Robert C. Williams
Professor
Ph.D., Physical Anthropology, University of Michigan
SHESC Themes: Human Origins, Evolution and Diversity; Biological, Social and Cultural Dimensions of Human Health
Field Specializations: Genetic Admixture, Genetic Variation, Human Histocampatibility Loci (HLA), Human Immunogenetics, Molecular Evolution
Regional Focus: North America
Contact: Robert C. Williams, SHESC 366
Research:
Robert C. Williams received his doctoral degree from the University of Michigan and trained as an NIH Postdoctoral Fellow for two years at the Department of Human Genetics in the University of Michigan Medical School. His research areas are the genetics of American Indians, transplantation genetics, genetic epidemiology and evolution. He has collaborated with the intramural section of the National Institute of Diabetes, Digestive, and Kidney Diseases, in Phoenix, since 1979 and has participated in their research on the diabetes and genetics of the Pima Indians. He and his colleagues published the first large genetic study that supported a 3-migration model of New World occupation. Williams helped develop the HLA genetic system while a consultant director of the transplantation genetics (HLA) laboratory at Blood Systems, Inc. He participated in international HLA workshops and defined 5 new HLA genetic variants in American Indians. Recently he has participated in the development of mathematical algorithms for the estimation of individual admixture in humans and has related these estimates to the risk of diabetes and obesity in the Gila River Indian Community.
Select Publications:
Williams, R. C., Lambert, J., Williams, J. D., Robertson, G. & Caglioti, S. (2007). Assay performance evaluation using universal samples distributed by the College of American Pathologists. Transfusion.
Tocheri, M. W., Scott, J. E., & Williams, R. C. (2005). A Monte Carlo simulation method for estimating interspecific scaling relationships in the absence of specimen-specific body mass data. American Journal of Physical Anthropology.
Williams, R. C. (2003). The mind of primitive anthropologists: Hemoglobin and HLA, patterns of molecular evolution. Human Biology, 75(4), 577-584.
Williams, R. C., Long, J.C., Hanson, R. L., Sievers, M. L. & Knowler, W. C. (2000). Individual estimates of European genetic admixture associated with lower body mass index, plasma glucose, and prevalence of type 2 diabetes in Pima Indians. American Journal of Human Genetics, 66, 527-538.