Loren Gragert PhD

Dr. Gragert’s career path in immunogenetics began at the US bone marrow donor registry National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP) in the Bioinformatics Research department led by Martin Maiers. His research projects at NMDP translated directly into operational implementations of informatics systems that enabled the rapid identification of HLA-matched registry donors. An important early mentor and collaborator were Dr. Bill Klitz from the Department of Genetics at the University of California-Berkeley, who gave him comprehensive training in statistical population genetics. He pursued his Ph.D. coursework at the University of Minnesota (UMN) while holding a full-time position at NMDP, enabling him to take new computer science and statistical methods straight from the classroom into my projects. He was the second Ph.D. grantee for UMN’s BICB program, which is a unique private-partnership with Mayo Clinic, IBM, and later NMDP aimed at providing advanced training for informatics professionals in the industry

Dr. Gragert's primary focus as an Early Stage Investigator at Tulane University School of Medicine is to apply the HLA informatics technologies and registry datasets developed at NMDP towards innovating in HLA genetic association studies in solid organ transplantation and cancer. The high impact translational environment that nurtured his success at NMDP is further enhanced at Tulane with his new proximity to experienced academic researchers and clinicians. My tight-knit relationship with NMDP continues through sponsored projects, and his collaborations with leaders in the field of immunogenetics continue to expand.