Yann C Klimentidis

Yann C Klimentidis

Associate Professor, Public Health
Assistant Professor, Genetics - GIDP
Associate Professor, BIO5 Institute
Primary Department
Contact
(520) 621-0147

Work Summary

I use human genetic data to find associations of genetic markers with complex traits and diseases, to shed light on disease pathophysiology, causal pathways, and health disparities, and to inform precision medicine.

Research Interest

Yann C. Klimentidis, PhD, is an Associate Professor in the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics in the Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health at the University of Arizona. His research centers on improving our understanding of the links between genetic variation, lifestyle factors, metabolic disease, and health disparities. In the past, he has used measures of genetic admixture and genomic tests of natural selection to understand the genetic basis of population differences in disease susceptibility. His most recent work examines the use various statistical approaches for the analysis of high-dimensional genetic data for improving prediction of genetic susceptibility to type-2 diabetes. In addition, his work examines gene-by-lifestyle interactions in type-2 diabetes, as well as understanding the causal links between metabolic traits such as dyslipidemia and type-2 diabetes. Keywords: Genetics, epidemiology, Cardiometabolic disease, Physical activity

Publications

Bea, J. W., Smoller, S., Wertheim, B. C., Klimentidis, Y. C., Chen, Z., Zaslavsky, O., Manini, T., Womack, C., Kroenke, C., LaCroix, A., & Thomson, C. A. (2016). Associations between ACE-inhibitors and angiotensin receptor blockers, and lean body mass in community dwelling older women. Nutr, Metab and Cardio Vasc Diseases.
BIO5 Collaborators
Zhao Chen, Yann C Klimentidis
Klimentidis, Y. C., Chen, Z., Arora, A., & Hsu, C. (2014). Association of physical activity with lower type 2 diabetes incidence is weaker among individuals at high genetic risk. Diabetologia, 57(12), 2530-4.
BIO5 Collaborators
Zhao Chen, Yann C Klimentidis

We examined whether or not the association of physical activity with type 2 diabetes incidence differs according to several types of genetic susceptibility.

Raichlen, D. A., Klimentidis, Y., Hsu, C., & Alexander, G. E. (2017). Fractal complexity of daily physical activity patterns differs with age over the lifespan and predicts mortality in older adults. ..
BIO5 Collaborators
Gene E Alexander, Yann C Klimentidis
Klimentidis, Y. C., Zhou, J., & Kittles, R. A. (2015). Among men only, West-African genetic ancestry is associated with lower central adiposity. International Journal of Obesity.
Lebron-Aldea, D., Dhurandhar, E. J., Perez-Rodriguez, P., Klimentidis, Y. C., Tiwari, H. K., & Vazquez, A. I. (2014). Genome-enabled models for type 2 diabetes risk assessment. Frontiers in Genetics.