My research nestles around several general themes:
Genetic data traces human history, both ancient and recent. In many cases, genetics mirrors geography, like in Africa and in Europe. Genetics can sometimes cleanly separate continental and subcontinental populations world-wide. Other times it reflects subtle population history differences, such as in Latinos. These genetic differences can be interrogated to yield insights into medically-relevant genetic variants.
The more we explore, the more we see the prevalence of gene flow between populations involved in shaping nearly all of human evolution. In my research, I have developed methods for estimating local ancestry resulting from recent admixture (PCAdmix), and methods to provide insights into an individual’s own genealogical admixture history.
I have used iterative methods (HetEM) for inference of challenging population genetic parameters, applied clustering algorithms for detecting genetic groups, and advanced mathematical theory in the interpretation of Principal Component Analysis of genetic data.