Neil Hanchard is a Jamaican physician and scientist who is clinical investigator in the

National Human Genome Research Institute The National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) is an institute of the National Institutes of Health, located in Bethesda, Maryland. NHGRI began as the Office of Human Genome Research in The Office of the Director in 1988. This Office transi ...

(NHGRI), where he leads the Childhood Complex Disease Genomics section. Prior to joining NHGRI, he was an associate professor of molecular and human

genetics Genetics is the study of genes, genetic variation, and heredity in organisms.Hartl D, Jones E (2005) It is an important branch in biology because heredity is vital to organisms' evolution. Gregor Mendel, a Moravian Augustinians, Augustinian ...

at the

Baylor College of Medicine The Baylor College of Medicine (BCM) is a private medical school in Houston, Texas, United States. Originally as the Baylor University College of Medicine from 1903 to 1969, the college became independent with the current name and has been se ...

. He is a fellow of the

American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics The American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics (ACMG) is an organization composed of biochemical, clinical, cytogenetic, medical and molecular geneticists, genetic counselors and other health care professionals committed to the practice ...

, . Hanchard's research focuses on the genetics of childhood disease, with an emphasis on diseases impacting global health.

Early life and education

Hanchard grew up in

Jamaica Jamaica is an island country in the Caribbean Sea and the West Indies. At , it is the third-largest island—after Cuba and Hispaniola—of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean. Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, west of Hispaniola (the is ...

. In 1999, he received a

Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery A Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (; MBBS, also abbreviated as BM BS, MB ChB, MB BCh, or MB BChir) is a medical degree granted by medical schools or universities in countries that adhere to the United Kingdom's higher education trad ...

degree from the

University of the West Indies The University of the West Indies (UWI), originally University College of the West Indies, is a public university system established to serve the higher education needs of the residents of 18 English-speaking countries and territories in t ...

Kingston, Jamaica Kingston is the Capital (political), capital and largest city of Jamaica, located on the southeastern coast of the island. It faces a natural harbour protected by the Palisadoes, a long spit (landform), sand spit which connects the town of Por ...

. He then studied at the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

as a

Rhodes Scholar The Rhodes Scholarship is an international Postgraduate education, postgraduate award for students to study at the University of Oxford in Oxford, United Kingdom. The scholarship is open to people from all backgrounds around the world. Esta ...

. He received a

Doctor of Philosophy A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of Postgraduate education, graduate study and original resear ...

degree from Oxford in 2004, and completed a residency in

pediatrics Pediatrics (American English) also spelled paediatrics (British English), is the branch of medicine that involves the medical care of infants, children, Adolescence, adolescents, and young adults. In the United Kingdom, pediatrics covers many o ...

at the

Mayo Clinic Mayo Clinic () is a Nonprofit organization, private American Academic health science centre, academic Medical centers in the United States, medical center focused on integrated health care, healthcare, Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science ...

in 2009. Subsequently, he completed a clinical fellowship in

clinical genetics Medical genetics is the branch of medicine that involves the diagnosis and management of hereditary disorders. Medical genetics differs from human genetics in that human genetics is a field of scientific research that may or may not apply to m ...

at the Baylor College of Medicine.

Research

Hanchard's research focuses on genetic factors that can lead children to manifest especially severe symptoms of

malnutrition Malnutrition occurs when an organism gets too few or too many nutrients, resulting in health problems. Specifically, it is a deficiency, excess, or imbalance of energy, protein and other nutrients which adversely affects the body's tissues a ...

, genomics of disease progression in children with

HIV The human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV) are two species of '' Lentivirus'' (a subgroup of retrovirus) that infect humans. Over time, they cause acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), a condition in which progressive failure of the im ...

and

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB), also known colloquially as the "white death", or historically as consumption, is a contagious disease usually caused by ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can al ...

, and genetic factors that contribute to

comorbidities In medicine, comorbidity refers to the simultaneous presence of two or more medical conditions in a patient; often co-occurring (that is, concomitant or concurrent) with a primary condition. It originates from the Latin term (meaning "sickness" ...

sickle cell disease Sickle cell disease (SCD), also simply called sickle cell, is a group of inherited Hemoglobinopathy, haemoglobin-related blood disorders. The most common type is known as sickle cell anemia. Sickle cell anemia results in an abnormality in the ...

. He is a member of the Undiagnosed Diseases Network, and is interested in identifying molecular diagnoses for children with uncommon genetic disease symptoms. In collaboration with the

Human Heredity and Health in Africa Human Heredity and Health in Africa, or H3Africa, is an initiative to study the genomics and medical genetics of African people. Its goals are to build the continent's research infrastructure, train researchers and clinicians, and to study quest ...

(H3Africa) consortium, he was a senior author on a publication surveying human genetic diversity in

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

. The study was published in and featured on the cover of ''Nature'', which described the work as "a milestone in genomics research". In this work, they sequenced the complete genomes of 426 African individuals who belonged to 50 distinct

ethnolinguistic group An ethnolinguistic group (or ethno-linguistic group) is a group that is unified by both a common ethnicity and language. Most ethnic groups share a first language. However, "ethnolinguistic" is often used to emphasise that language is a major bas ...

s, including individuals from populations that had never previously been sequenced. The study revealed previously unknown historical

human migration Human migration is the movement of people from one place to another, with intentions of settling, permanently or temporarily, at a new location (geographic region). The movement often occurs over long distances and from one country to another ( ...

patterns, for example leading to insight into the history of the

Berom people The Berom (sometimes also spelt Birom) are one of the largest autochthonous ethnic groups in Plateau State Nigeria, covering about four local government areas, namely Riyom, Jos North, Jos South and Barkin Ladi (Gwol). Berom people are also ...

of Nigeria. It identified more than 3 million genetic variants that had not been previously observed, which could contribute to making genetic tests more accurate for people with African ancestry. He has coauthored more than 70

peer review Peer review is the evaluation of work by one or more people with similar competencies as the producers of the work (:wiktionary:peer#Etymology 2, peers). It functions as a form of self-regulation by qualified members of a profession within the ...

ed articles. His papers have appeared in ''Nature'', ''Science'', and the ''

American Journal of Human Genetics The ''American Journal of Human Genetics'' is a monthly peer-reviewed scientific journal in the field of human genetics. It was established in 1948 by the American Society of Human Genetics and covers all aspects of heredity in humans, including ...

''.

Personal life

Hanchard is married with children.

Selected publications

* Choudhury, A., Aron, S., Botigué, L.R. ''et al.'
High-depth African genomes inform human migration and health.
''Nature'' 586, 741–748 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-020-2859-7 * Schulze, K.V., Bhatt, A., Azamian, M.S. ''et al.'
Aberrant DNA methylation as a diagnostic biomarker of diabetic embryopathy.
''Genet Med'' 21, 2453–2461 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41436-019-0516-z * Schulze, K.V., Swaminathan, S., Howell, S. ''et al.'
Edematous severe acute malnutrition is characterized by hypomethylation of DNA.
''Nat Commun'' 10, 5791 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-019-13433-6 * Retshabile, G, Mlotshwa, B.C.,Williams, L ''et al.'
Whole-Exome Sequencing Reveals Uncaptured Variation and Distinct Ancestry in the Southern African Population of Botswana.
''Am J Hum Genet.'' 102 (5), 731-743 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajhg.2018.03.010 * Hanchard NA, Swaminathan S, Bucasas K ''et al.'
A genome-wide association study of congenital cardiovascular left-sided lesions shows association with a locus on chromosome 20
''Hum Mol Genet.'' 25 (11), 2331-2341 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1093/hmg/ddw071 * Hanchard NA, Rockett KA, Spencer C, ''et al.'
Screening for recently selected alleles by analysis of human haplotype similarity.
''Am J Hum Genet.'' 78 (1), 153-9 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1086/499252

External links

NHGRI Biography

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hanchard, Neil American geneticists Alumni of the University of Oxford Jamaican Rhodes Scholars University of the West Indies alumni American people of Jamaican descent American pediatricians Jamaican scientists Jamaican physicians Jamaican paediatricians Living people Year of birth missing (living people)