Jonathan L. Haines, a renowned geneticist who most recently worked at Vanderbilt University, will lead the effort. In addition to becoming the institute's director, he also has been tapped as chair of the CWRU medical school's department of epidemiology and biostatistics and the Mary W. Sheldon professor of genomic sciences.
“He is an innovative researcher and a multitasking genius who fits right in with the spirit of collaboration we embrace here,” said Dr. Pamela B. Davis, dean of the medical school and vice president of academic affairs, in a news release. “His body of work is astonishing, and his results are groundbreaking. And we believe his vision will lead us to new heights in the biomedical community.”
While at Vanderbilt, Dr. Haines founded the Center for Human Genetics Research as well as a doctoral program in human genetics. He also helped build a biological repository linked to Vanderbilt's medical records database. In addition, he led teams that made advances in identifying the genes involved in Alzheimer's, macular degeneration, multiple sclerosis and autism—areas in which he holds five patents for his work.
Dr. Haines earned his doctorate in genetics from the University of Minnesota and did postdoctoral training at the Indiana University School of Medicine. In 1987, he started his professional career as an instructor at Harvard Medical School and remained there as an associate professor until he left for Vanderbilt in 1997.
“There's a tremendous amount of expertise and a strongly collaborative atmosphere here,” Dr. Haines said about Cleveland in the release. “I look forward to working with all of our partners.”
"Case, Cleveland Clinic and University Hospitals team up for data-sharing venture" originally appeared in Crain's Cleveland Business.