Ms. Lauren Cruz is a graduate student in the Epidemiology and Biostatistics PhD program administered by the Department of Population and Quantitative Health Sciences at Case Western Reserve University (2020-present). Ms. Cruz has a Bachelor's degree from Miami University in Physical and Biological Anthropology and a Masters of Public Health from Case Western Reserve University. She is co-mentored by Dr. Jessica Cooke Bailey and Dr. Dana Crawford. As a graduate student, Lauren has been supported by 5T32HL007567-36, 5T32EY007157-22, and the 2024 Prevent Blindness Ohio Young Investigator Student Fellowship Award. Lauren was selected as an NIH All of Us Research Program Scholar (2023-2024), and she placed first in the Graduate Student/Medical Student/Professor category for oral presentations.
Recent Publications
- Chang-Wolf, JM, Kinzy, TG, Driessen, SJ, Cruz, LA, Iyengar, SK, Peachey, NS, Aung, T, Khor, CC, Williams, SE, Ramsay, M et al.. Performance of Polygenic Risk Scores for Primary Open-Angle Glaucoma in Populations of African Descent. JAMA Ophthalmol 2025; 143 (1): 7-14. PubMed PMID:39541127 PubMed Central PMC11565374.
- Cruz, LA, Cooke Bailey, JN, Crawford, DC. Importance of Diversity in Precision Medicine: Generalizability of Genetic Associations Across Ancestry Groups Toward Better Identification of Disease Susceptibility Variants. Annu Rev Biomed Data Sci 2023; 6 : 339-356. PubMed PMID:37196357 PubMed Central PMC10720270.
- Cooke Bailey, JN, Funk, KL, Cruz, LA, Waksmunski, AR, Kinzy, TG, Wiggs, JL, Hauser, MA. Diversity in Polygenic Risk of Primary Open-Angle Glaucoma. Genes (Basel) 2022; 14 (1): . PubMed PMID:36672852 PubMed Central PMC9859496.
- Waksmunski, AR, Kinzy, TG, Cruz, LA, Nealon, CL, Halladay, CW, Anthony, SA, Greenberg, PB, Sullivan, JM, Wu, WC, Iyengar, SK et al.. Diversity is key for cross-ancestry transferability of glaucoma genetic risk scores in Hispanic Veterans in the Million Veteran Program. Pac Symp Biocomput 2023; 28 : 413-424. PubMed PMID:36540996 PubMed Central PMC9997528.
- Waksmunski, AR, Kinzy, TG, Cruz, LA, Nealon, CL, Halladay, CW, Simpson, P, Canania, RL, Anthony, SA, Roncone, DP, Sawicki Rogers, L et al.. Glaucoma Genetic Risk Scores in the Million Veteran Program. Ophthalmology 2022; 129 (11): 1263-1274. PubMed PMID:35718050 PubMed Central PMC9997524.
- Fealy, CE, Nieuwoudt, S, Foucher, JA, Scelsi, AR, Malin, SK, Pagadala, M, Cruz, LA, Li, M, Rocco, M, Burguera, B et al.. Functional high-intensity exercise training ameliorates insulin resistance and cardiometabolic risk factors in type 2 diabetes. Exp Physiol 2018; 103 (7): 985-994. PubMed PMID:29766601 PubMed Central PMC6026040.
