Professor Dr. John Hettema

Biography

John (Jack) M. Hettema is a professor in the Department of Psychiatry at Texas A&M University Naresh K. Vashisht College of Medicine and an affiliated faculty member at the Virginia Institute for Psychiatric and Behavioral Genetics at Virginia Commonwealth University. He is a clinician-scientist who has been involved in patient care, clinical teaching, and research activities. Since joining Texas A&M University in 2019, he has directed the VCU Anxiety Disorders Specialty Clinic for 19 years, providing residency training in patient care, assessment, and treatment for major anxiety-related disorders. His research focuses on the epidemiology, genetics, and biology of anxiety-related internalizing disorders and he has extensive experience applying advanced statistical genetic methodologies to questions and analyses conducted on twin and family population-based samples. Recent projects include conducting meta-analyses of genome-wide association data on anxiety spectrum disorders and examining the effects of novel candidate genes derived from GWAS on internalizing psychopathology. He has collected and analyzed endophenotypic measures underlying the development of internalizing disorders in a juvenile twin sample. His research has been funded by NIH and private foundation grants, and he serves as a founding co-chair of the PGC-ANX Working Group with active collaborations among anxiety and depression researchers worldwide. His publication list includes over 100 original research articles, reviews, and book chapters.

Research Interests

Experience

Awards