DANA C. CRAWFORD, PHD
Associate Director for Population and Diversity Research
Dana Crawford, PhD, is Professor in the Department of Population and Quantitative Health Sciences and Associate Director for Population and Diversity Research in the Cleveland Institute for Computational Biology. She also has a secondary appointment in the Department of Genetics and Genome Sciences. Dr. Crawford received her Ph.D. at Emory University in genetics and molecular biology in 2000 and then trained as a post-doctoral fellow as an Epidemic Intelligence Service Officer at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2000–2002) and as a senior fellow at the University of Washington’s Department of Genome Sciences (2002–2006). Prior to her most current position, Dr. Crawford spent eight years as tenure-track faculty in the Department of Molecular Physiology and Biophysics and Investigator in the Center for Human Genetics Research at Vanderbilt University. As a genetic epidemiologist at CWRU, Dr. Crawford’s broad research interests include applying genetic variation data to large-scale epidemiologic and clinical cohorts to better understand human genotype-phenotype associations with an emphasis on diverse populations.
Recent Publications
- Waksmunski, AR, Kinzy, TG, Cruz, LA, Nealon, CL, Halladay, CW, Simpson, P, Canania, RL, Anthony, SA, Roncone, DP, Rogers, LS et al.. Glaucoma genetic risk scores in the Million Veteran Program. Ophthalmology 2022; : . PubMed PMID:35718050 .
- Verma, A, Tsao, NL, Thomann, LO, Ho, YL, Iyengar, SK, Luoh, SW, Carr, R, Crawford, DC, Efird, JT, Huffman, JE et al.. A Phenome-Wide Association Study of genes associated with COVID-19 severity reveals shared genetics with complex diseases in the Million Veteran Program. PLoS Genet 2022; 18 (4): e1010113. PubMed PMID:35482673 PubMed Central PMC9049369.
- Menon, R, Bomback, AS, Lake, BB, Stutzke, C, Grewenow, SM, Menez, S, D'Agati, VD, Jain, S, Kidney Precision Medicine Project. Integrated single-cell sequencing and histopathological analyses reveal diverse injury and repair responses in a participant with acute kidney injury: a clinical-molecular-pathologic correlation. Kidney Int 2022; 101 (6): 1116-1125. PubMed PMID:35339536 .
- Peloso, GM, Tcheandjieu, C, McGeary, JE, Posner, DC, Ho, YL, Zhou, JJ, Hilliard, AT, Joseph, J, O'Donnell, CJ, Efird, JT et al.. Genetic Loci Associated With COVID-19 Positivity and Hospitalization in White, Black, and Hispanic Veterans of the VA Million Veteran Program. Front Genet 2021; 12 : 777076. PubMed PMID:35222515 PubMed Central PMC8864634.
- Jin, B, Capra, JA, Benchek, P, Wheeler, N, Naj, AC, Hamilton-Nelson, KL, Farrell, JJ, Leung, YY, Kunkle, B, Vadarajan, B et al.. An association test of the spatial distribution of rare missense variants within protein structures identifies Alzheimer's disease-related patterns. Genome Res 2022; 32 (4): 778-790. PubMed PMID:35210353 PubMed Central PMC8997344.
- Huynh-Le, MP, Karunamuni, R, Fan, CC, Asona, L, Thompson, WK, Martinez, ME, Eeles, RA, Kote-Jarai, Z, Muir, KR, Lophatananon, A et al.. Prostate cancer risk stratification improvement across multiple ancestries with new polygenic hazard score. Prostate Cancer Prostatic Dis 2022; : . PubMed PMID:35152271 .
- Darst, BF, Hughley, R, Pfennig, A, Hazra, U, Fan, C, Wan, P, Sheng, X, Xia, L, Andrews, C, Chen, F et al.. A Rare Germline HOXB13 Variant Contributes to Risk of Prostate Cancer in Men of African Ancestry. Eur Urol 2022; 81 (5): 458-462. PubMed PMID:35031163 PubMed Central PMC9018520.
- Liu, S, Crawford, DC. Maturation and application of phenome-wide association studies. Trends Genet 2022; 38 (4): 353-363. PubMed PMID:34991903 PubMed Central PMC8930498.
- Butler, CR, Appelbaum, PS, Ascani, H, Aulisio, M, Campbell, CE, de Boer, IH, Dighe, AL, Hall, DE, Himmelfarb, J, Knight, R et al.. A Participant-Centered Approach to Understanding Risks and Benefits of Participation in Research Informed by the Kidney Precision Medicine Project. Am J Kidney Dis 2022; 80 (1): 132-138. PubMed PMID:34871700 .
- Nealon, CL, Halladay, CW, Kinzy, TG, Simpson, P, Canania, RL, Anthony, SA, Roncone, DP, Sawicki Rogers, LR, Leber, JN, Dougherty, JM et al.. Development and Evaluation of a Rules-based Algorithm for Primary Open-Angle Glaucoma in the VA Million Veteran Program. Ophthalmic Epidemiol 2021; : 1-9. PubMed PMID:34822319 .
Featured Publications

Using Electronic Health Records to Generate Phenotypes for Research
Sarah A. Pendergrass and Dana C. Crawford Electronic health records contain patient-level data collected during and for clinical care. Data within the electronic health record include diagnostic billing codes, procedure codes, vital signs, laboratory test results, clinical imaging, and physician notes. With repeated clinic visits, these data are longitudinal, providing important information on disease development, […]

Local genetic ancestry in CDKN2B-AS1 is associated with primary open-angle glaucoma in an African American cohort extracted from de-identified electronic health records.
Restrepo NA, Laper S, Farber-Eger E, Crawford DC. Glaucoma is a leading cause of blindness in developed countries. Primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG), the most prevalent clinical subtype of glaucoma in the United States, affects African Americans at a higher rate compared with European Americans. Risk factors identified for POAG include increased age and family history, […]

Reducing Clinical Noise for Body Mass Index Measures Due to Unit and Transcription Errors in the Electronic Health Record.
Goodloe R, Farber-Eger E, Boston J, Crawford DC, Bush WS,. Body mass index (BMI) is an important outcome and covariate adjustment for many clinical association studies. Accurate assessment of BMI, therefore, is a critical part of many study designs. Electronic health records (EHRs) are a growing source of clinical data for research purposes, and have […]

Fine-mapping of lipid regions in global populations discovers ethnic-specific signals and refines previously identified lipid loci.
Zubair N, Graff M, Luis Ambite J, Bush WS, Kichaev G, Lu Y, Manichaikul A, Sheu WH, Absher D, Assimes TL, Bielinski SJ, Bottinger EP, Buzkova P, Chuang LM, Chung RH, Cochran B, Dumitrescu L, Gottesman O, Haessler JW, Haiman C, Heiss G, Hsiung CA, Hung YJ, Hwu CM, Juang JJ, Le Marchand L, Lee […]
Dana on Twitter
@MikeEberle @sedlazeck @PacBio Who was that masked man?
The PSB 2023 Call for Papers deadline is August 1, 2022. For details see https://t.co/uYFxpH5C6X #PSB23
— Pac Sym Biocomputing (@PacSymBiocomp) May 31, 2022
ASHG issues statement regarding the warping of genetic knowledge to feed racist ideology: ashg.org/?p=20391&previ… Retweeted by Dr. Dana Crawford
Excited to be in Denver for #ARVO2022! I present tomorrow morning in the Glaucoma Genetics Session. My talk is entitled "Cross-Ancestry Glaucoma Genetic Risk Score in Hispanic Veterans in the Million Veteran Program." Retweeted by Dr. Dana Crawford
New! Osterman et al. explore the genetic architecture of #AlzheimersDisease risk in Amish populations #OA bit.ly/3vPhtQP Retweeted by Dr. Dana Crawford
@genome_gov makes a reference to Our Flag Means Death. Did not see that coming! twitter.com/genome_gov/sta…
New genomics terms just dropped! Do you want to learn the basics of genomics while also keeping up with the latest research? We’ve got you covered. Our talking glossary is filled with cool terms and will leave you wanting more (knowledge). #DNADay2022 https://t.co/I2CxMCp5iM pic.twitter.com/ZQ8g9Mw2ap
— National Human Genome Research Institute (@genome_gov) April 25, 2022
Oh, to be a post-doc in the @capra_lab! twitter.com/capra_lab/stat…
We are hiring! Multiple funded postdoctoral positions are available on projects at the intersection of bioinformatics, evolution, genetics, and electronic health records. Please share!https://t.co/oToKR57ntO
— Capra Lab (@capra_lab) April 18, 2022
Our brief case for liberals arts education as a means to better prepare students as scientists. There is a lot more though. Liberal-arts education helps scientists think and communicate nature.com/articles/d4158… Retweeted by Dr. Dana Crawford
It's a good day when you find out that 1) your submitted grant received a decent score and 2) @genome_gov liked one of your quote tweets.
You still have a chance to impress Miranda by adding more diversity to your genomic studies. By having more genomic data from people of all populations, we increase our ability to make sure genomic research and genomic medicine benefit everyone! https://t.co/wphbznQLV4
— National Human Genome Research Institute (@genome_gov) March 23, 2022
@CWRUSOM Genetics and Genome Sciences chair position is open for applications! tinyurl.com/mr32km46 #CWRU #CWRUSOM #AcademicTwitter #genomics
@GeneticSociety also has #ASHG Board member nominations open at ashg.secure-platform.com/a/page/board-o… twitter.com/CaturDNA/statu…
Time is running out to nominate yourself or your colleagues for the @GeneticsSociety #ASHG committees! Apply by 3/15 at https://t.co/WNxNLc353Q pic.twitter.com/NJzzLz8Ok1
— Dr. Dana Crawford (@CaturDNA) March 3, 2022
Time is running out to nominate yourself or your colleagues for the @GeneticsSociety #ASHG committees! Apply by 3/15 at ashg.secure-platform.com/a/page/committ…
Our latest MVP research findings co-led with @JennyGenetics and Yan Sun: Genetic Loci Associated With COVID-19 Positivity and Hospitalization in White, Black, and Hispanic Veterans of the VA Million Veteran Program frontiersin.org/article/10.338… Retweeted by Dr. Dana Crawford
@NHGRI_Director Lavender, the rose color for love at first sight or enchantment. #ValentinesDay
After careful consideration and input from our cat Starbright, I choose comparative genomics! I previously did research in comparative genomics, and I remain smitten with this exciting area of work. It’s basically opening up evolution’s notebooks about so many adorable critters! Retweeted by Dr. Dana Crawford
On this day 10 years ago, I become the first African American to get a PhD in Human Genetics from @vanderbiltu 🖤 Happy Valentine’s Day and Black History & Futures Month! 🖤🧬🖤🧬 Retweeted by Dr. Dana Crawford