Janina Jeff

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Janina Jeff
Alma materSpelman College (BS)
Vanderbilt University (MS, PhD)
AwardsASHG Advocacy Award American Society of Human Genetics (2020)
Sound Up Bootcamp Spotify (2018)
Scientific career
InstitutionsIllumina, Inc.
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
Vanderbilt University
ThesisThe Genetics of Quantitative Traits Associated with Cardiovascular Disease in African Americans (2012)
WebsiteIn Those Genes Podcast website

Janina M. Jeff (juh-NEE-nuh; born September 10, 1985) is an American geneticist, a senior scientist at Illumina. She is the host and executive producer of In Those Genes, a podcast that links genetics, African American identity, and Black culture. She is specifically interested in identifying genetic variants that explain disease disparities across populations, as well as science communication. Jeff is a 2020 American Society of Human Genetics (ASHG) Advocacy Award winner and won the inaugural Spotify Sound-Up Bootcamp in 2018.[1] She was the first African American to earn a PhD in Human Genetics at Vanderbilt University

Early life and education[]

Jeff grew up in New Orleans, attended McDonogh 35 Senior High School,[2] and graduated from Spelman College in 2007 with a Bachelor’s degree in Biology. At Spelman she was a RISE (Research Initiative for Science Enhancement) Scholar.[3] She earned a Master’s degree in Applied Statistics in 2011, and a Doctorate in Human Genetics from Vanderbilt University in 2012.[3][1] She was the first African-American to graduate from Vanderbilt University with a Ph.D. in Human Genetics.[2] She had her postgraduate training at the Center for Human Genetic Research at Vanderbilt University, and also at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.[2]

Research and career[]

Jeff is a Senior Bioinformatics scientist at Illumina where she develops genomic pipelines used in population screening.[3][4] Her academic research career has focused on population genetics, with an emphasis on admixed populations and genetic risk factors of common diseases.[5]

Public engagement[]

Jeff is the host and executive producer of In Those Genes,[6] a podcast that explores genetics and "the lost identities of African descended Americans through the lens of Black Culture."[2] In 2018 she won the inaugural Spotify Sound Up Bootcamp which provided her with $10,000 to start her podcast. Episode 3, "Skinfolk, Kinfolk," was listed by IndieWire as one of the 50 Best Podcast Episodes of 2020.[7] The episode "Dat Rona," featuring guest medical expert, Ashira Blazer,[8] received the Radio Impact award in 2020 Third Coast / Richard H. Driehaus Foundation Competition.[9]

Awards and honors[]

Selected recent publications[]

  • Pendergrass, Sarah A.; Buyske, Steven; Jeff, Janina M.; Frase, Alex; Dudek, Scott; Bradford, Yuki; Ambite, Jose-Luis; Avery, Christy L.; Buzkova, Petra; et al. (2019). "A phenome-wide association study (PheWAS) in the Population Architecture using Genomics and Epidemiology (PAGE) study reveals potential pleiotropy in African Americans". PLOS ONE. 14 (12): e0226771. Bibcode:2019PLoSO..1426771P. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0226771. PMC 6938343. PMID 31891604.
  • Wojcik, Genevieve L.; Graff, Mariaelisa; Nishimura, Katherine K.; Tao, Ran; Haessler, Jeffrey; Gignoux, Christopher R.; Highland, Heather M.; Patel, Yesha M.; Sorokin, Elena P.; Avery, Christy L.; Belbin, Gillian M.; Bien, Stephanie A.; Cheng, Iona; Cullina, Sinead; Hodonsky, Chani J.; Hu, Yao; Huckins, Laura M.; Jeff, Janina; et al. (2019). "Genetic analyses of diverse populations improves discovery for complex traits". Nature. 570 (7762): 514–518. doi:10.1038/s41586-019-1310-4. PMC 6785182. PMID 31217584.
  • Edwards, Todd L.; Giri, Ayush; Hellwege, Jacklyn N.; Hartmann, Katherine E.; Stewart, Elizabeth A.; Jeff, Janina M.; Bray, Michael J.; et al. (2019). "A Trans-Ethnic Genome-Wide Association Study of Uterine Fibroids". Frontiers in Genetics. 10: 511. doi:10.3389/fgene.2019.00511. PMC 6582231. PMID 31249589.

Most cited publications[]

  • Locke AE, Kahali B, Berndt SI, Justice AE, Pers TH, Day FR, Powell C, Vedantam S, Buchkovich ML, Yang J, Croteau-Chonka DC. Genetic studies of body mass index yield new insights for obesity biology. Nature. 2015 Feb;518(7538):197-206. [2] According to Google Scholar, this article has been cited 2914 times [11]
  • Wood AR, Esko T, Yang J, Vedantam S, Pers TH, Gustafsson S, Chu AY, Estrada K, Kutalik Z, Amin N, Buchkovich ML. Defining the role of common variation in the genomic and biological architecture of adult human height. Nature genetics. 2014 Nov;46(11):1173-86. According to Google Scholar, it has been cited 1566 times.[11]
  • Wojcik GL, Graff M, Nishimura KK, Tao R, Haessler J, Gignoux CR, Highland HM, Patel YM, Sorokin EP, Avery CL, Belbin GM. Genetic analyses of diverse populations improves discovery for complex traits. Nature. 2019 Jun;570(7762):514-8. According to Google Scholar, it has been cited 186 times.[11]

References[]

  1. ^ Jump up to: a b c "Pioneering Geneticist's Podcast Plums Race and Ancestry". Diverse. Retrieved 18 August 2020.
  2. ^ Jump up to: a b c d "Our Stories: Spelman Alumna Janina Jeff Soars as a Human Geneticist".
  3. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f "RISE Alumna and Human Geneticist Janina Jeff Receives ASHG's 2020 Advocacy Award". Spelman College RISE. 11 August 2020. Retrieved 18 August 2020.
  4. ^ "Celebrate DNA Day". National Human Genome Research Institute. Retrieved 18 August 2020.
  5. ^ "Talking Genetics and Authenticity with Janina Jeff". She Geeks Out. 15 November 2018. Retrieved 18 August 2020.
  6. ^ "#117 Dr. Janina Jeff on African Genomes". DNA Today. Retrieved 18 August 2020.
  7. ^ "The 50 Best Podcast Episodes of 2020 (So Far)". IndieWire. 14 July 2020. Retrieved 18 August 2020.
  8. ^ "Ashira Blazer, MD". nyulangone.org. Retrieved 2021-02-12.
  9. ^ Jump up to: a b "Dat Rona". www.thirdcoastfestival.org. Retrieved 2021-02-09.
  10. ^ "ASHG Honors Janina Jeff, PhD, MS with the 2020 ASHG Advocacy Award". ASHG. 13 July 2020. Retrieved 18 August 2020.
  11. ^ Jump up to: a b c [1] Google scholar author listing. Accessed 11 March 2021
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