Biography

Dr. Rector Arya, PhD, Associate Professor of Human Genetics, Department of Health and Behavioral Sciences, College of Arts and Sciences, Texas A&M University – San Antonio

Dr. Arya is a biological anthropologist and population geneticist specialized in genetic epidemiology, statistical genetics, and population health, and he has been conducting biomedical, behavioral, and genomic research in human populations including Mexican Americans (MA) using the state-of-the-art analytical technologies for more than 22 years. 

Dr. Arya’s research focuses on the study of genetics of complex diseases mainly obesity/abdominal obesity including childhood obesity, and other co-morbid conditions such as type 2 diabetes, metabolic syndrome, rheumatoid arthritis, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), and other cardiometabolic risk factors that are causing considerable morbidity and mortality in global populations including Mexican Americans.

Dr. Arya’s areas of expertise include gene mapping and discovery, genetic/molecular epidemiological studies, omic and gut microbiome studies, and modeling genetic and environmental (physical activity and dietary intake) factors and their interactions influencing complex diseases in MA children and adults, and social determinants of health and disease using the state-of-the art analytical techniques.

Awards