Researcher Jeremy Willsey, PhD, has joined the Department of Psychiatry faculty ranks as an Assistant Adjunct Professor, effective Tuesday, April 7.
Willsey received his PhD in Genetics from Yale University, where he was also named the 2014 recipient of the Carolyn Slayman Prize in Genetics. Since 2010, he has worked at both Yale and UCSF as a fellow and junior specialist in the laboratory of Matthew W. State, MD, PhD, conducting research utilizing a systems biological approach aimed at understanding mechanistic convergence among genes strongly implicated in autism spectrum disorder (ASD). His work has been key in demonstrating that the diverse set of ASD genes identified by whole-exome sequencing appear to converge at specific points of development and in specific regions of the developing human brain, perhaps providing a path towards an actionable understanding of ASD biology.
Willsey is a member of the American Society of Human Genetics, International Society for Autism Research, and Molecular Psychiatry Association, and was the lead author on a 2013 paper published in Cell that was highlighted by both the Simons Foundation Autism Research Initiative (SFARI) and Autism Speaks as one of the field’s most influential papers of the year. He currently serves as the principal investigator of Canadian Institutes of Health Research-funded grant entitled, “Genome wide analysis of de novo copy number variation in families with autism spectrum disorder.”
