Dr. Misa Graff is Research Assistant Professor of Epidemiology at the University of North Carolina Gillings School of Global Public Health. Dr. Graff's research interests focus on the genetics of obesity and cardiovascular disease risk traits, with an overarching goal of integrating understanding of both genetic and environmental risk factors for disease, particularly among minority populations. Dr. Graff's current projects include the genetic epidemiology of weight gain across adolescence into young adulthood; gene-environment interactions across multiple large cohorts; the genetic architecture of adiposity in African Americans and Hispanics; and examination of genetic effects influencing cardiovascular disease risk traits and diseases burdening minority populations.
Recent Publications
- Lee, MP, Koenigsberg, SH, Anwar, MY, Raffield, LM, Lin, Z, Ballou, AF, Booth, JN 3rd, Davy-Mendez, T, Kassahun, H, Kent, ST et al.. Lp(a) Has Specific Effects on Coronary Artery Disease Independent of LDL-C: A Mendelian Randomization Study. JACC Adv 2026; 5 (5): 102697. PubMed PMID:41889052 PubMed Central PMC13050038.
- Wang, H, Nagarajan, P, Miller, CL, Bentley, AR, Noordam, R, Westerman, KE, Brown, MR, Kraja, AT, O'Connell, JR, Schwander, K et al.. Gene-by-Sleep Duration Interaction for Glycemic Traits in over 480,000 Individuals. medRxiv 2026; : . PubMed PMID:41867174 PubMed Central PMC13001383.
- Sprinkles, JK, Howard, AG, Hullings, AG, Shetye, A, Wilkins, JT, Graff, M, Shaikh, SR, Avery, CL, North, KE, Gordon-Larsen, P et al.. Plasma lipidomics and 15-year risk of incident diabetes: a coronary artery risk development in young adults study. J Lipid Res 2026; 67 (3): 100992. PubMed PMID:41621715 PubMed Central PMC12955097.
- Zhang, M, Brown, MR, Bentley, AR, Winkler, TW, Noordam, R, Nagarajan, P, Guo, B, Lee, S, Schwander, K, Wang, W et al.. Large-Scale Gene-Smoking Interactions and Fine Mapping Study Identifies Multiple Novel Blood Pressure Loci in over 1 Million Individuals. medRxiv 2025; : . PubMed PMID:41480028 PubMed Central PMC12754705.
- Noordam, R, Wang, W, Nagarajan, P, Wang, H, Brown, MR, Bentley, AR, Hui, Q, Kraja, AT, Morrison, JL, O'Connel, JR et al.. Genome-wide gene-sleep interaction study identifies novel lipid loci in 732,564 participants. Atherosclerosis 2026; 412 : 120603. PubMed PMID:41325697 PubMed Central PMC12757440.
- Chen, BD, Tapia, A, Boerwinkle, E, Clish, CB, Gerszten, R, Graff, M, Mohlke, KL, Morrison, AC, Pathmasiri, W, Rich, SS et al.. Association of metabolomics measurements with blood cell phenotypes. Blood Cells Mol Dis 2026; 117 : 102966. PubMed PMID:41289847 PubMed Central PMC12888047.
- Kim, D, Highland, HM, Smit, RAJ, Hysong, MR, Buchanan, VL, Young, KL, Zhao, C, Spracklen, CN, Kilpeläinen, TO, Guo, B et al.. Genetic underpinnings of the heterogeneous impact of obesity on lipid levels and cardiovascular disease. Genome Med 2025; 17 (1): 113. PubMed PMID:41053791 PubMed Central PMC12502452.
- Krishnan, M, Anwar, MY, Justice, AE, Chittoor, G, Chen, HH, Roshani, R, Scartozzi, A, Dickerson, RR, Smit, RAJ, Preuss, MH et al.. Genome-wide association study provides novel insight into the genetic architecture of severe obesity. PLoS Genet 2025; 21 (9): e1011842. PubMed PMID:40939575 PubMed Central PMC12443252.
- Selvaraj, MS, Li, X, Li, Z, Van Buren, E, Haidermota, S, Postupaka, D, Hornsby, W, Bis, JC, Brody, JA, Cade, BE et al.. Whole genome sequence analysis of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol across 246 K individuals. Genome Biol 2025; 26 (1): 273. PubMed PMID:40926209 PubMed Central PMC12418676.
- Smit, RAJ, Wade, KH, Hui, Q, Arias, JD, Yin, X, Christiansen, MR, Yengo, L, Preuss, MH, Nakabuye, M, Rocheleau, G et al.. Polygenic prediction of body mass index and obesity through the life course and across ancestries. Nat Med 2025; 31 (9): 3151-3168. PubMed PMID:40691366 PubMed Central PMC12443623.
