About the SSGAC
History
The SSGAC was founded in conjunction with the CHARGE (Cohorts for Heart and Aging Research in Genomic Epidemiology) consortium meeting in Boston on 12 February 2011. At the workshop, over fifty researchers from a range of disciplines met to discuss the need for and the feasibility of launching a research consortium for the study of the genetics of social-scientific outcomes. Over the years, having access to the CHARGE infrastructure has enabled SSGAC researchers to benefit from the extensive knowledge and expertise within the CHARGE community.
One major impetus for the formation of the SSGAC was growing recognition that existing approaches to gene discovery in social science have often not produced replicable findings. The pilot project of the SSGAC on educational attainment has demonstrated the feasibility of an alternative, rigorous, large-data approach to social science genetics. Ongoing and future projects of the consortium will continue this approach to genetic discovery, and work on integrating the insights from these discoveries into medical and social scientific research.
The Big Problem of Small Effects
Our research philosophy is described in the following two publications: Beauchamp et al. (2011) and Benjamin et al. (2012). In brief, our research strategy is motivated by the following observations:
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Genetic variants that are common in a population have very small individual effects on behavioral traits.
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At present, it is difficult to use theory to restrict the set of genetic variants that may be associated with behavioral traits because most genetic variants could plausibly be linked to brain activity.
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To keep the rate of false-positive findings at a tolerable level, studies must be well-powered and apply stringent significance thresholds.
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Following in the footsteps of medical research, pooling samples from multiple cohorts may be a way to conduct adequately powered genetic-association studies.
Meet the Team
Steering Committee
Daniel Benjamin
University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)
Alexander Strudwick Young
University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)
Aysu Okbay
Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
Patrick Turley
University of Southern California (USC)
Working Groups
Ethics and Communication Working Group
Michelle Meyer
Geisinger Health Systems
Family Analysis Working Group
Alexander Strudwick Young
University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)
Polygenic Index Working Group
Aysu Okbay
Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
Methods Working Group
Patrick Turley
University of Southern California (USC)
Core Researchers
Jonathan Beauchamp
George Mason University
Peter Visscher
University of Oxford
David Cesarini
New York University
Loic Yengo
University of Queensland, Australia
Julia Sidorenko
University of Queensland, Australia
Postdocs
Research Assistants
Matthew Howell
UCLA
Dhruva Jaishankar
UCLA
Mahdi Mir
UCLA
Robel Alemu
University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)
Affiliated Researchers
Ronald de Vlaming
Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
Niels Rietveld
Erasmus University Rotterdam
Richard Karlsson Linner
Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
Raymond Walters
Broad Institute
Fleur Meddens
University of Oxford
Advisory Board
Shawneequa Callier
Genomics Law and Policy
George Washington University
Michelle Meyer
Bioethics and Law
Geisinger Health Systems
Loic Yengo
Quantitative Genetics
University of Queensland, Australia
David Laibson
Economics
Harvard University
Melinda Mills
Sociology
University of Oxford
Alicia Martin
Population Genetics
Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School
Peter Visscher
Quantitative Genetics
University of Oxford
Logistics
Program Director
Samantha Cherney
RAND Corporation
Chelsea Watson
University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)
Alumni
Joel Becker
Casper Burik
Junming Guan
Hermon Kweon
Omeed Maghzian
Tammy Tan
Meghan Zacher
Michael Bennett
Mark Fontana
Menna Hassan
Chanwook (Sean) Lee
Seyed Moeen Nehzati
Matthijs van der Loos
Marta Bilghese
Tamara Gjorgjieva
Hariharan Jayashankar
Hui Li
Olga Rostapshova
Nancy Wang
Peter Bowers
Grant Goldman
Edward Kong
Rosie Li
Rebecca Royer
Robbee Wedow
Co-Founders
Daniel Benjamin
University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)
David Cesarini
New York University
Philipp Koellinger
Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
Participating Cohorts
100+ cohorts that have contributed to at least one of our ongoing studies.
Previous Advisory Board (retired)
From its inception in 2011 until 2021, the SSGAC had an Advisory Board of prominent researchers across a range of disciplines. We are extremely grateful for all of their guidance and help over the years.
Dalton Conley
Sociology
Princeton University
David Laibson
Economics
Harvard University
George Davey Smith
Epidemiology
University of Bristol
Tōnu Esko
Molecular Biology and Human Genetics
University of Tartu & Estonian Genome Center
James Lee
Psychology
University of Minnesota
Albert Hofman
Epidemiology
Harvard University
Sarah Medland
Genetic Epidemiology
QIMR Berghofer
Robert Krueger
Psychology
University of Minnesota
Michelle Meyer
Bioethics and Law
Geisinger Health Systems