Olivia J. Veatch, Phd, Ms

Professional Background

Olivia J. Veatch, Ph.D., is an assistant professor in the Departments of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and Cell Biology and Physiology at the University of Kansas Medical Center. Dr. Veatch joined the KU Medical Center faculty in July 2020 and is primarily focused on developing molecular and computational approaches useful for identifying ways to inform treatment for brain disorders using genomics data.

Dr. Veatch has a B.S. in genetics from the University of Kansas, a M.S. in molecular biosciences and bioengineering from the University of Hawai'i-Manoa, and a Ph.D. in human genetics from Vanderbilt University. After earning her doctorate, she completed postdoctoral fellowships in neurology at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and in medicine at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, where she also earned certification in biomedical informatics.

Dr. Veatch is credited with nearly 40 peer-reviewed articles, reviews, protocols and book chapters. She was previously awarded a Career Development Award via the National Library of Medicine to develop an automated bioinformatics method for prioritizing clinically relevant results from genetic studies of complex disorders of the brain. She is currently PI on an R21 award from the National Institute for Child Health and Human Development to elucidate the causes and consequences of sleep disturbances in children with rare genetic syndromes using electronic health record data, PI on a National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences CTSA Inter-Institutional Pilot Project Award to evaluate sleep disturbances in adolescents and young adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities, a Project Leader for the The Kansas Institute for Precision Medicine funded by the National Institute for General Medical Sciences and co-PI on a Foundation for Prader-Willi Research Grant to define cell-type specific signatures and dysregulated pathways from blood and brain in PWS. She is a nationally and internationally invited lecturer and presenter. Her professional affiliations include, but are not limited to, the American Society of Human Genetics, International Society for Autism Research, World Sleep Society and the Sleep Research Society.

• BS, Biological Sciences - Emphasis Genetics, University of Kansas (Lawrence, KS)
• MS, Molecular Biosciences and Bioengineering , University of Hawai'i - Manoa (Honolulu, HI)
• PhD, Human Genetics , Vanderbilt University (Nashville, TN), Nashville, TN
• Post Doctoral Fellowship, Neurology, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tennessee
• Post Doctoral Fellowship, Medicine, University of Pennsylvania - Perelman School of Medicine , Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
• Other, Biomedical Informatics, University of Pennsylvania, Perelman School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA

• Intellectual Developmental Disabilities Research Center, Using EHR data to identify individuals with genetic variants, Co-Chair, 2021 - Present
• Sleep Apnea Global Interdisciplinary Consortium , Chair, 2015 - Present
• Sleep Research Society , Member, 2015 - Present
• International Society for Autism Research , Member, 2011 - Present
• American Society of Human Genetics (Member) , Member, 2009 - Present