Meet The Team

Dr. Peterson is an Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the State University of New York Downstate Health Sciences University (SUNY Downstate) and is a psychiatric statistical geneticist versed in population-scale genetic studies applied to genome-wide association studies, polygenic risk profiling, and fine-mapping analyses. She serves in several leadership roles and is the Chair of the PsycheMERGE Diversity Initiative, Co-Chair of the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium Cross-Population Working Group, and Associate Director of Statistical Genetics in the Institute for Genomics in Health (IGC) at SUNY Downstate. She also has a special interest in ethics in research and policy and serves on the Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Access committee of the International Society of Psychiatric Genetics and is the Director of Education in Research Ethics and Scientific Integrity in the Office of the Senior Vice President of Research at SUNY Downstate.

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Publications

Jasmine is the Program Manager at the Institute for Genomics in Health and the POP-GEM Lab at the State University of New York Downstate Medical Center. Jasmine attended Stony Brook University (SBU) where she received her master's in psychology with a focus in Clinical Psychology. She joins the lab with 7 years of multidisciplinary clinical research experience. Jasmine previously oversaw an NIA funded, international, multi-site study examining healthy aging phenotypes at Columbia University Irving Medical Center's (CUIMC) Taub Institute for Research on Alzheimer's Disease and the Aging Brain. Jasmine has also participated in various NIH funded research studies regarding predictors of Alzheimer's Disease in community-based cohorts at CUIMC and the identification of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder using polygenic risk scores in the World Trade Center Responder population cohort at SBU. At the POP-GEM Lab, Jasmine will contribute to the operational infrastructure of the lab in addition to her collaboration on various projects such as the Latin American Genomics Consortium.

Dr. Chatzinakos was an Associate Neuroscientist at NG-TBL and an instructor in psychiatry at Harvard Medical School from June 2019 to December 2021, while until 2023 was a Senior Scientist at Vesigen therapeutics. He is currently an Assistant Professor at SUNY Downstate Medical Center and a visiting scientist NG-TBL. He is also an affiliate member of the Broad Institute, Virginia Commonwealth University’s Virginia Institute for Psychiatric and Behavioral Genetics. Dr. Chatzinakos focuses on statistical/psychiatric genetics and novel methods to better understand high-dimensional and large-scale biological data (including single-cell transcriptomics, metabolomics, and proteomics).

Chris received his BSc in Mathematics and his Ph.D. in Statistics from Aristotle University, Greece.

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Dr. Tesfaye Woldeyohannes is a research scientist at POP-GEM Lab and the Institute of Genomics in Health, State University of New York - Downstate Health Sciences University. He is a psychiatrist by training and has been engaged in a range of epidemiological, clinical, genetic, and epigenetic studies of psychiatric disorders. Markos obtained his M.D. from Jimma University and completed his psychiatry specialty at Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia. He then earned his Ph.D. from the University of Copenhagen, Denmark.

His current research applies statistical genetics and multi-omics tools to understand the molecular mechanisms of psychiatric disorders across populations and environmental contexts. Through his research, Dr. Tesfaye Woldeyohannes aims to understand sex differences in the risk and outcomes of major depression and related psychiatric disorders and to advance precision psychiatry through deep sub-phenotyping and patient stratification.

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Dr. Gleda Kutrolli is a quantitative researcher and data scientist with expertise in statistical genetics, predictive modeling, and advanced mathematical methods. She earned her PhD in Statistics and Mathematical Finance from the University of Milano-Bicocca, where she developed a strong foundation in quantitative research and analytical modeling. Her research examines the shared genetic architecture of psychiatric, neurological, and metabolic traits, leveraging sophisticated methods such as GWAS summary data analysis, polygenic risk modeling, LDSC, LAVA, and genomic SEM.

Earlier in her career, she spent over a decade in quantitative finance and energy-market modeling, developing forecasting tools, stochastic models, and risk-management frameworks. She has also taught university-level courses in mathematics, statistics, and actuarial science.

Her multidisciplinary background is reflected in her research and publications, which span psychiatric genetics, cognitive genomics, epidemiology, and applied mathematics, demonstrating a strong commitment to data-driven science. She now applies this expertise in genomics research and data science at POP-GEM, contributing to high-quality analyses and collaborative projects.

Adrian Guin Rizzo is a Bioinformatics Research Associate at the POP-GEM Lab within the Institute for Genomics in Health at SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University. He earned his M.S. in Health Informatics from SUNY Downstate and his B.S. in Biomedical Informatics from the City University of New York.

Before joining POP-GEM, Adrian worked as a Bioinformatics Intern at Ancilia Biosciences, where he conducted metagenomic and virome analyses focused on microbiome–immune interactions and CRISPR applications. He also served as a Research Fellow at Schrödinger Inc., supporting ligand library design and molecular docking workflows. His experience includes microbial genomics, molecular modeling, and data visualization.

Adrian is passionate about advancing equitable mental health research through data-driven approaches and is excited to contribute to POP-GEM’s mission of understanding the genetic and environmental factors underlying psychiatric disorders.

Madhur is a Research Associate in Statistical Genetics at the Social, Genetic & Developmental Psychiatry Centre, King's College London, working with Professor Cathryn Lewis on understanding the causal mechanisms of antidepressant treatment response by integrating clinical, genetic, and informatics data. At the POP-GEM lab, he is contributing to trans-ancestry and sex-stratified genetic studies of depression, working in close collaboration with the PsycheMERGE Network Diversity Initiative. He is an affiliate member of the Virginia Institute for Psychiatric and Behavioral Genetics at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) and is also actively involved in the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium's Cross-Population Analyses working group. Additionally, he serves on the faculty of the International Statistical Genetics Workshop at the University of Colorado, Boulder.

Madhur received his Bachelor of Medicine & Bachelor of Surgery degree from Baba Farid University of Health Sciences, India, and his Master of Applied Social Sciences degree in International Social & Health Policy from Oslo Metropolitan University, Norway. He did his PhD in Quantitative Human Genetics at VCU, supervised by Professors Michael Neale and Roseann Peterson.

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Jolien Rietkerk, Msc. is a postdoctoral researcher at the POP-GEM Lab and the Institute of Genomics in Health, State University of New York - Downstate Health Sciences University and is integrated within the ‘van Loo’ lab, at the University Medical Center Groningen in the Netherlands. Jolien is a molecular biologist by training with additional education in applied data science and coding. She further diversified her education by performing her doctoral research on epistatic effects in Major Depressive Disorder at Helmholtz Munich in Germany. Her extensive international network and experience allow for research that is driven to have a wide societal impact and utilizes expertise of different disciplines and cultures. Through her efforts Jolien aims to destigmatize, diversify and personalize psychiatric care, whilst pushing the boundaries of statistical genetics methods and big datasets.   

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Website

Mohammed is a Postdoctoral fellow in the Virginia Institute for Psychiatric and Behavioral Genetics (VIPBG) at VCU School of Medicine. His work involved large-scale genetic analyses to explore the genetic underpinnings of Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) and Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD). By applying advanced statistical genetics and machine learning methods, he contributed to a deeper understanding of complex biological mechanisms underlying psychiatric conditions. At the POP-GEM lab, he investigates how genetic factors contributing to depression and substance use disorders vary across different populations.

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Austyn is a first-year medical student at the State University of New York Downstate College of Medicine interested in exploring the environmental and genetic factors that contribute to the development and outcomes of mental health conditions in traditionally understudied populations, especially affective conditions like depression and anxiety. His long term goal with developing research skills and contributing to research at the POP-GEM lab is to help underserved communities alleviate the burden of mental health conditions by building awareness of unique risk factors and improving access to resources to prevent and treat these conditions.

Zara is a first-year medical student at SUNY Downstate College of Medicine with a strong interest in psychiatry and a wide range of mental health conditions, including depression, autism, and personality disorders. She is particularly passionate about addressing mental health in communities where it remains stigmatized and under-researched, such as South Asian populations, and is committed to increasing education and awareness around these issues. She also has a strong interest in childhood adverse experiences, a topic she has previously conducted research on, and in understanding their long-term impact on mental and physical health. Prior to medical school, Zara earned an MPH in Sociomedical Sciences and Health Promotion Research from Columbia University, where she developed a strong foundation in social determinants of health and quantitative research methods. Zara is excited about expanding her research skills in environmental and genetic factors at the POP-GEM Lab, with the goal of identifying unique psychiatric risk factors and supporting underserved communities.

Lung Fu is a third-year MD/MPH student at SUNY Downstate College of Medicine interested in exploring the complex relationships between systemic conditions and mental health. At the POP-GEM Lab, he aims to contribute to strategies that improve mental health screening for individuals affected by chronic inflammatory conditions, particularly in underserved populations.

Dr. Lapato is an Assistant Professor of Human and Molecular Genetics at Virginia Commonwealth University with training in molecular, behavioral, and statistical genetics and clinical cytogenetics.  Dr. Lapato promotes open science and rigorous research through education and training and is a proud member of the NINDS Rigor Champion community. Dr. Lapato's long-term research goals include developing robust methods for exploring the genetic architecture of psychiatric disorders using cross-disorder, multi-ancestry approaches to understand the interface of psychiatric nosology, genetic variation, and multi-omic interactions.

Dr. Webb is trained in quantitative human genetics with an emphasis on complex genetics and bioinformatics and has a background in molecular biology and genomics. He has performed statistical and bioinformatic analyses using data from multiple high-throughput ‘omic’ platforms including whole-genome sequencing, genome-wide association, copy number variation, expression, metabolomic, and proteomic studies across multiple species. Dr. Webb has several collaborative projects with the POP-GEM Lab including Chair of the Bioinformatics core.

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