Dr. Gao is Associate Professor in the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, the Biostatistics and Genetic Analysis core director of the P30 departmental core grant, and the Director of the Quantitative Ocular Genomics Laboratory at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC). He also serves as the editor of the Elsevier book titled Genetics and Genomics of Eye Disease: Advancing to Precision Medicine.

Dr. Gao is an experienced statistical geneticist and a leader of ocular genomics research for multiple National Eye Institute funded projects on glaucoma genetics in Hispanics/Latinos, steroid-induced ocular hypertension, and ocular biostatistics and genetic analysis. He is also a principal investigator of a recent National Institute on Aging funded project, genetic basis of age-at-onset of Alzheimer disease. He has published widely on a variety of topics in vision research, statistical genomics, and genetic epidemiology. His goal is to advance genomic-based discoveries in ocular diseases and related traits and to reduce the burden of blindness.

Terms of Appointment: Sep 2018 – Aug 2020