Rate My Professor Charleston Chiang

A medical population geneticist, Dr. Chiang investigates how evolutionary forces, including demographic history and natural selection, shape the genetic architecture of complex traits within and between human populations. His research involves large-scale genomic studies characterizing fine-scale population structure, signals of adaptation, and genetic loci for complex traits, with a focus on diverse groups such as Finns, Chinese, Sardinians, Latino Americans, and Native Hawaiians. Key publications include 'A likelihood-based framework for demographic inference from genealogical trees' (Nature Genetics, 2025), 'The accuracy of polygenic score models for BMI and Type II diabetes in the Native Hawaiian population' (Communications Biology, 2025), 'A noncoding regulatory variant in IKZF1 increases acute lymphoblastic leukemia risk in Hispanic/Latino children' (Cell Genomics, 2024), 'Imputation Accuracy Across Global Human Populations' (American Journal of Human Genetics, 2024), and 'Estimating heritability explained by local ancestry and evaluating stratification bias in admixture mapping from summary statistics' (American Journal of Human Genetics, 2023). His contributions are recognized with the Dean’s Early Career Award for Excellence in Mentoring from Keck School of Medicine (2024), ASHG Human Genetics and Genomics Advances Outstanding Early Career Publication Award (2023), ASHG Charles J. Epstein Trainee Award Semifinalist (2017), NIH NRSA Postdoctoral Fellowship (2013-2015), and National Science Foundation Graduate Fellowship (2007-2010). Dr. Chiang leads NIH-funded projects, including R01HG012605, R01HG011646, and R35GM142783, advancing genetic analysis in diverse populations.