Pierre A. Zalloua

Prof. Pierre A. Zalloua serves as Professor of Genetics and Chair of the Department of Public Health and Epidemiology at Khalifa University, with an adjunct appointment at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. His expertise spans population genetics and genomic epidemiology of Coronary Artery Disease (CAD) and Type 2 Diabetes (T2D) in Near Eastern populations, leveraging one of the Middle East's largest CAD databases (10,000+ patients) integrated into the global CARDIoGRAM+C4D consortium.

His educational background includes:

• PhD in Genetics, University of California Davis
• MA in Biological Sciences, San Jose State University
• B.S. in Biology, American University of Beirut

Zalloua's research elucidates how consanguinity, family history, and compounding risk factors (diabetes, hypertension, smoking) accelerate CAD onset. He identified novel susceptibility alleles for T2D/CAD in regional populations and investigates microbial metabolites like 4-cresol in insulin regulation. Current projects analyze single-cell gene expression post-4-cresol exposure, forced displacement impacts on T2D, and combinatorial genetic signatures for CAD in elderly diabetics.

His work has secured competitive grants from the European Commission (FP6), Qatar National Research Fund (QNRF), and NIH, with findings featured in The New York Times and National Geographic. He teaches Molecular Thermodynamics and Molecular Genetics Technology courses while leading research on diabetes/CAD pathogenesis through genomic and epidemiological approaches.