Specialization
Epidemiology, Genomics, Epigenetics, Mendelian Randomization, Type 2 Diabetes, Obesity, Dyslipidemia, Hypertension, Adipokines, Global Health, Health Disparities, Sub-Saharan Africa, Migrants.
Focus of research
Dr. Karlijn Meeks is an epidemiologist who holds a guest appointment with the Department of Public and Occupational Health at Amsterdam UMC. Her primary affiliation is as a faculty member in the Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes, and Nutrition at the University of Maryland School of Medicine.
Dr. Meeks' research interests include the epidemiology and genetic epidemiology of cardiometabolic diseases, such as obesity, type 2 diabetes, and dyslipidemia, in diverse populations. She has a particular focus on uncovering the underlying causes and pathophysiology of these diseases in historically underrepresented populations, with an emphasis on African-ancestry populations in sub-Saharan Africa and the diaspora.
Dr. Meeks employs innovative study designs, such as comparing an African migrant group living in multiple distinct geographical settings to assess the roles of national context and migration on health outcomes. Her work integrates multi-omics approaches, including genomics, epigenomics, transcriptomics, and metabolomics, to advance understanding of disease biology, identify disease markers, predict response to medications, and improve risk score performance for African populations. She combines classical epidemiologic methods with genome-wide association studies, fine mapping, and Mendelian randomization approaches to add to the slowly growing body of literature on the prevalence, determinants, and underlying biology of cardiometabolic diseases in African-ancestry populations.
Dr. Meeks has published over 80 articles in peer-reviewed journals such as Genome Medicine, eBioMedicine, Diabetologia, Human Molecular Genetics, and the International Journal of Epidemiology. She is the first author of papers that reported the first epigenome-wide association study for type 2 diabetes and obesity in sub-Saharan Africans, and of the first GWAS for circulating cytokines adipsin, ghrelin, and visfatin in any population. Dr. Meeks is a recipient of the NIH Pathway to Independence Award (K99/R00) with which she studies the inter-relationships between lifestyle factors, cytokines, genetic variants, and epigenetic biomarkers in type 2 diabetes among African-ancestry populations.