Team members

  • Gonçalo Abecasis

    Gonçalo Abecasis is a professor of Biostatistics at the University of Michigan and the principal investigator of Genes for Good. He has devoted his career to advancing our knowledge of genes, how they work, and how they are involved in common diseases. He is involved in many international group efforts to understand the how genes cause diabetes, heart disease, addiction, obesity, macular degeneration, psoriasis, and numerous other diseases.

    Role: Principal investigator
  • Scott Vrieze

    Scott Vrieze is an Assistant Professor at the University of Colorado Boulder and external collaborator in the study. Before he moved to Boulder, he was Co-Investigator at the University of Michigan. His work focuses on how genes interact with our environment to affect behavior. Much of his work is in the genetics of addiction and other forms of mental illness.

    Role: Co-Investigator
  • Kevin Li

    Kevin (Wei) Li is the study's original web developer. He holds a Master of Science degree in computer science and is responsible for building and maintaining the webpage and Facebook App. He consistently finds new ways to improve the user experience; currently he is working on implementing a sharing feature for survey visualizations.

    Role: Applications programmer
  • Andrew Boughton

    Andrew Boughton recently joined our team as a web developer. He holds a Ph.D. in Chemistry from UM and has extensive experience developing web applications in academic, commercial, and nonprofit environments.

    Role: Applications programmer
  • Anita Pandit

    Anita Pandit has a Master of Science degree in Biostatistics from the University of Michigan and is the study coordinator for Genes for Good. She is responsible for making sure the study runs smoothly, interacting with participants and collaborators, and analyzing data.

    Role: Study coordinator
  • Gregory Zajac

    Gregory Zajac is working towards his Ph.D. in Biostatistics at the University of Michigan and researches statistical methods to study the human genome. He is responsible for processing and preparing the massive amounts of genetic information we collect in Genes for Good to share with collaborators and return to participants, along with their genetic ancestry.

    Role: Contributor
  • Chris Clark

    Chris Clark is an applications programmer and works on a few different projects at UM, but his primary focus is Genes for Good. He is responsible for many of the app's new features and has done some fantastic work with Kevin to improve the application for both web and mobile users.

    Role: Applications programmer
  • Irene Felicetti

    Irene Felicetti holds a Master of Liberal Sciences degree in women’s studies with minors in minority health and domestic violence, and is the lead administrative assistant for Genes for Good. She is responsible for preparing and processing the large number of spit kits sent out and received each week, as well as overseeing our administrative staff.

    Role: Contributor
  • Stephanie Bachoura

    Stephanie Bachoura  started out assisting with spit kit mailings just once a week, but as the study grew, she began taking on more responsibility and now works part-time as an administrative assistant. She is responsible for validating the thousands of returned samples for shipment to the lab, preparing mailings, and helping out with participant interactions.

    Role: Administrative assistant