Jerome I. Rotter, MD, FACP, FACMG is Director of Research and Co-Director of the Medical Genetics Institute, Director of the Division of Medical Genetics (Department of Medicine) and Director of the Common Diseases Genetics Program at Cedars-Sinai. He holds the Cedars-Sinai Board of Governors Chair in Medical Genetics. Dr. Rotter is also Principal Investigator of the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute's (NHLBI) MESA (Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis) Family Study and Associate Director of National Institutes of Health (NIH) projects and center grants on inflammatory bowel diseases, coronary artery diseases and treatment of lipid disorders. Dr. Rotter received his bachelor's and medical degrees from University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). He completed his internship in medicine at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, followed by a residency in internal medicine at Wadsworth VA Hospital in Los Angeles and a fellowship in medical genetics at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center.
Dr. Rotter is a pioneer in the field of medical genetics, genetic epidemiology, and personalized medicine. He has engaged in the study of the genetic epidemiology of chronic common diseases for over 3 decades, with an emphasis on cardiovascular/metabolic diseases (coronary artery disease, dyslipidemia, hypertension, type 2 diabetes, insulin resistance, arrhythmias), gastrointestinal/autoimmune (type 1 diabetes, Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis), ocular disorders (keratoconus, diabetic retinopathy, glaucoma, retinal vasculature), and pharmacogenetic studies. His studies have included family based, case control, cohort, and pharmacogenetic designs; have included different ethnic groups (Caucasian, Hispanics, African-Americans, Chinese, Ashkenazi Jews, and Armenians); and have ranged from linkage, candidate gene, genome-wide association (GWA) and post-GWA studies, and now whole exome and whole genome sequencing studies. These studies have been conducted in collaboration with clinical, physiologic, and epidemiologic investigators, often in multisite studies, such as the IRAS (Insulin Resistance and Atherosclerosis) Family Study, the CHS (Cardiovascular Health Study), the MESA (Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis) Family Study (which for the latter he serves as PI) and the ADAGES (African Descent and Glaucoma Evaluation Study). For example, MESA/MESA Family, as studies of subclinical atherosclerosis, have assessed both coronary artery calcification and carotid intima-media thickness, and MESA serves as an observational cohort for statin response.
