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Charles
N. Rotimi ,
Ph.D.
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Dr.
Charles
Rotimi is
a biochemist
and a genetic
epidemiologist
in the National
Human Genome
Center (NHGC),
College
of Medicine
at Howard
University.
He received
his undergraduate
education
from the
University
of Benin
in Nigeria
before immigrating
to the United
States for
further
studies.
Dr. Rotimi
started
his education
in the US
at the University
of Mississippi
where he
obtained
a masters
degree in
Health Care
Administration.
He obtained
a second
masters
degree and
a doctorate
in epidemiology
from the
University
of Alabama
at Birmingham
School of
Public Health.
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| Dr.
Rotimi is
currently
a Professor
in the Department
of Microbiology,
Acting Director
of the NHGC
and Director
of Genetic
Epidemiology,
NHGC at
Howard University
in the College
of Medicine.His
long-term
scientific
interest
is directed
at understanding
the patterns
and determinants
of common
complex
diseases
including
diabetes,
hypertension
and obesity
in populations
of the African
Diaspora.
Collectively,
diabetes,
hypertension,
obesity
and their
complications
explain
over 80%
of the well-documented
health disparity
that exists
between
African
Americans
and their
White counterparts
in the US.
Contemporary
populations
of African
descent
now live
in very
different
social settings,
from traditional
to fully
westernized
lifestyles,
with varying
degrees
of genetic
admixture.
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Dr. Rotimi believes
that studying
these diverse
populations may
help explain phenomenon
like the monotonic
increase in hypertension
rates as one moves
from rural west
Africa (about
7%) through the
black nations
of the Caribbean
(about 26%) and
the US (about
34%). Taking
advantage of the
huge contrast
in the distribution
of risk factors
in these contemporary
African populations,
Dr. Rotimi uses
genetic epidemiology
models to test
whether high rate
of diseases like
diabetes, hypertension
and obesity among
African Americans
is the result
of exposure to
higher levels
of environmental
risk factors,
an increased genetic
susceptibility,
or an interaction
between adverse
environments and
deleterious genes.
Dr. Rotimi is
the president
of the African
Society of Human
Genetics.
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