Genetics Department Welcomes New Faculty for 2020/21

Every year, the Department of Genetics welcomes new members from a range of professional backgrounds. This year’s new hires work in the areas of scientific advisory, education, and research. Each new member will promote the Department’s mission through their specific role and collaboration with others. We spoke with each one to learn more about the impact they’re looking forward to making at Yale.

Andy Cox is joining the Department as Scientific Manager. He will work with faculty to increase the impact of their individual research programs. His focus will include support with writing and editing grants and manuscripts, as well as engaging with faculty to think strategically about their research directions and future opportunities in their field. Dr. Cox is excited to begin work on projects relating to COVID-19, given the urgent and unmet need in this field. After completing his PhD at the University of Southampton, UK, he joined Magdalena Zernicka-Goetz's group at the University of Cambridge, UK in 2013 to study the molecular basis of cell-fate decisions in the peri-implantation embryo. Before joining Yale, Dr. Cox covered research in developmental biology and mechanobiology as an editor for Nature Cell Biology. In addition to working with the department’s excellent researchers, he is a keen golfer and excited to explore the courses around New Haven.

Ira Hall is looking forward to collaborating with other researchers in his new role as Director of the Yale Center for Genomic Health. Before Yale, Dr. Hall was an Associate Professor of Medicine and Associate Director of the McDonnell Genome Institute at Washington University in St. Louis. There, he worked on developing new computational methods for mapping and interpreting human genome variation. His research at Yale will share a similar focus, but he is particularly interested in building new collaborative projects, such as working with local clinicians to pursue genetic studies aimed at disease gene discovery and polygenic risk prediction, and with functional genomics researchers to investigate disease mechanism at the single-cell level. An important focus will be assembling the analytic tools and data resources to tackle human disease genetics in a holistic and equitable way. Dr. Hall is also looking forward to building new relationships as a member of the Yale and broader New Haven communities.

Sabrina Nuñez is excited to begin her role as Director of Accreditation & CQI Strategy Development. In this newly developed role, she will focus on centralizing efforts pertaining to the collection of data in order to effectively assure the quality of the School’s educational program and its continued improvement. In addition, Dr. Nuñez will serve as the thread director for the Genetics thread and the co-director for the Genes and Development course. As thread director, she will work with course, clerkship, and elective directors to ensure appropriate coverage of the thread content in the MD curriculum. In her role as co-director, she will provide guidance to faculty in the design and innovation of classroom and online pedagogies. Dr. Nuñez oversaw the Medical Genetics course - as well as the first two years of the MD program - in her previous position as Assistant Dean for Curriculum and Foundational Sciences in Washington University in St. Louis. She looks forward to working alongside the exceptional students, faculty, and staff at Yale.

Zachary Smith brings a dynamic research skill set to Yale as an Assistant Professor. After graduating from MIT in 2008, he joined Alex Meissner's lab at Harvard's Department of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology and the Broad Institute, eventually matriculating into Harvard's Molecules, Cells, and Organisms (MCO) Program. Throughout his graduate studies, he optimized and developed a variety of single cell technologies to study the role of epigenetic modifications to DNA and chromatin in embryogenesis. Together with Michelle Chan, a colleague in Jonathan Weissman's lab at UCSF, he also innovated a tool called a "molecular recorder" to record the historical relationship between single cells in the developing mouse embryo and "reconstruct" single cell lineage trees. At Yale Dr. Smith will use these technologies to connect epigenetic events to specific molecular mechanisms. Specifically, he aims to pinpoint how and when these regulators are acting in normal development as well as how they might go awry to produce phenotypic abnormalities or lead to congenital disorders. Dr. Smith is excited to be a part of the Department’s ambitious research community. He has expressed admiration for various faculty, as well as for the trainees he has met through teaching part of the Stem Cell Biology. As a lifelong resident of Massachusetts, he is also looking forward to exploring the rich cultural history of New Haven.

Berna Sozen joins Yale as an Assistant Professor and Bohmfalk Scholar. Prior to Yale, she completed her postdoctoral studies in the lab of Magdalena Zernicka-Goetz at the University of Cambridge, later at Caltech. Her work focused on the development of 3-dimensional in vitro platforms to build embryo-like models from stem cells. Such platforms are crucial for their ability to recapitulate tissue specification and spatial architecture of the embryo. At Yale, her lab will seek to unravel the precise cellular and molecular mechanisms governing early mammalian embryogenesis, with a particular focus on links between early tissue patterning and metabolism, and the impacts these have on long-term health and disease. Her approach combines studies involving mouse and human embryos and their 3-dimensional stem cell models. She is excited to work in the interdisciplinary environment of Yale. As an avid photographer, she also plans to spend time exploring New Haven through the lens of her camera.

Despite their broad range of roles, all of the new hires expressed excitement to work with their new colleagues. They reflect the Department’s multifaceted operations, as well as its spirit of collaboration.