Cover Letter 8 [Invited for Interview]

Tesfa Dejenie Habtewold
Department of Psychiatry and Epidemiology
University of Groningen
Hanzeplein 1
Groningen, 9713 GZ
[email protected]
+316 3015 6447

23 October 2019

Dr. Russell Schachar and Dr.Jennifer Crosbie
Scientist, The Hospital for Sick Children
555 University Ave
Toronto, ON, M5G 1X8

Dear Dr. Schachar and Dr. Crosbie,

I am writing to apply for the post-doctoral research fellow position in Psychiatric Genetics/Genomics at The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids), University of Toronto,  Department of Psychiatry. My supervisor, professor Richard Bruggeman (a member of Psychiatric Genomics Consortium), and colleague from USA, Professor Laura Scott (member of Psychiatric Genomics Consortium) suggested me to apply for this research fellow position. I am a Ph.D. student at University of Groningen in University Center for Psychiatry and department of Epidemiology working under the supervision of professor Marike Boezen (Genetic Epidemiologist), professor Richard Bruggeman (Neuropsychiatrist) and Dr. Behrooz Z. Alizadeh (expert Genetic Epidemiologist). I expect to submit my thesis in the coming three to six months and receive my Ph.D. degree in September 2020. My research publication, big data analysis, and learning experiences at the University of Groningen, strong interest to pursue my career in psychiatric genetics along with my epidemiology background, make me a strong candidate to the research fellowship and to make substantial contributions to the research environment of The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids).

The aim of my Ph.D. project is to unravel the cardiometabolic and neuropsychiatric outcomes in patients with a schizophrenia spectrum disorder, their unaffected siblings and controls using the Genetic Risk and Outcome of Psychosis (GROUP) family-based cohort data in Dutch population. In a cross-sectional study (Study I) involving 1,129 patients with schizophrenia spectrum disorder, I found a significant association between glycated hemoglobin level and PRS_SCZ and PRS_T2D, but not with other biomarkers. In a systematic review (Study II) of 49 cluster- and trajectory-based studies conducted in 30 countries,  I found two to five subtypes of positive and negative symptoms/schizotypy, and neurocognitive deficits with variable trajectories in patients with schizophrenia spectrum disorder, their siblings and healthy people. Numerous environmental factors predicting subtypes and trajectories were also identified. In the six years Genetic Risk and Outcome of Psychosis (GROUP) cohort study (Study III to V) involving 1,136 patients with schizophrenia spectrum disorders, 1,045 unaffected siblings and 583 healthy controls, I applied a combination of genomic data analysis and data-driven disease symptom subtyping methods. I discovered schizophrenia symptoms are more heterogeneous than currently recognized and may be associated with polygenic risk score of schizophrenia (PRS_SCZ). I am also currently working to distinguish whether heterogeneity is associated with polygenic risk scores of bipolar disorder, depression, educational attainment, and general intelligence.

I see this project as the starting point for my long-term research goal of expanding to the identification of common, rare, copy number variants and their role/function in psychiatric and neurodevelopmental disorders focusing on schizophrenia, depression, bipolar disorder and autism spectrum disorder in adult and children population. I received broad training in Clinical and Psychosocial Epidemiology during my master’s degree study in Graduate school of medical science at the University of Groningen. At the same time, I have actively taken (summer)courses and seminar classes in psychiatric epidemiology, machine learning and advanced genetic epidemiological research and data analysis training, such as Genome-Wide Data Analysis (GWAS) and Whole Genome Data analysis.

I am excited about the opportunity to be trained in the STAGE program, and to develop my skills in advanced genetic epidemiology, quantitative data analysis, biostatistics, neurosciences, and psychiatry, and interact with a dynamic community of researchers including biostatisticians, clinicians, cognitive neuroscientists, genetic epidemiologists. Enclosed you will find my CV. Please let me know if I can provide additional information or materials further required for my application. Thank you in advance for your time and consideration of my application. I look forward to hearing from you.

Yours sincerely,

Tesfa D. Habtewold