People

I serve as the Associate Director of Operations for Diabetes Research at the Broad Institute where I provide organizational leadership for large-scale, international consortia, and public/private partnerships in human genetics studies of type 2 diabetes and related traits. I am trained in molecular biology and human genetics and I joined the Whitehead Center for Genome Research (now the Broad Institute) in 1999 to develop technologies for genotyping and sequencing. Over the last 18 years, I have helped developed and scaled genotyping and sequencing technologies for the Institute, resourced and managed technical teams, navigated alliances for a host for industry and private partnerships, and provided scientific project management for an array of international genome-wide association studies and next-generation sequencing consortia.

Currently, I work to define new collaborations/research initiatives, funding opportunities, and strategy for the research program. In this role, I also oversee operations and external relations for the Accelerating Medicines Partnership for Type 2 Diabetes (AMP-T2D) Program. Finally, I am most excited about enabling biologists and pharmaceutical researchers the means to interact and derive hypotheses from the trove of human genetics data we have participated in generating over the years. Therefore, I spend much of my time developing strategy and stewarding research community engagement for the T2D Knowledge Portal, an open-access software architecture and resource for genetic studies of T2D and its complications. My hope is to develop a network of Knowledge Portals in the complex disease community.

Lynette is happy join the MGH family again as a Staff Assistant III for the Endocrine Division. Lynette will be coordinating the Endocrine Grand Rounds and Diabetes Grand Rounds conference schedules, as well as, the Endocrine Division Council Meeting, Semi-annual Endocrine Division Meeting and Florez Lab meeting schedules.

Lynette holds a Bachelor of Science in Biology and Nutrition and previously worked for the MGH community health centers as the Senior Nutritionist and Assistant Director of the WIC Nutrition Program. In her free time, she enjoys spending time with her two daughters, attending fitness classes at Boston Sports Club, and vacationing at Lake Winnipesaukee during the summer months.

Pam started working at MGH in 2008 as a Patient Coordinator in the Cardiology Division. She is currently the Administrative Manager for the Endocrine Division and Florez Lab. Pam supports Dr. Florez administratively, helps manage the lab, and  manages both the T32 Training grant in Diabetes and Bioinformatics and the BADERC P30 grant.  Pam received her Masters degree from Boston University in Health Communications and her BS in Business Administration.

In her spare time, Pam likes to travel and play softball, but her main priority is raising her two daughters, Callie and Sadie.

I received my PhD in Human Genetics in 2016 from the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus and have since been working with both Jose Florez and Joel Hirschhorn on the genetics of diabetic kidney disease and other complex traits.

In my spare time I love to travel, cook, and play volleyball.

Sara Cromer is a clinical and research fellow in Endocrinology at Massachusetts General Hospital. She received her medical degree from Baylor College of Medicine and completed internship and residency at New York Presbyterian Hospital-Columbia University Medical Center.  As a second-year Endocrine fellow, she focuses on research while maintaining a clinical connection through outpatient clinics in Diabetes, Obesity, and general Endocrinology. She is especially interested in type II diabetes, and she plans to focus her research on the ways in which education, nutrition, culture, and socioeconomic status interact with genetic risk factors for diabetes, as well as the ways in which we can improve care for diabetes in underserved populations.

Sara and her husband Christopher are native Texans who have moved steadily up the East Coast and now spend their free time trying to perfect their new Southie accents.

Dr. Kwak is a visiting scholar from Seoul National University Hospital, Seoul Korea. He was trained as an endocrinologist and focuses his research on genetics and epidemiology of diabetes in East Asians. He has experience in analyzing genome-wide associations on gestational diabetes, whole exome sequencing in type 2 diabetes, and clinical sequencing for diagnosis of monogenic diabetes. His goal is to understand the genetic basis of diabetes and its complications and translate the findings into clinical practice.

He enjoys listening to classical music and is an amateur flutist.

I am a biologist and my main interest is in using human genetics in order to better understand the etiology of type 2 diabetes and related traits. Since 2008, I shifted from experimental biology to computational biology. Currently, I work in the analysis of newly generated datasets, such as whole-exome sequencing, as well as genome-wide association studies, but I also have strong interest in reanalyzing, combining, or integrating existing datasets to gain more insight into the biology of type 2 diabetes.

When away from my computer, I like running, hiking, sailing and any other outdoor activity.

Miriam’s research focuses on using genetics to characterize subtypes of type 2 diabetes. She is interested in the impact of both common and rare genetic variation, and in the integration of clinical data from electronic health records. Trained as a genetic epidemiologist during her MD-PhD, she completed her residency in Internal Medicine and fellowship in Endocrinology. Miriam is the Director of the MGH Diabetes Genetics Clinic, where she sees patients with rare genetic forms of diabetes.

Outside of work, she enjoys traveling, running, and playing tennis and ultimate frisbee.

I am a Pulmonary and Critical Care physician. I graduated from Yale University with a B.S. in Molecular Biochemistry and Biophysics, attained my MD from Columbia College of Physicians and surgeons, and completed my residency and Fellowship at Massachusetts General Hospital. I am currently working in the Florez lab studying the genetics of glucocorticoid-induced hyperglycemia and cystic fibrosis-related diabetes.

In my free time I enjoy reading novels and going on runs along the Charles River.

Vicky currently manages SUGAR-MGH, SIGMA2 MGH, PHARMGen and a couple other smaller clinical research studies in the lab. She also carries out all the wet lab related tasks including DNA extractions for genotyping and other assays such as GLP-1 and GIP ELISA’s as needed.

She is a proud mom of twin girls and likes to read, travel, spend time with her family and sleep in her spare time.

Aaron Leong is interested in the application of complex trait genetics to precision medicine and public health. His research focuses on genetic determinants of hemoglobin A1c, a biomarker used to predict, diagnosis and monitor patients with diabetes. He is involved in genetic discovery efforts led by the Meta-Analysis of Glycemic and Insulin-related Traits Consortium (MAGIC) and the Trans-Omics for Precision Medicine (TOPMed) Program. He hopes to use multi-ethnic cohorts and biorepositories-linked with electronic health data, e.g., Partner Biobank, to perform Mendelian Randomization studies that test causal associations between diabetes drug targets with hemoglobin A1c, drug response and adverse events, diabetes progression, complications and comorbidities, and determine whether genetics of diabetes and related traits can be used to predict health outcomes and improve healthcare utilization.

Aaron enjoys watching TV, Neflix, and movies across multiple genres, traveling, meeting old friends, singing karaoke (when alone), stargazing, palm reading and running.

Dr. Li graduated from Duke University with a BS in chemistry and a biochemistry concentration. She received her MD from Duke University School of Medicine, trained in Internal Medicine at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, and is a current endocrinology fellow at Massachusetts General Hospital. She is interested in identifying genetic predictors of response to metformin and other anti-diabetes medications, and in establishing tailored approaches in the treatment of patients with type 2 diabetes.

Outside of work, she enjoys being an avid Duke basketball fan, discovering new restaurants, and playing piano.

Dr. Merino dedicates himself to study the interplay between genetic predisposition to type 2 diabetes and lifestyle influences on type 2 diabetes and its clinical complications with focus on patient-centered research. Before joining the Center for Genomic Medicine in April 2015, Merino earned both bachelor’s degree and Master of Nutrition and Metabolism from Rovira and Virgily University, Reus Spain, and Ph.D. in lifestyle and subclinical atherosclerosis from the same University. Dr. Merino is a Marie Sk?odowska-Curie Fellow, expanding his research interest in other layers of omics information with the overall mission to enable the implementation of precision medicine in type 2 diabetes.

When he is not in the lab, he is enjoying Boston with his wife, Marta.

Dr. Powe graduated from Harvard Medical School, trained in Internal Medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and in Endocrinology at Massachusetts General Hospital. She is an endocrinologist and clinical researcher with a focus on endocrine disorders in pregnancy, particularly diabetes. She is conducting clinical and translational studies on the genetics and physiology of gestational glucose metabolism.

Maria Costanzo (https://www.broadinstitute.org/bios/maria-costanzo) is the manager of content and community for the Type 2 Diabetes Knowledge Portal (http://www.type2diabetesgenetics.org), an open-access resource for human genetic information on type 2 diabetes (T2D) with the goal of catalyzing the clinical translation of genetic discoveries. Her role on the Portal team is to spread awareness of the resource and also to facilitate its use, by writing clear documentation and by participating in tool and interface development to ensure that the website is user-friendly.

Maria is the mother of two adult sons. In her free time, she enjoys gardening, cooking, and just about any outdoor activity: running, biking, hiking, canoeing, cross-country skiing. She hopes to climb all the major High Peaks of the Adirondacks someday.