Senior Statistical Geneticist
Dr. Pierre Fontanillas is a Senior Statistical Geneticist at 23andMe. He is responsible for supporting academic and commercial collaborations, and 23andMe therapeutic discovery efforts. He is by training an Evolutionary Biologist and Ecologist converted to Human Geneticist. He earned his Ph.D. in Ecology and Evolution from the University of Lausanne, Switzerland, where he worked on population genetics of shrews. From there, he gradually moved from genetics to genomics, and from model organisms (Fruit flies) to Homo sapiens. Prior to 23andMe, Pierre spent five years at the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT as a Research Scientist.
I was a teaching assistant during my graduate student years in Lausanne. We were complaining that our teaching duties were taking too much time, and were slowing down our research! In fact, it was a wonderful experience! It shaped how I learn new ideas, how I explain them. I loved teaching, and in return, I love learning new stuffs and interacting with people!
