Yunlong Liu, PhD

• Professor of Medical and Molecular Genetics
• T. K. Li Chair for Medical Research
• Director, Center for Computational Biology and Bioinformatics
• Director, Center for Medical Genomics

Stephanie Ware, MD, PhD

• Professor of Pediatrics
• Professor of Medical & Molecular Genetics
• Vice Chair of Clinical Affairs in Medical and Molecular Genetics
• Director of Cardiovascular Genetics, Herman B Wells Center for Pediatric Research

Dr. Ware’s research interests include the genetic and developmental basis of disorders of cardiac structure and function. Her research laboratory has made significant contributions in the areas of congenital heart defects and cardiomyopathy. In addition, she participates in multi-site initiatives including serving as PI of the Genetic Coordinating Center for the NHLBI funded study to identify genotype-phenotype correlations in pediatric cardiomyopathy and serving as PI for the Cytogenomics of Cardiovascular Malformations Consortium. The long term goals of the clinical, translational, and basic research approaches are to identify causes and potential management of disorders of cardiac structure and function. Clinically, she evaluates and manages patients with genetic disorders and has specific expertise in cardiomyopathy and syndromes with cardiovascular disease. She was recruited to IUSM in March, 2014 to initiate a cardiovascular genetics program that would encompass clinical cardiovascular genetics services and basic and translational cardiovascular genetics research.

Todd Skaar, PhD

• Professor of Medicine
• Adjunct Professor of Pharmacology & Toxicology
• Adjunct Professor of Medical and Molecular Genetics

Todd Skaar, PhD, leads the Pharmacogenomics program of the IU Grand Challenge Precision Health Initiative. He is focused on identifying genetic information within certain patients to determine what medications they are likely to respond to. That information is being provided back to patients at IU Health.

Skaar did his graduate work in nutrition at the University of Wisconsin and lactation physiology at the Pennsylvania State University, followed by a postdoc in breast cancer drug resistance at the Lombardi Cancer Center at Georgetown University. Since joining Indiana University, his research is focused on the discovery and implementation of genomic predictors of drug response. More specifically, his studies are focused on genetic variants in the ADME genes. The discovery studies are funded by two NIH grants focused on identifying genetic variants that are associated with clinical drug efficacy and toxicity. Those variants are followed up with laboratory functional studies to understand the mechanisms underlying their association. They also include studies to identify miRNAs that contribute to the drug-induced and developmental changes in hepatic drug metabolism. He also leads an NIH-funded pharmacogenomics implementation study. The goal is to identify and overcome the barriers to using pharmacogenomics to guide clinical drug therapy. The implementation studies include prospectively testing and using pharmacogenetic testing in clinical care. He currently serves as the Chair of the NIH-IGNITE (Implementing Genomics into Practice) network. He has co-authored several CPIC guidelines for using pharmacogenetics to guide clinical drug therapy.