Gonçalo Abecasis

Gonçalo Rocha Abecasis
Born	1976 Moura, Portugal
Occupation(s)	Biomedical scientist, geneticist, biostatistician
Years active	2001–present
Known for	Statistical genetics, genomics, data science in medical research
Notable work	Contributions to 1000 Genomes Project, Michigan Genomic Initiative

Gonçalo Rocha Abecasis (born 1976) is a biomedical scientist of Portuguese American heritage affiliated with the University of Michigan. He also serves as Vice President and Chief Genomics and Data Science Officer at the Regeneron Genetics Center. Previously, he led the Department of Biostatistics within the School of Public Health. Abecasis heads a research team at the Center for Statistical Genetics, holds the Felix E. Moore Collegiate Professorship in Biostatistics, and oversees the Michigan Genomic Initiative. His group focuses on creating statistical methodologies for investigating the genetic basis of human diseases, playing a pivotal role in advancing genomics and data science in medical research.

Education and early life

Born in Moura to José Manuel and Maria Teresa, Abecasis is the oldest among twelve siblings. His upbringing took place in both Portugal and Macau during its period as Portuguese Macau. After acquiring computer programming skills during his secondary education, he completed a Bachelor of Science degree in Genetics at the University of Leeds in 1997. He then earned a D. Phil in human genetics from the University of Oxford in 2001, conducting research under the guidance of William Cookson and Lon Cardon.

Research

Abecasis’s expertise lies in developing statistical and computational approaches to study human genetic disorders, including psoriasis and heart-related diseases. His laboratory designs software tools for analysis and visualization of biomedical datasets, frequently employing C++. During his doctoral studies, he utilized programming to examine asthma susceptibility data and continued his career as a biostatistician upon joining Michigan in 2001, where he received mentorship from Michael Boehnke. A proponent of open data practices, his contributions extend to projects like the 1000 Genomes Project and collaborations with Oxford researchers.

Awards and honours

In 2008, Abecasis was honored with the Excellence in Research Award by the University of Michigan School of Public Health and was promoted to professor status in 2009. He earned the 2013 Overton Prize from the International Society for Computational Biology, where he also delivered a keynote address at ISMB. Additionally, he was recognized as a Pew Scholar by the Pew Charitable Trusts in 2005. His scientific work was notably referenced by US Vice-President Joe Biden during a 2010 address on biomedical innovation.

By 2018, Abecasis had achieved an h-index of 145 with over 144,000 citations. His research was acknowledged by Thomson Reuters for producing several 'hot papers'—those ranking within the top 0.1% by citation counts—in 2009, 2011, and 2012.

In October 2014, he was awarded the Curt Stern Award in Human Genetics from the American Society of Human Genetics, an honor shared with Mark J. Daly. That same month, he was inducted into the Institute of Medicine.

Personal life

Gonçalo is married to fellow University of Michigan researcher Cristen Willer. Together, they have five children.