The American Society of Human Genetics (ASHG) has recognized Dr. Gonçalo R. Abecasis, the Felix E. Moore Collegiate Professor of biostatistics, with the Curt Stern Award. The award recognizes genomics researchers who have made significant scientific contributions during the past decade. Dr. Abecasis has developed statistical and mathematical methods for the analysis of genetic data that have evolved into standard tools in human genetics. In an era of exponential growth in genetic data, his software helps geneticists analyze studies of families and unrelated individuals, characterize variation among genomes, study connections between genetic variation and human disease, and integrate information across gene-mapping studies. He has also led scientific consortia studying a variety of human traits, such as age-related macular degeneration, heart disease, and metabolic disease. He is currently deploying next-generation sequencing technology to study the genomes of thousands of people, with the aim of better understanding genetic variation and human disease biology.

[Photo: Dr. Gonçalo R. Abecasis]