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Physiology
Anne E. Kwitek, PhD

Anne E. Kwitek, PhD

Professor, Physiology & Medicine

Locations

  • Physiology

Contact Information

Education

BS, Biology and Chemistry, University of Wisconsin at Stevens Point
PhD, Interdisciplinary Graduate Program in Genetics, University of Iowa

Biography

Dr. Anne Kwitek is a tenured Professor in the Department of Physiology. She earned her PhD in Genetics at the University of Iowa then came to MCW as a postdoctoral fellow. After growing the ranks to Associate Professor at MCW, Dr. Kwitek was recruited back to the University of Iowa where she remained until her return to MCW in 2019.

Dr. Kwitek is an animal and human geneticist whose research revolves around the genetics of complex disease with an emphasis on hypertension, obesity, diabetes, and the metabolic syndrome (MetS). She currently has two major laboratory research interests. The first involves understanding the genetic susceptibility to complex human diseases, with a focus on obesity, hypertension, diabetes, and cardiometabolic disease. The approach involves integrating genetics, genomics, and other ‘omics’ approaches to identify genes and mechanisms leading to complex disease using rat models and human populations. She is also studying how genomic variation affects and is affected by environmental stimuli to influence susceptibility to cardiometabolic disease.

Dr. Kwitek also leads the Rat Genome Database (RGD) and is a member of the Alliance of Genome Resources (Alliance). The goal of RGD (and the Alliance) is to provide a research platform that delivers the data and tools necessary for investigators to advance preclinical and translational research. This involves acquiring, validating, and integrating comprehensive genetic, genomic, phenotype and disease datasets for rat as well as human, mouse and other mammals used as human disease models. RGD has numerous disease portals dedicated to providing a centralized disease-based data and analysis environment for diseases such as obesity and metabolic syndrome, diabetes, renal disease, and cardiovascular disease to name a few.

Research Areas of Interest

  • Cardiovascular Diseases
  • Computational Biology
  • Database Management Systems
  • Databases, Genetic
  • Disease Models, Animal
  • Gene Expression Regulation
  • Genetic Linkage
  • Genetic Predisposition to Disease
  • Genetic Variation
  • Genome, Human
  • Genomics
  • Hypertension

MCW Program / Core Facilities

  • Biomedical Engineering (PhD)
  • CTSI Obesity Ensemble
  • Interdisciplinary Doctoral Program in Biomedical Sciences
  • Physiology (PhD)

Research Interests

Dr. Kwitek’s major research focus involves understanding the genetic susceptibility to complex human diseases, with a focus on obesity, hypertension, and cardiometabolic disease. The approach involves integrating genetics, genomics, and other ‘omics’ approaches to identify genes and mechanisms leading to complex disease using rat models and human populations. Her studies also involve how genomic variation affects and is affected by environmental stimuli to influence susceptibility to cardiometabolic disease.

Publications

Publications of Anne E. Kwitek PhD from the Faculty Collaboration Database

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