HERO-GENE group | Emory School of Medicine

Mission

At the Health Equity in RheumatOlogy through GENetic rEsearch (HERO-GENE) group, our mission is to understand determinants of human autoimmune disease to improve health outcomes for everyone.

Core Values

Kindness
Care
Rigor
Integrity
Inclusiveness

Overview

The goal of the HERO-GENE group is to understand the etiology of human autoimmune disease, with a focus on systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and systemic sclerosis (SSc).

Together with a team of clinicians, epidemiologists, implementation scientists, statisticians, and community partners, we leverage tools from molecular, statistical, and population genetics, genetic epidemiology, and social epigenomics to understand genetic and non-genetic factors for autoimmune, rheumatic disorders.

By identifying these genetic and non-genetic, modifiable risk factors, we aim to inform the development of tailored and equitable treatments and interventions for everyone.

Current Projects

SOCIAL EPIGENOMICS

The goal of our Social Factors, Epigenomics and Lupus in African American Women (SELA) study is to understand how positive and negative social factors influence SLE outcomes in African American women through epigenomic and transcriptomic changes.

Vara E, Langefeld CD, Wolf BJ, Howard TD, Hawkins GA, Queen Quet, Moultrie LH, Ueberroth LA, King Q, Bray S, Molano I, Lim SS, Williams EM, Kamen DL, Ramos PS. The Social Factors, Epigenomics, and Lupus in African American Women (SELA) study: protocol for an observational mechanistic study examining the interplay of multiple individual and social factors on lupus outcomes in a health disparity population. Lupus Science & Medicine 2022.

PRECISION HEALTH RESEARCH

The goal of our Precision rEsearCh pArticipatioN (PECAN) study is to gain insights into factors that influence perceptions about precision health research participation among a diverse population-based sample in South Carolina.

FEMALE BIAS IN AUTOIMMUNITY

The goal of our IdentificAtion of ceLL specIfic gEne eScapees from XCI (ALLIES-XCI) project is to identify cell-specific X-linked genes that escape X-chromosome inactivation (XCI) across multiple cell subsets.

EQUITY IN HUMAN GENETICS RESEARCH

We contribute to publications in efforts to raise awareness and address health inequities.

Ramos PS, Lim SS. Clarity for the language of race, ethnicity and genetic ancestry in rheumatology. Nat Rev Rheumatol. 2024
Ventresca C, Martschenko DO, Wedow R, Civelek M, Tabery J, Carlson J, Parker SCJ, Ramos PS. The methodological and ethical concerns of genetic studies of same-sex sexual behavior. Am J Hum Genet. 2024
Ainsworth HC, Baker Frost D, Lim SS, Ramos PS. Breaking research silos to achieve equitable precision medicine in rheumatology. Nat Rev Rheumatol. 2025.

Team Members

Emory University

Paula Ramos, PhD

Associate Professor, Rheumatology, Department of Medicine

Principal Investigator

S. Sam Lim, MD

Professor, Rheumatology, Department of Medicine

SELA

Charmayne Dunlop-Thomas, MPH

Director of Research Projects, Rheumatology

SELA

Michael P. Epstein, PhD

Professor, Department of Human Genetics

ALLIES-XCI

Trainees

Taylor White

PhD Candidate

Emory University’s Genetics and Molecular Biology (GMB) Graduate Program

Katherine Singleton

PhD Candidate

Emory University's Genetics and Molecular Biology (GMB) Graduate Program

Jennifer Liu

Undergraduate Student

Emory University, Psychology

Olivia Metcalf

Undergraduate Student

Emory University, Linguistics

Sarah Smith, MD

Resident

Medical University of South Carolina

Jessica Browder

Medical Student

Florida State University

Varun Rajaram

High School Student

Alpharetta High School

Medical University of South Carolina

Diane Kamen, MD

Professor, Rheumatology

SELA, PECAN

Bethany Wolf, PhD

Professor, Biostatistics

SELA, PECAN

Angela Malek, PhD

Associate Professor, Epidemiology

SELA

Jena Wirth, MS

Research Specialist

SELA

Quinnette King, BS

Study Coordinator

SELA

Wake Forest University School of Medicine

Carl Langefeld, PhD

Professor, Statistical Genetics

SELA

Timothy Howard, PhD

Professor, Molecular Genetics

SELA

Greg Hawkins, PhD

Professor, Biochemistry

SELA

Caitlin Allen, PhD

Associate Professor Implementation Science

PECAN

University of Pennsylvania

Montserrat C. Anguera, PhD

Associate Professor, Biomedical Sciences

ALLIES-XCI

Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation

Christopher Lessard, PhD

Professor, Genes and Human Disease Research Program

ALLIES-XCI

Community Advisors

Queen Quet

Community Advisor

SELA, PECAN

Lee Moultrie

Community Advisor

SELA, PECAN

Lupus partners:

Georgians Organized Against Lupus (GOAL) Research Cohort Georgians Organized Against Lupus
Georgia Council on Lupus Education and Awareness (GCLEA) Georgia Council on Lupus Education

Team News

For all potential trainees, the manual describing our training style and expectations can be found here.