Elinor Karlsson

Elinor Karlsson, PhD, is an associate professor of Genomics and Computational Biology at UMass Chan Medical School and Director of Vertebrate Genomics at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard. Her research integrates large-scale comparative genomics, new sequencing technologies, and community science to investigate disease risk and the evolution of complex traits across species. Dr. Karlsson co-leads the Zoonomia Project, an international effort comparing hundreds of mammalian genomes to identify DNA elements critical for health and survival. She also leads Darwin’s Ark, a global open-data initiative engaging dog and cat owners to study the genetic basis of behavior, morphology, and disease, including cancer. She received her BA in biochemistry/cell biology and BFA from Rice University and her PhD in bioinformatics from Boston University. She completed postdoctoral training at Harvard University and joined UMass Chan in 2014, where she holds the Dr. Eileen L. Berman and Stanley I. Berman Foundation Chair in Biomedical Research.