Sarah Williams-Blangero, PhD

Biography

Sarah Williams-Blangero, PhD, was recruited to be the Founding Director of the South Texas Diabetes and Obesity Institute at UTRGV in 2014.

Dr. Williams-Blangero is a genetic epidemiologist with over 30 years of experience in research on the genetic determinants of differential susceptibility to complex diseases, particularly in minority populations. She received her PhD in Biological Anthropology from Case Western Reserve University in 1987. Dr. Williams-Blangero joined the Southwest Foundation for Biomedical Research (now the Texas Biomedical Research Institute) as a postdoctoral scientist in the Department of Genetics in 1987. After being promoted through the ranks to the level of Scientist, she was Chair of the Department of Genetics at the Texas Biomedical Research Institute for 15 years and also served for 2 years as the Deputy Director of the Southwest National Primate Research Center that was based at Texas Biomed. She has served as a standing member of two NIH study sections and has served on an ad hoc basis on numerous other review panels. As a Principal Investigator, Dr. Williams-Blangero has generated over $25 million in NIH funding to support her research. A leader in the conduct of human population studies, Dr. Williams-Blangero has developed research sites in Nepal and Brazil that have been active for over 30 years and over 20 years respectively. She has published more than 120 papers in the scientific literature.

Dr. Williams-Blangero also currently serves as Chair of the Department of Human Genetics at the UTRGV School of Medicine.

Research Focus

Dr. Williams-Blangero’s research program focuses on the genetic epidemiology of complex diseases in minority populations. She has led the development of a number of major human population cohorts for long-term genetic research. In Nepal, she has worked with a single pedigree that includes over 2,600 members of a small ethnic group, the Jirel population. This population has been the center of collaborative research projects on parasitic disease, childhood growth and development, osteoporosis and bone-related traits, dental traits, psychiatric disease, and ocular health and disease. Dr. Williams-Blangero also works with a study population of approximately 2000 residents from a rural area of Brazil that has very high rates of Trypanosoma cruzi infection. T. cruzi is the parasitic cause of Chagas disease, which is associated with progressive cardiomyopathy. Chagas disease is found throughout Latin America and is a border health issue relevant for the Rio Grande Valley. As the Director of the South Texas Diabetes and Obesity Institute, Dr. Williams-Blangero expanded her research on the genetic determinants of risk for diabetes, obesity, and related disorders in the Jirel population and in the population of Posse, Brazil. She also established the Rio Grande Valley Family Study with support from the Knapp Community Care Foundation. With a recruitment goal of 1,000 participants, this study now includes over 550 Mexican Americans belonging to large families from the mid-Valley who are being genetically characterized for risk for diabetes and related diseases.

Key Roles and Responsibilities

Director of South Texas Diabetes and Obesity Institute

• Shall be directly accountable to the Chair.
• Shall be responsible for the administration of the South Texas Diabetes and Obesity Institute.
• Shall hold regular meetings of the Institute faculty to present pertinent information and to discuss issues that may include, among others, Institute or SOM policies, educational, research and service programs, long-range objectives, and current problems. 
• Shall recruit and recommend to the Chair the appointment of faculty and other personnel.
• Shall be responsible for the Institute’s role in carrying out the programs that are the responsibility of SOM faculty.
• Shall be responsible for the implementation of all UTRGV and SOM policies and regulations applicable to the Institute.
• Shall prepare the Institute's budget to be submitted to the ISU/Department Chair annually including recommendations for compensation of both faculty and non-faculty personnel.
• Shall be responsible for the budgetary control of their Institute.
• Shall recommend faculty appointments, promotions, and tenure to the ISU/Department Chair and pertinent UTRGV SOM committee for review and processing.
• Shall organize the Institute in a way that best serves the needs of the Institute and SOM and provide for appropriate interaction with the Institute faculty and between its faculty and leadership.
• Shall be responsible for the career development and mentoring of faculty members in the Institute.