Eric J. Topol, M.D.

Chief Academic Officer, Scripps Health
Director, Scripps Translational Science Institute
Sr. Consultant, Division of Cardiology, Scripps Clinic
Professor of Translational Genomics, The Scripps Research Institute

Cardiologist Eric Topol has done much to expand our understanding of how genetics can determine a person’s health risks. In his productive career as a physician-scientist, he has built an international reputation for his ground-breaking research and expertise.
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Nicholas Schork, PhD, of Scripps Genomic Medicine and Scripps Translational Science Institute.

Nicholas Schork, Ph.D.

Director of Bioinformatics & Biostatistics, Scripps Translational Science Institute
Director of Research, Scripps Genomic Medicine
Professor, Department of Molecular & Experimental Medicine at The Scripps Research Institute

Dr. Schork’s interest and expertise are quantitative human genetics and genomics, especially the design and implementation of methodologies to dissect the genetic basis of complex traits and diseases. He has published over 250 scientific articles and book chapters on the analysis of complex, multifactorial traits and diseases.

Prior to joining Scripps in 2007, Dr. Schork served for seven years as Professor of Biostatistics and Psychiatry, and Co-Director of the Center for Human Genetics and Genomics at the University of California, San Diego. From 1994 to 2000, he was an Associate Professor of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, and an Associate Professor of Biostatistics at Harvard University. During 1999 and 2000, Dr. Schork took a leave of absence to conduct research as the Vice President of Statistical Genomics at the French biotechnology company, Genset, where he helped guide efforts to construct the first high-density map of the human genome.

A member of several scientific journal editorial boards, Dr. Schork is a frequent participant in U.S. National Institutes of Health-related steering committees and review boards, and has served on the advisory board of five companies. In addition, he is currently Director of the Bioinformatics and Biostatistics Core of the National Institute of Aging-sponsored Longevity Consortium and a member of the Genetic Association Information Network (GAIN) data analysis committee of the National Human Genome Research Institute

Dr. Schork earned the B.A. in Philosophy, M.A. in Philosophy, M.A. in Statistics, and Ph.D. in Epidemiology, all at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.

Sarah Shaw Murray, Ph.D.

Director of Genetics, Scripps Genomic Medicine

Sarah Shaw Murray, Ph.D., is Director of Genetics at both Scripps Genomic Medicine and the Scripps Translational Science Institute. By translating recent discoveries in genetics and genomics to clinical care, Dr. Murray and her research colleagues hope to advance the development of “personalized medicine,” in which treatment plans will be tailored to an individual’s genetic makeup.

Dr. Murray directs a high-throughput genotyping laboratory aimed at discovering genetic components of health as well as disease, and determining disease risk profiles based on combinations of specific risk alleles in large prospective studies. Her many projects include “Wellderly,” a study of a unique patient cohort of individuals who are at least 80 years old and with no chronic illness. In research on this cohort, she and her colleagues recently identified a gene that may be involved with the aging process in humans.

In a recently completed study on the genetic components of cardiovascular disease risk factors in a unique cohort of patients who have been followed for almost 40 years, from childhood to adulthood, Dr. Murray and collaborators discovered genetic risk factors that potentially can be used to identify young individuals who are pre-symptomatic.

In addition, Dr. Murray is directing a study on whether recently identified breast cancer susceptibility genetic factors can improve a physician’s ability to estimate a woman’s risk for breast cancer. More accurate breast cancer prediction will help identify at-risk women who should receive the more sensitive breast imaging above and beyond traditional mammograms.

Dr. Murray also is a member of the research team that studied individuals with one of the CYP2C19 gene variants and their ability to metabolize the drug clopidogrel (Plavix), which is designed to prevent blood clotting in cardiac patients who have undergone a stent procedure. Results from this study and other published studies prompted Scripps Green Hospital to become the first hospital in the nation to routinely screen elective coronary stent patients for CYP2C19 gene variants. The results of the genetic screen help guide the post-procedure treatment for each patient and thereby help reduce the risk of heart attacks and strokes for those patients whose genetic makeup prevents the normal metabolism of Plavix.

Reflecting her solid track record in both theoretical and applied genetics research, Dr. Murray has published almost 60 scientific articles on human genetics that focus on the discovery and analysis of DNA sequence polymorphism.

In addition to her roles at Scripps Genomic Medicine and the Scripps Translational Science Institute, Dr. Murray is Associate Professor of Translational Genomics at The Scripps Research Institute.

Before joining Scripps, Dr. Murray was the staff geneticist at Illumina, a San Diego biotech company, where she played a large role in developing the technology vital to large-scale genome-wide genetic studies.

Dr. Murray received her Ph.D. from the University of Pittsburgh’s Department of Human Genetics, and was a postdoctoral fellow at Case Western Reserve University’s Department of Genetics.

Samuel Levy, PhD

Director of Genomic Sciences, Scripps Genomic Medicine Program

Dr. Samuel Levy, Director of Genomic Sciences, has an ongoing interest in characterizing and refining the structure and function of the genome and epigenome in human populations. During his tenure as director and professor in human genomics at the J. Craig Venter Institute (JCVI), Dr. Levy was the leading scientist on the first published diploid genome sequence of a human, J. Craig Venter, and he led ongoing studies of functional characterization of DNA variants in protein coding and cis-regulatory regions prior to joining STSI in 2009.

Dr. Levy also provided contract-based gene resequencing services for the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI) and has worked with over ten different research groups over the last three years providing high throughput discovery of DNA variants on clinical samples for disease association studies.

Prior to joining JCVI in 2002, Dr. Levy worked at Celera Genomics for a three year period, and was involved in developing computational tools for gene discovery and functional annotation in the Drosophila and human genome sequences. Prior to his work at Celera Genomics, from 1989-1999, Dr. Levy was a postdoctoral worker and then independent investigator in the molecular, cellular and developmental biology (MCDB) department at the University of Colorado at Boulder.

In the MCDB department he worked on a variety of projects ranging from extracellular Golgi-based trafficking in plants, plant cell wall development and structure-function relationship in complex carbohydrates using a range of approaches involving biochemistry, cell biology and computational chemistry.

Dr. Levy received a B.Sc. in molecular biophysics at the University of Leeds, UK in 1982, and his Ph.D. in cell and computational biology at the University of Bristol, UK in 1986. He was in receipt of a NATO/SERC postdoctoral fellowship for a two-year period studying structural and biochemical changes in plant cell walls at the École Normale Supérieure, France.