Research Interests
Keywords: genomic sequencing newborn population screening precision public health clinical utility actionability stakeholder engagement equity accessibility
Laura V. Milko, Ph.D. is a public health geneticist, Assistant Professor in the Genetics Department at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and Associate Director of the Program for Precision Medicine in Healthcare (PPMH) at the UNC School of Medicine. Her current research activities rely on evidence-based frameworks, community engagement, and mixed method approaches to work toward equitable clinical implementation of preventative population genetic screening.
Dr. Milko is MPI of the Age-Based Genomic Screening (ABGS) R01 project, which is funded by the NIH to develop and evaluate a novel clinical program and implementation strategies to include highly actionable genetic information into pediatric well-child health care. She is the Executive Director of the UNC ClinGen U24 grant led by Jonathan Berg, and a member and co-chair of several ClinGen Working Groups, including the ClinGen Steering Committee. She is a co-Investigator on other NIH-supported research projects researching the implementation and dissemination of population genetic screening at UNC. She is also a Steering Committee member of the Newborn Screening Translational Research Network (NBSTRN) and a member of the NBSTRN Researcher Needs and Pilot Research and Implementation Workgroups and the CDC National Family Health History Working Group.
She received a Bachelor of Science degree from Howard University in Washington, DC in 2000 and a Doctor of Philosophy degree from the University of New Orleans in 2007. Her subsequent postdoctoral fellowship in molecular ecology in Nick Haddad’s lab at North Carolina State University from 2007 to 2009 spurred her interest in human molecular genetics and, eventually, an enduring fascination with applied and translational genetics and genomics.
Mentor Training:
- BRIDGES Academic Leadership for Women
- Racial Equity Institute (REI): Phase I Training
Publications
Laura Milko in UNC Genetics News

September 11, 2023
Department of Genetics Publications for August 27th – September 9th, 2023
Department of Genetics faculty, postdocs, students and collaborators published 10 papers during August 27th - September 9th 2023.

July 30, 2023
Department of Genetics Publications for July 16th – 29th, 2023
Department of Genetics faculty, postdocs, students and collaborators published 8 papers during July 16th - 29th 2023.

December 1, 2022
Genetics Faculty Awarded New Subcontracts and Service Agreements
Multiple faculty in the Department of Genetics have been awarded new subcontracts from other universities or a new service agreement with a company.

November 20, 2022
Department of Genetics Publications for November 6th – 19th, 2022
Department of Genetics faculty, postdocs, students and collaborators published 11 papers during November 6th – 19th, 2022.

September 19, 2022
Drs. Jonathan Berg and Laura Milko Awarded New R01 from NHGRI
Jonathan Berg, MD, PhD (Distinguished Professor) and Laura Milko, PhD (Assistant Professor) received a new R01 grant from the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) for their proposal titled “Age-based genomic screening in newborns, infants and children: a novel paradigm in public health genomics”.

August 16, 2022
Department of Genetics Publications for July 31st – August 13th, 2022
Department of Genetics faculty, postdocs, students and collaborators published 7 papers during July 31st – August 13th, 2022. A multi-layer functional genomic analysis to understand noncoding genetic variation in lipids. Ramdas S, Judd J, Graham SE, Kanoni S, Wang Y, Surakka I, Wenz B, Clarke SL, Chesi A, Wells A, Bhatti KF, Vedantam S, …

August 1, 2022
Department of Genetics Publications for July 17th – 30th, 2022
Department of Genetics faculty, postdocs, students and collaborators published 11 papers during July 17th – 30th, 2022.

June 6, 2022
Department of Genetics Publications May 22nd – June 4th, 2022
Department of Genetics faculty, postdocs, students and collaborators published 10 papers during May 22nd – June 4th, 2022.

April 25, 2022
Department of Genetics Publications April 10th – 23rd, 2022
Department of Genetics faculty, postdocs, students and collaborators published 18 papers during April 10th – 23rd, 2022.

June 28, 2021
Department of Genetics Publications for June 13-26, 2021
Department of Genetics faculty, postdocs, students and collaborators published twenty one papers during June 13-26, 2021.