Katherine Pollard Explained

Katie Pollard
Birth Name:	Katherine Snowden Pollard
Fields:	Evolutionary genomics Functional genomics
Workplaces:	Gladstone Institutes University of California, San Francisco University of California, Davis University of California, Santa Cruz
Alma Mater:	Pomona College (BA) University of California, Berkeley (MS, PhD)
Thesis Title:	Computationally intensive statistical methods for analysis of gene expression data
Thesis Url:	http://oskicat.berkeley.edu/record=b16015681
Thesis Year:	2003
Doctoral Advisor:	Mark van der Laan
Notable Students:	Samantha Riesenfeld Tony Capra
Awards:	ISCB Fellow (2020) CZ Biohub Investigator (2017-present)
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Katherine Snowden Pollard is the Director of the Gladstone Institute of Data Science and Biotechnology and a professor at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). She is a Chan Zuckerberg Biohub Investigator.^[1] She was awarded Fellowship of the International Society for Computational Biology in 2020 and the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering in 2021 for outstanding contributions to computational biology and bioinformatics.^[2] ^[3]

Education

Pollard received a B.A. summa cum laude in anthropology and mathematics from Pomona College and an M.S. from the University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley). She was awarded a Ph.D. in 2003 from UC Berkeley for research supervised by Mark van der Laan.^[4]

Career and research

Pollard is a leader in developing statistical models and open-source software for big data, particularly in genomics.^[5] ^[6] She and her team pioneered the identification of the fastest-evolving regions of the human genome, known as human accelerated regions (HARs).^[7] ^[8] Pollard has also designed methods to study the human microbiome^[9] ^[10] and other microbial communities, setting the stage for the use of metagenomics in precision medicine.

Before joining UCSF, she held a postdoctoral research position with Sandrine Dudoit at UC Berkeley and worked with David Haussler at UC Santa Cruz.^[7]

Honors and awards

Member, National Academy of Medicine^[11]
Fellow, American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering. 2021.
Fellow, International Society for Computational Biology. 2020.
Gladstone Institutes Mentoring Award. 2019.
Women Who Lead in the Life Sciences. SF Business Times. 2018.
75 Most Influential Alumni, UC Berkeley School of Public Health. 2018.
Chan Zuckerberg Biohub Investigator. 2017–present.
Fellow, California Academy of Sciences. 2013–present.
Breakthrough Biomedical Research Award, UCSF. 2009–2010.
Sloan Research Fellowship, Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. 2008–2010.
NIH Postdoctoral Fellowship, NIGMS/NIH NRSA. 2003–2005.
Evelyn Fix Prize, Chin Long Chiang Biostatistics Student of the Year, UC Berkeley. 2003.
Valedictorian, High Scholarship Prize, Math Prize, Anthropology Prize, Phi Beta Kappa Award, Pomona College. 1995.
Sophomore Math Prize, Pomona College. 1993.

External links

Notes and References

Web site: Investigator Competition 2021. 2022-01-13. CZ Biohub. en-US.
Web site: ISCB Fellows. www.iscb.org. 2020-07-20. 2017-03-20. https://web.archive.org/web/20170320114530/https://www.iscb.org/iscb-fellows. dead.
Web site: February 19, 2020: ISCB Congratulates and Introduces the 2020 Class of Fellows!. www.iscb.org.
Katherine Snowden. Pollard. PhD. 937442296. . Computationally intensive statistical methods for analysis of gene expression data. berkeley.edu. University of California, Berkeley. 2003.
Initial sequence of the chimpanzee genome and comparison with the human genome. Nature. 437. 7055. 2005. 69–87. 0028-0836. 10.1038/nature04072. 16136131. The Chimpanzee Sequencing and Analysis Consortium. 2005Natur.437...69. . free.
Pollard. K. S.. Hubisz. M. J.. Rosenbloom. K. R.. Siepel. A.. Detection of nonneutral substitution rates on mammalian phylogenies. Genome Research. 20. 1. 2009. 110–121. 1088-9051. 10.1101/gr.097857.109. 19858363 . 2798823.
Pollard KS, Salama SR, King B, Kern AD, Dreszer T, Katzman S, Siepel A, Pedersen JS, Bejerano G, Baertsch R, Rosenbloom KR, Kent J, Haussler D . Forces shaping the fastest evolving regions in the human genome . . 2 . 10 . e168 . 2006 . 17040131 . 1599772 . 10.1371/journal.pgen.0020168 . free .
Kostka D, Hubisz MJ, Siepel A, Pollard KS . The role of GC-biased gene conversion in shaping the fastest evolving regions of the human genome. . 29. 3. 1047–57. 2012. 22075116. 3278478. 10.1093/molbev/msr279.
Structure, function and diversity of the healthy human microbiome. Nature. 486. 7402. 2012. 207–214. 0028-0836. 10.1038/nature11234. 22699609 . 3564958. The Human Microbiome Project Consortium. 2012Natur.486..207T .
A framework for human microbiome research. Nature. 486. 7402. 2012. 215–221. 0028-0836. 10.1038/nature11209. 22699610 . 3377744. The Human Microbiome Project Consortium. 2012Natur.486..215T .
News: Frasure . Hannah . Scientist Katie Pollard PO '95 nationally recognized for groundbreaking biology research . 2 December 2022 . The Student Life . 18 November 2022.