Kelly Burkett

Dr. Kelly Burkett is an Associate Professor in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics at the University of Ottawa, within the Faculty of Science. She specializes in Statistical Genetics and Genetic Epidemiology, focusing on genealogical relationships, population substructure, and family-based study designs. Her work includes software development for genetic data analysis, such as SMLE and GENLIB. Dr. Burkett holds an MSc and PhD from Simon Fraser University.

Research Interests: Dr. Burkett’s research addresses challenges in genetic epidemiology, including maternal effects, gene-environment interactions, and the impact of population substructure on study design. Her methodologies often integrate computational tools to analyze large-scale genetic datasets. She actively collaborates with biomedical researchers, inspiring new questions in statistical genetics and genomics.

Publications & Software: Her recent work includes studies on orofacial clefting etiology, software for high-dimensional feature screening, and genealogical simulations in French Canadian populations. Her articles span topics from computational genetics to molecular biology, emphasizing interdisciplinary approaches.

Advising & Collaborations: Dr. Burkett has mentored over 20 students and trainees across MSc, PhD, and postdoctoral programs. Current advisees include Yuewen Pan (MSc) and Yuhao Feng (PhD). Past students hold roles in academia, healthcare, and industry. She collaborates on biomedical projects, leveraging statistical methods to address genetic and environmental interactions.

Labs & Teams: While no formal lab is explicitly mentioned, her software contributions (e.g., hapassoc, sampletrees) and collaborative projects suggest involvement in computational biology and genetics research networks at the University of Ottawa and beyond.