{"id":2262,"date":"2022-07-21T14:07:09","date_gmt":"2022-07-21T18:07:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/genetics\/raffieldlab\/?page_id=2262"},"modified":"2025-08-26T11:05:57","modified_gmt":"2025-08-26T15:05:57","slug":"people","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/genetics\/raffieldlab\/people\/","title":{"rendered":"People"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Headshot<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Laura Raffield<\/strong> Assistant Professor in Genetics<\/h2>\n\n\n
\n\t PhD, Wake Forest University\n<\/div>\n

Research interests<\/strong>: genetic epidemiology, human genetics, genome-wide association studies, precision medicine, multi-omics, cardiovascular disease, inflammation, hematological traits<\/p>\n

School of Medicine Profile<\/a> | Orcid profile<\/a> | LinkedIn<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div> <\/div>\n

\n

\"headshot<\/p>\n<\/div>

\n

Reagan Ballard<\/strong> Undergraduate student<\/h2>\n\n\n
\n\t BS in Biology (minor in Data Science), UNC-Chapel Hill, 2026<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n

Research interests<\/strong>: social determinants of health, multi-omics association studies, epigenetics<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Headshot<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>

\n

 <\/p>\n

Emily Drzymalla<\/strong> Graduate Research Assistant, PhD Student Epidemiology<\/h2>\n\n\n
\n\t PhD in Epidemiology in progress | MPH in Epidemiology<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n

Research interests<\/strong>: the association of genetic and environmental factors in risk for mental illness, Alzheimer’s disease, and multiomics<\/p>\n

Co-mentored by Christy Avery<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Headshot<\/p>\n<\/div>

\n

Madeline Greer Gillman<\/strong> Graduate Research Assistant, PhD Student Bioinformatics and Computational Biology<\/h2>\n\n\n
\n\t PhD in Bioinformatics and Computational Biology in progress | BA in Biology, Occidental College<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n

Research interests<\/strong>: Proteomic and metabolomic QTLs, social determinants of health.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Headshot<\/p>\n<\/div>

\n

Micah Reed Hysong <\/strong>Graduate Research Assistant, PhD Student Genetics and Molecular Biology (GMB)<\/h2>\n\n\n
\n\t PhD in Genetics and Molecular Biology in progress, UNC \u2013 Chapel Hill | B.S. in Biochemistry, North Carolina State University | B.S. in Genetics, North Carolina State University<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n

Research interests<\/strong>: (Multi)-omics association studies,\u00a0improving polygenic risk scores in diverse populations<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Headshot<\/p>\n<\/div>

\n

Daeeun Kim <\/strong>Post-doc Research Associate<\/h2>\n\n\n
\n\t PhD in Epidemiology, Gillings School of Global Public Health, UNC-Chapel Hill | MPH in Public Health Sciences, Seoul National University | BS in Biological Sciences in Seoul National University<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n

Research interests<\/strong>: Genomics and epidemiology of complex traits in diverse populations, Polygenic risk scores for cardiovascular diseases, Multi-omics approaches<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Headshot<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Jayna Nicholas<\/strong> Graduate Research Assistant, PhD Student Genetics and Molecular Biology (GMB)<\/h2>\n\n\n
\n\t PhD in Genetics and Molecular Biology in progress, UNC – Chapel Hill | B.S. in Biochemistry, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo\n<\/div>\n

Research interests<\/strong>: Incorporating multi-omics platforms (genomics, metabolomics, and proteomics) to better understand cardiovascular disease pathogenesis at an individual level<\/p>\n

LinkedIn<\/a><\/p>\n

Co-mentored by Karen Mohlke<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

\"Headshot<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Suhas Nittoor<\/strong> Undergraduate student<\/h2>\n\n\n
\n\t BS in biology (double minor chemistry\/neuroscience) in progress, UNC – Chapel Hill\n<\/div>\n

Research interests<\/strong>: Cardiovascular diseases, genomics, proteomics, and statistical programming<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n

\"Courtney<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Courtney Slesinger <\/strong>Graduate student<\/h2>\n\n\n
\n\t Masters in Cell Biology and Physiology in progress, UNC-Chapel Hill | BS in Genetics, North Carolina State University<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n

Research interests<\/strong>: human genetics, multi-omics, and cardiovascular disease<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Headshot<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Bjoernar Tuftin<\/strong> Research Associate, Genetics<\/h2>\n\n\n
\n\t MS Computer Science (1999), Norwegian University of Science and Technology\n<\/div>\n

Research interests<\/strong>: statistical programming and simulations, efficient workflows, r, python, java, c ++<\/p>\n

LinkedIn<\/a> |\u00a0Google scholar<\/a> |\u00a0Orcid<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Headshot<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Zhuoya Wang <\/strong>Graduate student<\/h2>\n\n\n
\n\t \n

MS in Biostatistics, UNC – Chapel Hill, 2026 | BS in Statistics (Applied track, Concentration in Biology), University of California, Davis\n<\/div>\n

Research interests<\/strong>: statistical genetics and genomics, Alzheimer\u2019s disease, and multi-omics<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Headshot<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Shelby Wray <\/strong>Undergraduate Student Biology and Computer Science<\/h2>\n\n\n
\n\t \n

Double major BS in Quantitative Biology and BA in Computer Science, UNC – Chapel Hill, 2026\n<\/div>\n

Research interests<\/strong>: epigenetics, multi-omics association studies incorporating environmental factors, and statistical programming<\/p>\n

LinkedIn<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

Lab alumni<\/h1>\n

Information in this section reflects the individuals’ information when they were in the lab. For up to date information on Alumni see their personal profiles if link is available.<\/p>\n

Lab alumni – 2024<\/h1>\n
\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Headshot<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>

\n

Le Huang<\/strong> Graduate Research Assistant, PhD Student Bioinformatics and Computational Biology<\/h2>\n\n\n
\n\t PhD in Bioinformatics and Computational Biology in progress | M.E. in Computer Science, Nankai University, Tianjin China | B.E. in Computer Science, Central China Normal University, Wuhan China<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n

Research interests<\/strong>: Metabolite wide association study, Phenome-wide association study, Machine Learning and Deep Learning, Biological databases and web servers.<\/p>\n

Google Scholar<\/a> | Personal Website<\/a> | Github<\/a><\/p>\n

Co-mentored by Yun Li<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Headshot<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Keshav Ramesh<\/strong> Undergraduate student<\/h2>\n\n\n
\n\t BS Biology, Minor in Statistics and Chemistry\n<\/div>\n

Research interests<\/strong>: Social determinants of health, proteomics, epigenetics<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Katherine<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Katherine Xing <\/strong>Undergraduate student biostatistics<\/h2>\n\n\n
\n\t B.S.P.H Biostatistics, Mathematics and Data Science minors, UNC-Chapel Hill Gillings School of Public Health\n<\/div>\n

Research interests<\/strong>: Precision medicine, epigenetics, machine learning<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

Lab alumni – 2023<\/h1>\n
\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Aylin<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>

\n

Aylin Memili<\/strong> Research Specialist<\/h2>\n\n\n
\n\t MPH in Applied Epidemiology, UNC-Chapel Hill | BSPH (Nutrition) UNC – Chapel Hill\n<\/div>\n

Research interests<\/strong>: Prenatal genetics, cardiovascular disease epidemiology, epigenetics<\/p>\n

LinkedIn<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Headshot<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Sara O’Brien<\/strong> Undergraduate Student Biostatistics<\/h2>\n\n\n
\n\t \n

BSPH in Biostatistics, UNC – Chapel Hill, 2023 | BA in Hispanic Literatures and Cultures, UNC – Chapel Hill, 2023\n<\/div>\n

Research interests<\/strong>: (Multi)-omics association studies, social determinants of health<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Headshot<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Laura Zhou<\/strong> Postdoctoral fellow<\/h2>\n\n\n
\n\t PhD in Biostatistics, UNC – Chapel Hill | MS in Biostatistics, UNC – Chapel Hill\n<\/div>\n

Research interests<\/strong>: Method development for constructing polygenic risk scores in diverse populations<\/p>\n

Co-mentored by Yun Li<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Lab alumni – 2022<\/h1>\n
\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Headshot<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>

\n

L\u00e1Shaunt\u00e1 Glover<\/strong> Graduate Research Assistant, PhD Student Epidemiology<\/h2>\n\n\n
\n\t PhD in Epidemiology in progress | MS Health Promotion, 2015, University of Mississippi | BA Biological Science and Psychology, 2013, University of Mississippi<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n

Research interests<\/strong>: Social determinants of Cardiovascular Disease, Social Epigenetics, Social-OMICs<\/p>\n

Primary mentor: Kari North<\/p>\n

LinkedIn<\/a> | ResearchGate<\/a> | Bibliography<\/a> | Google Scholar<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Headshot<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Sarthi Patil<\/strong> Undergraduate Student Biostatistics<\/h2>\n\n\n
\n\t BS in Biostatistics (minor in Neuroscience), UNC – Chapel Hill, 2023\n<\/div>\n

Research interests<\/strong>: Cardiovascular Health, TWAS<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

          Lab alumni Information in this section reflects the individuals’ information when they were in the lab. For up to date information on Alumni see their personal profiles if link is available. Lab alumni – 2024     Lab alumni – 2023 Lab alumni – 2022  <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":112925,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"class_list":["post-2262","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","odd"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nPeople - Raffield Lab<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/genetics\/raffieldlab\/people\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"People - Raffield Lab\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"          Lab alumni Information in this section reflects the individuals’ information when they were in the lab. For up to date information on Alumni see their personal profiles if link is available. Lab alumni – 2024     Lab alumni – 2023 Lab alumni – 2022  \" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/genetics\/raffieldlab\/people\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Raffield Lab\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-08-26T15:05:57+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/genetics\/raffieldlab\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1323\/2022\/07\/Laura-Raffield-temp-1-150x150.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/genetics\/raffieldlab\/people\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/genetics\/raffieldlab\/people\/\",\"name\":\"People - Raffield Lab\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/genetics\/raffieldlab\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/genetics\/raffieldlab\/people\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/genetics\/raffieldlab\/people\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/genetics\/raffieldlab\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1323\/2022\/07\/Laura-Raffield-temp-1-150x150.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-07-21T18:07:09+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-08-26T15:05:57+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/genetics\/raffieldlab\/people\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/genetics\/raffieldlab\/people\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/genetics\/raffieldlab\/people\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/genetics\/raffieldlab\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1323\/2022\/07\/Laura-Raffield-temp-1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/genetics\/raffieldlab\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1323\/2022\/07\/Laura-Raffield-temp-1.jpg\",\"width\":188,\"height\":188,\"caption\":\"Headshot Laura Raffield\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/genetics\/raffieldlab\/people\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/genetics\/raffieldlab\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"People\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/genetics\/raffieldlab\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/genetics\/raffieldlab\/\",\"name\":\"Raffield Lab\",\"description\":\"UNC Genetics\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/genetics\/raffieldlab\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"People - Raffield Lab","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/genetics\/raffieldlab\/people\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"People - Raffield Lab","og_description":"          Lab alumni Information in this section reflects the individuals’ information when they were in the lab. For up to date information on Alumni see their personal profiles if link is available. Lab alumni – 2024     Lab alumni – 2023 Lab alumni – 2022  ","og_url":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/genetics\/raffieldlab\/people\/","og_site_name":"Raffield Lab","article_modified_time":"2025-08-26T15:05:57+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/genetics\/raffieldlab\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1323\/2022\/07\/Laura-Raffield-temp-1-150x150.jpg","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"6 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/genetics\/raffieldlab\/people\/","url":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/genetics\/raffieldlab\/people\/","name":"People - Raffield Lab","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/genetics\/raffieldlab\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/genetics\/raffieldlab\/people\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/genetics\/raffieldlab\/people\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/genetics\/raffieldlab\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1323\/2022\/07\/Laura-Raffield-temp-1-150x150.jpg","datePublished":"2022-07-21T18:07:09+00:00","dateModified":"2025-08-26T15:05:57+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/genetics\/raffieldlab\/people\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/genetics\/raffieldlab\/people\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/genetics\/raffieldlab\/people\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/genetics\/raffieldlab\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1323\/2022\/07\/Laura-Raffield-temp-1.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/genetics\/raffieldlab\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1323\/2022\/07\/Laura-Raffield-temp-1.jpg","width":188,"height":188,"caption":"Headshot Laura Raffield"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/genetics\/raffieldlab\/people\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/genetics\/raffieldlab\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"People"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/genetics\/raffieldlab\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/genetics\/raffieldlab\/","name":"Raffield Lab","description":"UNC Genetics","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/genetics\/raffieldlab\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"}]}},"_links_to":[],"_links_to_target":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/genetics\/raffieldlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2262","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/genetics\/raffieldlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/genetics\/raffieldlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/genetics\/raffieldlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/112925"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/genetics\/raffieldlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2262"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/genetics\/raffieldlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2262\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2490,"href":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/genetics\/raffieldlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2262\/revisions\/2490"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/genetics\/raffieldlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2262"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}