May E. Montasser

May E. Montasser, PhD, is an Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Department of Medicine at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. Based in Baltimore, she has been on the faculty since 2012, bringing over a decade of expertise in genetic epidemiology and statistical genetics to bear on complex human disease.

Dr. Montasser earned her PhD at the Human Genetic Center, University of Texas School of Public Health, followed by two post-doctoral fellowships—first at the same institution and then at the University of Maryland, School of Medicine.

Research Interests:

• Genetic epidemiology of lipids and cardiometabolic traits
• Statistical methods for genome-wide, whole-exome and whole-genome association studies
• Pharmacogenetics of antidiabetic and antiplatelet therapies
• Epigenome-wide association studies (lipids, blood pressure, diabetes)
• Multi-ethnic and founder-population genetics (Amish, TOPMed, CHARGE)

Her work spans large consortia such as the NHLBI TOPMed Program, CHARGE, and multiple international collaborations. Notable discoveries include novel lipid-associated loci on chromosomes 5 and 9, and the functional characterization of a cardioprotective missense variant in B4GALT1.

Scientific Awards & Honors:

No specific awards are listed in the provided text.

Collaborations & Funding:

• NHLBI Trans-Omics for Precision Medicine (TOPMed) program
• CHARGE consortium epigenomics working group
• Amish Research Clinic longitudinal studies
• Multiple R01-level and consortium grants for genomic and pharmacogenomic research

Laboratory & Teams:

Dr. Montasser works within the Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes & Nutrition and maintains active collaborations with the Program for Personalized and Genomic Medicine and the Institute for Clinical & Translational Research at the University of Maryland. She mentors trainees through consortium projects and contributes to institutional cores in statistical genetics and high-performance computing.