Dr. Eric Green is a genomics researcher, Human Genome Project participant, and former Director of the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) at the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH). He was the third NHGRI Director, having been appointed by NIH Director Dr. Francis Collins in 2009. He served as NHGRI Director from 2009 to 2025.

Dr. Green was at NHGRI for over 30 years, during which he was appointed to multiple key leadership positions prior to becoming the NHGRI Director. This included serving as the NHGRI Scientific Director for 7 years, Chief of the NHGRI Genome Technology Branch for 13 years, and Founding Director of the NIH Intramural Sequencing Center for 12 years.

For just over two decades, Dr. Green directed an independent research program that included integral start-to-finish roles in the Human Genome Project, groundbreaking work on mapping, sequencing, and comparing mammalian genomes, and key discoveries about the genes involved in several rare genetic diseases.

Dr. Green earned his M.D. and Ph.D. degrees in 1987 from Washington University in St. Louis; coincidentally, the word “genomics” was coined in that same year. Throughout his career, he has authored and co-authored over 395 scientific publications. Dr. Green has earned multiple honors and awards, including election to the National Academy of Medicine
in 2023.

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Following his greater than 30 years of public service as a federal employee at NHGRI and NIH, Dr. Green is now using his extensive experience in leading government-funded research programs to foster the expansion of genomics in academia, healthcare, and everyday life.

Nanibaa’ Garrison, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor at the University of California, Los Angeles. She has appointments in the Institute for Society and Genetics, the Institute for Precision Health, and the Division of General Internal Medicine & Health Services Research. She is a teaching faculty for the UCLA genetic counseling master’s program.
 

Dr. Garrison earned her Ph.D. in genetics at Stanford University, and completed a postdoctoral fellowship in bioethics at the Stanford Center for Biomedical Ethics and the Center for Integration of Research on Genetics & Ethics at Stanford University.
 

Dr. Garrison’s research focuses on the ethical, social, and cultural implications of genetic and genomic research in Indigenous communities. Using community-based research approaches, she engages with tribal communities to develop policies and guidance for conducting responsible genomics research with Indigenous Peoples.

 

She is a member of the US Indigenous Data Sovereignty Network and the Navajo Nation Human Research Review Board. She grew up in Kayenta, AZ and Waterflow, NM and is co-PI on the Navajo Perspectives on Genetic Research project.