Val Sheffield, MD, PhD

Dr. Val Sheffield is the director of medical genetics for the University of Iowa and a faculty investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. He received his bachelor of science degree in zoology from Brigham Young University and his M.D. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Chicago. Dr. Sheffield completed a pediatric residency, a medical genetics fellowship and postdoctoral work at the University of California, San Francisco.

Sheffield’s lab is interested in identifying and understanding the function of genes which cause a variety of human disorders. Their research efforts have focused on the molecular genetics of monogenic disorders, as well as polygenic and multifactorial disorders. Their research efforts have resulted in the mapping of many different disease loci.

Complex genetic disorders currently under investigation in Sheffield’s laboratory include hypertension, obesity, congenital heart disease and autism.