Faculty

Alison Fohner

Assistant Professor, Epidemiology


Education

PhD Public Health Genetics, University of Washington, 2015
MS Biology, Stanford University, 2008

Contact


Box 357236
Department of Epidemiology
Hans Rosling Center for Population Health, 874B
Seattle, WA 98195

Bio

Dr. Fohner is a genetic epidemiologist applying innovative big data methods to extensive electronic health record, population-based longitudinal cohort, and multi-omic data to improve precision medicine. She approaches genetic epidemiology through an ELSI (ethical, legal, social implications) lens, and aims to promote equity and justice in the benefit of and access to genetic information in health settings. She prioritizes interdisciplinary collaborations and is a member of the Cardiovascular Health Research Unit at UW, where she integrates genomics and proteomics to identify early biomarkers for cognitive decline and dementia. She is an Associate Director of the Institute for Public Health Genetics, an interdisciplinary program in the School of Public Health that explores the application of genomics in public health, and is an adjunct investigator at Kaiser Permanente Northern California Division of Research. 

Research Interests

Dr. Fohner is a genetic epidemiologist applying innovative big data methods to extensive electronic health record and genomic data to improve precision medicine. She approaches genetic epidemiology through an ELSI (ethical, legal, social implications) lens, and aims to promote equity and justice in the benefit of and access to genetic information in health settings. She teaches in the Institute of Public Health Genetics, an interdisciplinary program in the School of Public Health that explores the application of genomics in public health, and is an adjunct investigator at Kaiser Permanente Northern California Division of Research.

Recent Publications (PubMed)

Clinical and Imaging Markers of Cardiac Function and Brain Health: A Meta-Analysis of Community-Based Studies.
(2025 Apr 22)
Neurology 104(8): e213421
Yaqub A, Bis JC, Frenzel S, Koini M, Mbangdadji D, Peloso GM, Talluri R, Alonso A, Bahls M, Bülow R, Dörr M, Felix S, Fohner A, Friedrich N, Hofer E, Kavousi M, Launer LJ, Le T, Longstreth W, Mosley TH, Vernooij MW, Völzke H, Wittfeld K, Beiser AS, Grabe HJ, Gudnason V, Ikram MA, Psaty BM, Schmidt R, Simino J, Seshadri S, Wolters FJ, as Cross-Cohort Collaboration

Polygenic risk scores for incident dementia in the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis.
(2025 Mar 6)
medRxiv
Xue D, Blue EE, Sofer T, Hughes TM, Rotter JI, Fohner AE

Protocol for improving equity in quantitative big data cleaning: lessons from longitudinal analysis of electronic health records from underrepresented and marginalized communities.
(2025 Feb 16)
Int J Epidemiol 54(2):
Buchanan ZV, Hopkins SE, Boyer BB, Fohner AE

A Large-Scale Genome-wide Association Study of Blood Pressure Accounting for Gene-Depressive Symptomatology Interactions in 564,680 Individuals from Diverse Populations.
(2025 Feb 17)
Res Sq
Lee S, Miller CL, Bentley AR, Brown MR, Nagarajan P, Noordam R, Morrison J, Schwander K, Westerman K, Kho M, Kraja AT, de Vries PS, Ammous F, Aschard H, Bartz TM, Do A, Dupont CT, Feitosa MF, Gudmundsdottir V, Guo X, Harris SE, Hikino K, Huang Z, Lefevre C, Lyytikäinen LP, Milaneschi Y, Nardone GG, Santin A, Schmidt H, Shen B, Sofer T, Sun Q, Tan YA, Tang J, Thériault S, van der Most PJ, Ware EB, Weiss S, Ya Xing W, Yu C, Zhao W, Ansari MAY, Anugu P, Attia JR, Bazzano LA, Bis JC, Breyer M, Cade B, Chen G, Collins S, Corley J, Davies G, Dörr M, Du J, Edwards TL, Faquih T, Faul JD, Fohner AE, Fretts AM, Gangireddy S, Gepner A, Graff M, Hofer E, Homuth G, Hood MM, Jie X, Kähönen M, Kardia SL, Karvonen-Gutierrez CA, Launer LJ, Levy D, Maheshwari M, Martin LW, Matsuda K, McNeil JJ, Nolte IM, Okochi T, Raffield LM, Raitakari OT, Risch L, Risch M, Roux AD, Ruiz-Narvaez EA, Russ TC, Saito T, Schreiner PJ, Scott RJ, Shikany J, Smith JA, Snieder H, Spedicati B, Tai ES, Taylor AM, Taylor KD, Tesolin P, van Dam RM, Wang R, Wenbin W, Xie T, Yao J, Young KL, Zhang R, Zonderman AB, Biobank Japan Project, Lifelines Cohort Study, Concas MP, Conen D, Cox SR, Evans MK, Fox ER, de Las Fuentes L, Giri A, Girotto G, Grabe HJ, Gu C, Gudnason V, Harlow SD, Holliday E, Jost JB, Lacaze P, Lee S, Lehtimäki T, Li C, Liu CT, Morrison AC, North KE, Penninx BW, Peyser PA, Province MM, Psaty BM, Redline S, Rosendaal FR, Rotimi CN, Rotter JI, Schmidt R, Sim X, Terao C, Weir DR, Zhu X, Franceschini N, O'Connell JR, Jaquish CE, Wang H, Manning A, Munroe PB, Rao DC, Chen H, Gauderman WJ, Bierut L, Winkler TW, Fornage M

Plasma proteome-wide analysis of cerebral small vessel disease identifies novel biomarkers and disease pathways.
(2024 Oct 8)
medRxiv
Gomez GT, Shi L, Fohner AE, Chen J, Yang Y, Fornage M, Duggan MR, Peng Z, Daya GN, Tin A, Schlosser P, Longstreth WT, Kalani R, Sharma M, Psaty BM, Nevado-Holgado AJ, Buckley NJ, Gottesman RF, Lutsey PL, Jack CR, Sullivan KJ, Mosley T, Hughes TM, Coresh J, Walker KA

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