We caught up with former DSF fellow, Alison Fohner, PhD, to learn about her career path and how she applies her delivery science training to work today as a genetic epidemiologist.
Tell us about yourself.
I am an Assistant Professor in the Department of Epidemiology and Associate Director of the Institute for Public Health Genetics at the University of Washington. I am currently working on several projects that are using large scale omics (proteomics, epigenomics, metabolomics in addition to genomics) to answer questions related to healthy aging and using precision medicine approaches to improving health outcomes. I spend about half of my time leading training programs for the next generation of researchers and practitioners translating genomics into public health initiatives, which requires broad interdisciplinary knowledge.
What have you been up to since completing the Delivery Science Fellowship?
I moved to Seattle, Washington to begin my faculty position at the UW. I work with many students who are studying the use of genetics in research and public health applications. I’ve also been doing a lot of coding in R. Really, though, I spend most of my time writing grants and papers. One of my favorite parts of the job is inviting speakers on the latest breakthroughs, ideas, or methods in genomics to speak to my class.
How do you think about delivery science in your current work if at all?
Much of my research lately has been extremely upstream of any clinical translation, but the delivery science perspective still affects how I frame research questions and prioritize research based on translational utility. My current role in public health genetics draws from delivery science a lot because of a need to engage with stakeholders and interface across interdisciplinary teams. Delivery science skills come up often as I help students study the use of genomics in healthcare and public health. Many students now seek out skills in delivery science, and I am better able to advise them because of the DSF curriculum and research training. We are currently redoing our curriculum for our program. Delivery science was highlighted as a crucial field for our students to understand regardless of a future profession in research or practice.
What are 1 or 2 things you learned during your fellowship that you still think about or find helpful?
Many things! A few generalizable ones include: 1) Be very clear about what analysis you want and what output you want from analysts working with you. I am still working on making my communication more precise, but when I use this approach, I get the results I want faster and with less wasted analyst time. 2) In developing prediction models, consider clinical utility and decision thresholds. I work with many students who throw predictive models at everything, but they don’t consider how probabilities translate to action and how population frequencies can affect results. For hot topics like prediction, it has been very useful to have foundational knowledge on how to interpret the output and apply it in useful ways.
What do you like to do outside of work?
Hiking, camping, and art projects with my two little kids aged 1 and 4.
What advice would you offer early-stage investigators who want their work to meaningfully impact care delivery?
Connect with a team of established researchers at your institution or nearby with whom you like to work and with whom you have complementary skills. They will help you develop better ideas and can provide both a community and safety net to help you succeed.
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