What Do We Know About the Genetics of Well-being?
Monday, June 25, 2018, 1-1:50pm
Meike Bartels, Ph.D., is University Research Chair Professor in Genetics and Well-Being at the Department of Biological Psychology, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and the Netherlands Twin Register. Her master’s degree is in Physiological Psychology, with a special focus on behavior genetics. She earned her Ph.D. in 2003 under the supervision of Prof. Dorret Boomsma.
In 2014, she was appointed as a full professor under the competitive and honorary University Research Chair program of the Vrije Universiteit. She has published over 175 papers in peer-reviewed journals, including the first molecular genetic evidence for well-being in PNAS and the first genomic variant for well-being in Nature Genetics. She currently conducts and supervises several research projects to gain insight into the underlying sources of variation on well-being. Her work is centered on the idea that by broadening the public health system, communities can aim not only to help heal the ill, but to increase overall happiness.