Departmental Affiliations
Affiliated
Center & Institute Affiliations
M. Daniele Fallin, PhD, studies how environments, behaviors, genetic variation, and epigenetic variation contribute to risk for psychiatric disease, with a focus on autism.
Research Interests
Epidemiology, genetics, mental health, SNP, genetic epidemiology, autism, schizophrenia, epigenetics
Experiences & Accomplishments
Education
PhD
Case Western Reserve University
2000
BS
University of Florida
1993
Overview
I am interested in applying genetic epidemiology methods to studies of neuropsychiatric disorders including autism, Alzheimer's disease, schizophrenia, and bipolar disorder and to developing applications and methods for epigenetic epidemiology, particulary as applied to mental health and development.
Select Publications
The goal of my research is to understand the genetic and environmental causes of neuropsychiatric diseases and their interplay. Specifically, my group studies how environments, behaviors, genetic variation, and epigenetic variation contribute to risk for psychiatric disease, particularly autism. I have training in both epidemiology and statistical genetics, and have worked on methodological developments for genetic epidemiology studies as well as led recruitment efforts for general epidemiological projects in autism and Alzheimer’s disease. I was the past Director of the Genetic Epidemiology Program in the Department of Epidemiology at Johns Hopkins and am now the Chair of the Department of Mental Health in the same Bloomberg School of Public Health and Director of the Wendy Klag Center for Autism and Developmental Disabilities. I am PI of the Maryland site of the SEED study (Study to Explore Early Development), a multi-site case-control study of autism genetic and environmental risk factors and the EARLI study (Early Autism Research Longitudinal Investigation), a prospective pregnancy cohort focused on causes of autism. I also co-PI the conversion of the Boston Birth Cohort into an autism prospective birth cohort via HRSA funding. I have led GWAS and EWAS (epigenome-wide) projects for autism based on SEED and EARLI samples and co-led two NIH Roadmap-funded projects on epigenetic epidemiology.
- Click here for a complete list of Dr. Fallin's publications
- Lyall K, Croen L, Daniels J, Fallin MD, Ladd-Acosta C, Lee BK, Park BY, Snyder NW, Schendel D, Volk HE, Windham GC, Newschaffer C. (2016) The Changing Epidemiology of Autism Spectrum Disorders. Annu Rev Public Health. PMID: 28068486.
- Bakulski, Halladay A, Hu VW, Mill J, Fallin MD. (2016) Epigenetic Research in Neuropsychiatric Disorders: the “Tissue Issue”. Current Behavioral Neuroscience Reports. doi: 10.1007/s40473-016-0083-4.
- Feinberg AP, Fallin MD. (2015) Epigenetics at the Crossroads of Genes and the Environment. JAMA. 2015 Sep 15;314(11):1129-30. doi: 10.1001/jama.2015.10414. PMID: 26372577
- Ladd-Acosta C, Fallin MD. (2016) The role of epigenetics in genetic and environmental epidemiology. Epigenomics. 8(2):271-83. doi: 10.2217/epi.15.102.
Projects
Arsenic, Epigenetics and Incident Cardiovascular Disease in American Indian
A Prospective Birth Cohort Study on Pre- and Peri-natal Determinants of Autism Spectrum Disorders and Developmental Disabilities
Parental lifetime occupational exposures and risk of autism spectrum disorder in offspring
GEMMA (Genome, Environment, Microbiome & Metabolome in Autism)
Study to Explore Early Development (SEED)