Untitled Document

Research

Corinne D. Engelman

Ph.D. University of Colorado Health Sciences Center
Assistant Professor, Department of Population Health Sciences
cengelman@wisc.edu
http://www.pophealth.wisc.edu/faculty/cengelman.html

Genetic Epidemiology of Type Two Diabetes, Alzheimer�s, and Vitamin D Deficiency.

Dr. Engelman is a genetic epidemiologist who studies the role of genetic, molecular, and environmental/behavioral factors in common complex diseases and traits related to aging, such as type 2 diabetes, insulin resistance, Alzheimer�s, and vitamin D deficiency.

Vitamin D deficiency is associated with many adverse health outcomes, including several bone diseases, cancers, autoimmune diseases, infectious diseases, and type 2 diabetes, making vitamin D an important health outcome of interest. Vitamin D status is determined by levels of 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25[OH]D) in the blood, which tend to decrease with age. There are several well established predictors of 25[OH]D, however, two emerging factors are grossly understudied. The skin color of both sun exposed and unexposed skin, measured by reflectance spectrophotometry, appears to be an important factor influencing levels of 25[OH]D. Additionally, genetic studies of 25[OH]D are in their infancy. Dr. Engelman is examining both of these emerging factors along with other more established predictors in participants of the Survey of the Health of Wisconsin (SHOW).

Representative Publications
Schmitz, K.J., Skinner, H.G., Bautista, L.E., Fingerlin, T.E., Langefeld, C.D., Hicks, P.J., Haffner, S.M., Bryer-Ash, M., Wagenknecht, L.E., Bowden, D.W., Norris, J.M., & Engelman, C.D. (2009). Association of 25-hydroxyvitamin D with blood pressure in predominately 25-hydroxyvitamin D deficient Hispanic and African Americans. American Journal of Hypertension, 22(8), 867-870.

Engelman, C.D., Fingerlin, T.E., Langefeld, C.D., Hicks, P.J., Rich, S.S., Wagenknecht, L.E., Bowden, D.W., Norris, J.M. (2008). Genetic and environmental determinants of 25-hydroxyvitamin D and 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D levels in hispanic and african americans. J. Clin. Endocrinol. Metab., 93(9), 3381-8.

James, K., Weitzel, L., Engelman, C.D., Zerbe, G., Norris, J.M. (2003). The use of linear mixed models for phenotype identification in a genetic linkage study: genome scan linkage results for longitudinal systolic blood pressure phenotypes in subjects from the Framingham Heart Study. BMC Genetics, 4(Suppl. 1), S83.

Engelman, C.D., Brady, H.L., Baron, A.E., Norris, J.M. (2003). Comparison between two analytic strategies to detect linkage to obesity with genetically determined age of onset: the Framingham Heart Study. BMC Genetics, 4(Suppl. 1), S90.

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