Eric D. Green (born December 10, 1959)[1] is an American genomics researcher who had significant involvement in the Human Genome Project. He is the director of the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), a position he has held since 2009.[2]

Eric Douglas Green
3rd Director of the National Human Genome Research Institute
Assumed office
2009
PresidentBarack Obama
Donald Trump
Joe Biden
Preceded byAlan E. Guttmacher (Acting)
Francis Collins
Personal details
Born (1959-12-10) December 10, 1959 (age 64)[citation needed]
St. Louis, Missouri
SpouseGabriela Adelt
EducationUniversity of Wisconsin-Madison (BS)
Washington University in St. Louis (MD) (PhD)
Scientific career
FieldsGenomics
Institutions
ThesisStructures and biosynthesis of Asn-linked oligosaccharides on the pituitary glycoprotein hormones (1987)
Doctoral advisor
  • Jacques Baenziger
  • Irving Boime
Other academic advisorsMaynard Olson

Early life and education edit

Born and raised in St. Louis, Missouri, Green comes from a scientific family.[3] His father, Maurice Green, was a virologist at St. Louis University School of Medicine, where he directed the Institute for Molecular Virology for over five decades. His brother, Michael Green, was a molecular biologist at UMass Chan Medical School, where he chaired the Department of Molecular, Cell, and Cancer Biology and was an Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute until he passed away in 2023.[4][5]

Green received his B.S. degree in bacteriology from the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 1981 and his M.D. and Ph.D. degrees from Washington University in 1987.[6] During residency training in clinical pathology (laboratory medicine), he worked in the laboratory of Maynard Olson, where he launched his career in genomics research.

Career edit

In 1992, Green was appointed Assistant Professor of Pathology and Genetics as well as a co-investigator in the Human Genome Center at Washington University. In 1994, he joined the newly established Intramural Research Program of the National Center for Human Genome Research, later renamed the National Human Genome Research Institute.[7]

Green has served as chief of the NHGRI Genome Technology Branch (1996-2009), director of the NIH Intramural Sequencing Center (1997-2009), and NHGRI Scientific Director (2002-2009). He was appointed by Francis Collins to be NHGRI Director in 2009.[8]

Genomics research edit

While directing an independent research program for almost two decades, Green worked to map, sequence and understand eukaryotic genomes. His work included significant involvement in the Human Genome Project. These efforts eventually blossomed into a program in comparative genomics that provided insights about genome structure, function and evolution. His laboratory also identified and characterized several human disease genes, including those implicated in certain forms of hereditary deafness, vascular disease and inherited peripheral neuropathy.[citation needed]

NHGRI director edit

As NHGRI director, Green leads the Institute's research programs and other initiatives, and it has completed two major cycles of strategic planning. The first effort yielded the 2011 NHGRI strategic plan, "Charting a course for genomic medicine from base pairs to bedside"[9] the second will yield a new strategic plan in October 2020. These two strategic planning processes have guided an expansion of NHGRI's research portfolio, including the design and launch of programs to accelerate the application of genomics to medical care, to catalyze the growth of genomic data science, to continue efforts to unravel the functional complexities of the human genome, and to enhance the building of the genomics workforce of the future.

Green has played a role in developing many high-profile genomics efforts, such as the Undiagnosed Diseases Network, Human Heredity and Health in Africa (H3Africa), and the Human Microbiome Project. He has also been involved in the Smithsonian-NHGRI exhibition Genome: Unlocking Life's Code, several trans-NIH data science initiatives, the NIH Genomic Data Sharing Policy, the U.S. Precision Medicine Initiative and NIH All of Us Research Program.[10]

Honors edit

Honors given to Green include a Helen Hay Whitney Postdoctoral Research Fellowship (1989-1990), a Lucille P. Markey Scholar Award in Biomedical Science (1990-1994), induction into the American Society for Clinical Investigation (2002), an Alumni Achievement Award from Washington University School of Medicine (2005), induction into the Association of American Physicians (2007), a Distinguished Alumni Award from Washington University (2010), the Cotlove Lectureship Award from the Academy of Clinical Laboratory Physicians and Scientists (2011), a Ladue Horton Watkins High School Distinguished Alumni Award (2012), and the Wallace H. Coulter Lectureship Award from the American Association for Clinical Chemistry (2012). He is a founding editor of the journal Genome Research (1995–present) and a series editor for Genome Analysis: A Laboratory Manual (1994-1998), both published by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press. He is also co-editor of the Annual Review of Genomics and Human Genetics (since 2005).[11] Green has authored and co-authored over 340 scientific publications.[12]

References edit

  1. ^ Green, Eric (2019-12-10). "Turned the big 6-0 today — really hard to believe! I hear that 60 is the new 50? Here are photos of me at 4 and 30, as well as one to prove that I can still jump at age 60. It's gratifying to reflect on my life for the past ~25 years here @genome_gov, nearly half of my life!pic.twitter.com/24eLviI4LK". @NHGRI_Director. Retrieved 2019-12-14.
  2. ^ "NIH Appoints Eric D. Green, M.D., Ph.D. to be Director of the National Human Genome Research Institute". National Institutes of Health (NIH). 2015-09-28. Retrieved 2019-12-14.
  3. ^ "Eric Green, M.D., Ph.D." National Human Genome Research Institute.
  4. ^ "Michael Green, M.D., Ph.D." University of Massachusetts Medical School. 26 August 2015.
  5. ^ UMass Chan Medical School (13 February 2023). "UMass Chan Medical School statement about Michael Green". UMass Chan Medical School. Retrieved 18 January 2024.
  6. ^ Green, Eric Douglas (1987). Structures and biosynthesis of ASN-linked oligosaccharides on the pituitary glycoprotein hormones (Ph.D. thesis). Washington University in St. Louis. OCLC 16398907 – via ProQuest.
  7. ^ "Biography of Director Eric D. Green, M.D, Ph.D." National Human Genome Research Institute. Retrieved 2018-01-17.
  8. ^ "NIH Appoints Eric D. Green, M.D., Ph.D. to be Director of the National Human Genome Research Institute". National Institutes of Health (NIH). 2015-09-28. Retrieved 2019-12-14.
  9. ^ Green, Eric D.; Guyer, Mark S. (2011). "Charting a course for genomic medicine from base pairs to bedside". Nature. 470 (7333): 204–213. Bibcode:2011Natur.470..204.. doi:10.1038/nature09764. PMID 21307933.
  10. ^ "Precision Medicine Initiative Working Group of the Advisory Committee to the Director September 2015 report" (PDF). NIH All of Us.
  11. ^ "Annual Review of Genomics and Human Genetics. Volume 6: 2005. Edited by Aravinda Chakravarti and , Eric Green. Palo Alto (California): Annual Reviews. $80.00. xii + 462 p + 38 pl; ill.; subject index and cumulative indexes (contributing authors and chapter titles, Volumes 1–6). ISBN: 0–8243–3706–9. 2005". The Quarterly Review of Biology. 81 (1): 61. March 2006. doi:10.1086/503948. JSTOR 10.1086/503948. Retrieved 17 September 2021.
  12. ^ "Eric D. Green, M.D., Ph.D." Genome.gov. Retrieved 2019-12-14.

External links edit

Government offices
Preceded by 3rd Director of the National Human Genome Research Institute
2009 – present
Incumbent