Jonathan Haines, PhD, is an internationally recognized researcher and educator with extensive experience in all aspects of genetic epidemiology, with a particular focus on illuminating the genetic architecture of complex diseases. He has applied his expertise to numerous brain and eye disorders and is credited with locating more than 20 causal and 300 associated genetic loci. He has led or collaborated on dozens of national and international genetic studies, lending his expertise to understanding the impact of genetic variation on common diseases such as age-related macular degeneration, glaucoma, and Alzheimer’s disease.
The international consortia that he leads collaborate in the aggregation, integration, and analysis of vast biological datasets, specifically concerned with including diverse populations historically not included in large genetic or genomic studies. Dr. Haines is an advocate for diversity in genetic studies and a comprehensive view of data analytics, recognizing that environmental and social impacts can inform genetic expression and biomedical outcomes. By applying sophisticated, computational methods to diverse, large data sets, he seeks to uncover contributing factors to disease and chronic conditions to inform how patients are cared for clinically and how communities shape healthy environments that support personal choices.
This work can involve the integration of electronic health records with biospecimen data for a comprehensive view of disease mechanism, diagnosis, treatment, and prevention. He and his team have built secure hardware and software systems that facilitate this data aggregation and analysis across multiple health systems while protecting patient confidentiality and health plans’ concerns about proprietary data.
Dr. Haines is the Mary W. Sheldon M.D. Professor of Genomic Sciences and Chair of the Department of Population and Quantitative Health Sciences (PQHS) at ǿմý School of Medicine (ǿմý SOM). ǿմý’s School of Medicine is also the administrative home of the Cleveland Institute for Computational Biology, which Dr. Haines founded and directs. The Institute is a collaboration between ǿմý School of Medicine and University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center. The Institute collaborates with UH and area health systems to lead data analytics based on electronic health records to inform population health efforts and best practices in clinical care.
Over his six-year tenure with ǿմý, Dr. Haines has secured more than $45 million in grant funding from NIH and other sources, leading the PQHS department as one of the most successful at the ǿմý School of Medicine in terms of NIH funding. Across his career, spanning more than 30 years, he has secured more than $115 million in funding from NIH and other sources.
Among his major research projects is a $14 million NIH-granted initiative – the Collaborative for Alzheimer’s Disease Research (CADRE). This is an intensive genetics and other “omics” research effort using sequenced samples from more than 60,000 individuals. CADRE puts an emphasis on populations that historically have not been represented in large-scale genetic research, recognizing that Alzheimer’s Disease and other dementias present and progress differently across various demographics. The ultimate goal of CADRE is to identify potential targets for existing or novel therapeutics that may be tailored by genetic profile.
My focus is on genetic epidemiology of neurological and opthalmological disorders, as well as computational methods for biomedical big data.
Research Information
Research Interests
- Defining the genetic architecture of common diseases such as age-related macular degeneration, glaucoma, and Alzheimer disease
- Biological data aggregation, integration, and analysis, with a focus on international collaborations related to genomic data across diverse populations
- Electronic health records linked to biospecimens
- Genetics of rare genetic disorders
Awards and Honors
Professional Memberships
External Appointments
Publications
Publishing Impact
Metrics from Web of Science/publons
- H-index: 117
- Total publications: 714 considered in ranking by publons
- Total citations: 79,913
- Publications in top-tier journals: 69%
- Collaborative publishing national/international: 60%/40%
Editorial Roles
- Human Molecular Genetics, editorial board
- Nature Genomic Medicine, editorial board
- Neurogenetics, editorial board
- Current Protocols in Human Genetics, senior editor