneda ZT, Friedman DJ, Clayton A, Hyman MC, Judy RL, Skanes AC, Orland KM, Treu TM, Oetjens MT, Alonso A, Soliman EZ, Lin H, Lunetta KL, van der Pals J, Issa TZ, Nafissi NA, May HT, Leong-Sit P, Roselli C, Choi SH, Khan HR, Knight S, Karlsson Linnér R, Bezzina CR, Ripatti S, Heckbert SR, Gaziano JM, Loos RJF, Psaty BM, Smith JG, Benjamin EJ, Arking DE, Rader DJ, Shah SH, Roden DM, Damrauer SM, Eckhardt LL, Roberts JD, Cutler MJ, Shoemaker MB, Haggerty CM, Cho K, Palotie A, Wilson PWF, Ellinor PT, Lubitz SA. The impact of common and rare genetic variants on bradyarrhythmia development. Nat Genet. 2025 Jan; 57(1):53-64. PMID: 39747593.
Read At: PubMed
- Published on 11/22/2024
Chen J, Murabito JM, Lunetta KL. ONDSA: a testing framework based on Gaussian graphical models for differential and similarity analysis of multiple omics networks. Brief Bioinform. 2024 Nov 22; 26(1). PMID: 39581869.
Read At: PubMed
- Published on 10/23/2024
Tong T, Zhu C, Farrell JJ, Khurshid Z, Martin ER, Pericak-Vance MA, Wang LS, Bush WS, Schellenberg GD, Haines JL, Qiu WQ, Lunetta KL, Farrer LA, Zhang X. Blood-derived mitochondrial DNA copy number is associated with Alzheimer disease, Alzheimer-related biomarkers and serum metabolites. Alzheimers Res Ther. 2024 Oct 23; 16(1):234. PMID: 39444005.
Read At: PubMed
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