Barbara E Stranger

Barbara E Stranger serves as an Adjunct Associate Professor in the Department of Pharmacology at Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine, with affiliations spanning the Center for Genetic Medicine, Institute for Augmented Intelligence in Medicine, Robert J. Havey, MD Institute for Global Health, and Simpson Querrey Center for Neurogenetics.

Her academic foundation includes a BA from the University of Chicago (1994), PhD from the University of Montana (2002), and postdoctoral training in Translational Research at the University of Chicago (2019).

Dr. Stranger's research disentangles genotype-phenotype relationships through high-throughput functional genomics and GWAS, examining context-specific genomic effects on transcriptomes/proteomes and natural selection's role in human variation. Her work integrates disease mapping with functional genomics to uncover biological mechanisms, with Genetics, Genomics, and Sex Differences as core pillars. She actively investigates pharmacogenomics and health disparities across autoimmune, cardiovascular, and psychiatric conditions.

Recent publications highlight dual research thrusts: psychiatric genetics (OCD genomics) and sex-specific cancer biology (glioma molecular profiling), demonstrating consistent focus on functional variant interpretation and population-level genetic architecture.

Her scientific recognition includes:

• 2022 Somerfeld-Ziskind Research Award Finalist (Society of Biological Psychiatry)
• 2021 Top 10 Clinical Research Achievement Awards Finalist (Clinical Research Foundation)

As leader of the Stranger Lab, she directs collaborative projects leveraging computational and experimental approaches to decode genetic variation's functional consequences, with active participation in NIH-funded consortia like the IGVF.