Christy Avery, PhD
About
As a cardiovascular disease (CVD) epidemiologist and Carolina Population Center fellow, my research interests span genomics, gene-environment interaction, and causal inference. Recently I have extended these research interests to include metabolomics, bioactive lipids, and ‘omics more broadly. I also teach graduate courses on epidemiologic data analysis and cardiovascular disease epidemiology. Finally, I lead the CV epidemiology program area and co-lead the CV genetic epidemiology computational laboratory (https://hlbgenepi.web.unc.edu/).
Christy Avery in the Gillings News
- Obesity may slow progress against cancer deaths
- Seven faculty members win 2021 Teaching Innovation Awards
- Gillings School team receives $6.2 million to study metabolic underpinnings of obesity-associated cardiovascular disease
- Gillings School researchers join ‘creativity hubs’ to fight obesity, improve water access
- Study findings suggest some individuals are genetically more vulnerable to harm from air pollution
Honors and Awards
Health Teaching Excellence and Innovation Award
2021, UNC Gillings School of Public Health
Invited attendee
2016, AHA/ASA Research Leaders Academy
American Heart Association’s Sandra Daugherty Award for Excellence in Cardiovascular or Hypertension Epidemiology
2015, American Heart Association
Representative Courses
Epidemiologic Data Analysis (EPID 716) | Syllabus
Population Burden Measures in Cardiovascular Disease Epidemiology (EPID 889) | Syllabus
Research Activities
Dr. Avery is interested in cardiovascular disease epidemiology, with specific areas related to heart failure, genetic epidemiology, pharmacogenomics and environmental health. She is also interested in translation-oriented methods to assess the burden of cardiovascular diseases in diverse populations.
Research Interests: Exposure Science, Heart Disease and Stroke
Key Publications
Multi-ethnic genome-wide association study of decomposed cardiac conduction phenotypes illustrates strategies to identify and characterize evidence of shared genetic effects for complex traits. Baldassari AR, Sitlani CM, Highland HM, Arking DE, Buyske S, Darbar D, Gondalia R, Graff M, Guo X, Heckbert SR, Hindorff LA, Hodonsky CJ, Chen Y-DI, Kaplan RC, Peters U, Post W, Reiner AP, Rotter JI, Shohet RV, Sotoodehnia N, Tao R, Taylor KD, Yao J, Kenny EE, Lin HJ, Soliman EZ, Whitsel EA, North KE, Kooperberg C, Avery CL (2024). Circ Precision Med, 4(13).
Single nucleotide polymorphisms in nucleotide excision repair genes, cancer treatment, and head and neck cancer survival. C Avery, J Barnholtz-Sloan, J Bensen, W Funkhouser, A Herring, A Olshan, M Weissler, A Wyss (2014). Cancer causes & control : CCC, 25(4), 437-50.
Single nucleotide polymorphisms in nucleotide excision repair genes, cancer treatment, and head and neck cancer survival. C Avery, J Barnholtz-Sloan, J Bensen, W Funkhouser, A Herring, A Olshan, M Weissler, A Wyss (2014). Cancer causes & control : CCC, 25(4), 437-50.
Comparison of study designs used to detect and characterize pharmacogenomic interactions in nonexperimental studies: a simulation study. C Avery, J Der, T Stürmer, E Whitsel (2014). Pharmacogenetics and genomics, 24(3), 146-55.
Comparison of study designs used to detect and characterize pharmacogenomic interactions in nonexperimental studies: A simulation study. Christy Avery, Jane Der, Til Stürmer, Eric Whitsel (2014). Pharmacogenetics and Genomics.
Drug-gene interactions and the search for missing heritability: A cross-sectional pharmacogenomics study of the QT interval. D.E. Arking, D.K. Arnett, C.L. Avery, J.C. Bis, E. Boerwinkle, B.M. Buckley, Y.-D. Chen, A.J.M. Craen, C. Duijn, M. Eijgelsheim, D. Enquobahrie, D.S. Evans, I. Ford, M.E. Garcia, V. Gudnason, T.B. Harris, S.R. Heckbert, H. Hochner, A. Hofman, W.-C. Hsueh, A. Isaacs, J.W. Jukema, P. Knekt, J.A. Kors, B.P. Krijthe, K. Kristiansson, M. Laaksonen, X. Li, Y. Liu, P.W. Macfarlane, C. Newton-Cheh, M.S. Nieminen, B.A. Oostra, G.M. Peloso, K. Porthan, B.M. Psaty, K. Rice, F.F. Rivadeneira, J.I. Rotter, V. Salomaa, N. Sattar, D.S. Siscovick, C.M. Sitlani, P.E. Slagboom, A.V. Smith, N. Sotoodehnia, D.J. Stott, B.H. Stricker, T. Stürmer, S. Trompet, A.G. Uitterlinden, R.G.J. Westendorp, E.A. Whitsel, J.C. Witteman (2014). Pharmacogenomics Journal, 14(1), 6-13.
Education
- PhD, Epidemiology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2007
- MPH, Epidemiology, University of Michigan, 2003
- BA/BS, Human Biology, Michigan State University, 1999