Genes, Environment, and Health Branch (GEH)

Kimberly McAllister, Ph.D., received a B.S. in honors biology at the University of Illinois and a Ph.D. in human genetics at the University of Michigan. Her Ph.D. dissertation involved identifying the first gene known to cause the disease Hereditary Hemorrhagic Telangiectasia. She completed postdoctoral training and a Department of Defense breast cancer grant in the Division of Intramural Research at NIEHS with research focusing on the development of BRCA2-deficient mice as a model for breast cancer and Fanconi Anemia.

McAllister is presently a program administrator in the extramural division of NIEHS in the Genes and Environment Health Branch. She manages a portfolio of grants in genetic epidemiology and gene-environment interaction studies, human genetics, G x E statistical and bioinformatics methods, basic genetics, DNA repair, animal models of human disease, and comparative biology and population-based model approaches. She represents NIEHS on multiple trans-NIH committees relating to genetics and genomics and is the NIEHS GWAS program administrator. Kim is also involved in the TARGET II consortium and co-leads NIEHS involvement in the Human Heredity and Health (H3Africa) consortium, a large Common Fund program exploring genetic and environmental risk factors for complex human diseases on the African continent.

Areas of Specialty:

  • Human Genetics and Genetic Epidemiology (Including Functional Genomics Approaches)
  • Statistical and Bioinformatics Methods for Gene-Environment Interactions
  • DNA Repair and Genomic Stability, Animal Models of Human Disease, and Comparative Biology Approaches (Including Population-Based Model Organism Resources)
  • H3Africa Program Administrator
  • GWAS Program Administrator