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Internationally recognised authority in genetic epidemiology Dr Eric Moses has been appointed Winthrop Professor and Director of the Centre for Genetic Epidemiology and Biostatistics at The University of Western Australia.

The UWA Centre for Genetic Epidemiology and Biostatistics investigates genetic and environmental causes of common human diseases such as cancer, heart disease and depression.  It also manages the Western Australia DNA Bank and open source software for medical research.

Genetic epidemiology is a strategic research priority for UWA which has significant infrastructure to support population-based human genome research.

"We are delighted to have such an international authority in genetic epidemiology join UWA to collaborate with researchers across many fields to help clarify the links between our environment, our genes and our health," Dean of the UWA Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences Winthrop Professor Ian Puddey said.

"Professor Moses joins a tradition of outstanding medical research at UWA and we look forward to his academic leadership in this critical and exciting discipline," UWA Vice-Chancellor Professor Alan Robson said.

Professor Moses is an Australian scientist currently living in the US where he is Head of the Complex Disease Genetics Laboratory, at the Texas Biomedical Research Institute in San Antonio, Texas.

Professor Moses has MSc and PhD degrees from Monash University where he did his postgraduate research training in molecular neurochemistry and molecular microbiology.  After graduating PhD in 1994 he took up a senior research position in the Pregnancy Research Centre at the Royal Women's Hospital in Melbourne, where he was subsequently appointed Head of Laboratory Research in 2001.

His interest in the molecular genetics of preeclampsia and other common human pregnancy disorders took him to Oxford in 1997 for Wellcome Trust-sponsored post-doctoral training in statistical genetic analysis of complex human traits.  He has continued to work in this field, moving to Texas in 2005 where he has since been supported by National Institutes of Health to develop his major current research focus on the genetics of preeclampsia and cardiovascular disease.

The Centre collaborates with many UWA cohort resources for genetics research, including the internationally respected Busselton Health Study and the Western Australian Pregnancy (Raine) Cohort Study on child health and development.  It is also involved in several State research groups: the Cardiovascular Disease Consortium , Sleep Health Study , Melanoma Health Study and Twin Register .

Media references

Eric Moses (Director, Centre for Genetic Epidemiology and Biostatistics)
Janine MacDonald (UWA Public Affairs)  (+61 8)  6488 5563  /  (+61 4) 32 637 716