معرفی
Sarah Bergen is a Senior Lecturer and Docent at the Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics at Karolinska Institutet. She leads the Psychiatric Genetic Epidemiology research group, focusing on understanding the biological and environmental foundations of psychiatric disorders and their comorbidities with other medical conditions.
Her educational background includes:
- Docent, Karolinska Institutet, 2014
- PhD in Human and Molecular Genetics, Virginia Institute for Psychiatric and Behavioral Genetics, Virginia Commonwealth University, 2009
- MS in Neuroscience, University of Pittsburgh, 2004
- BA in Neuroscience and Psychology, Macalester College, 2000
Dr. Bergen conducts quantitative genetics research predominantly focusing on schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, as well as depression and eating disorders. Her current studies aim to better understand the genetic and environmental contributions to disease risk, comorbidities associated with these disorders, and the observed variability within patient groups. She has a strong foundation in neuroscience which offers added biological context to the results from genetic research studies. Her research group investigates genetic and environmental risk factors for psychiatric disorders, epidemiological and genetic relationships between different psychiatric disorders, and relationships between psychiatric disorders and comorbid medical conditions.
Her recent publications demonstrate a strong emphasis on genetic overlap between psychiatric disorders and other medical conditions, environmental risk factors across the lifespan, and subtyping approaches to understand heterogeneous etiological pathways. Her work frequently utilizes large population-based datasets from Sweden and employs advanced genetic epidemiological methods.
Dr. Bergen serves as Director of studies for the KI-NIH Doctoral Program in Neuroscience and has held various leadership positions including on the Management Committee for Maximizing Impact of research in NeuroDevelopmental DisorderS (MINDDS) and Enhancing psychiatric genetic counselling, testing, and training in Europe (EnGagE). She has also served on the Board of Directors for the International Society for Psychiatric Genetics (ISPG).
She leads the Psychiatric Genetic Epidemiology research group at Karolinska Institutet, which aims to discover the biological and environmental foundations of psychiatric disorders, the patterns and determinants of their comorbidities with other medical disorders, and subgroups within psychiatric patient populations. The group's ultimate goal is to contribute to improved treatment options and help alleviate the personal and social burdens associated with these disorders.
