Dissecting statistical genomics and psychiatric epidemiology...
Hi, I’m Franjo Ivankovic!
If I had to describe myself in a single word, it would have to be psychostatistoanthropogeneticst (I love a good portmanteau). I enjoy studying biological and sociocultural underpinnings of psychiatric disorders using large datasets and predominantly quantitative approaches.
What are the genetic underpinnings of psychiatric disorders? How do these disorders interact with each other? What factors drive intensity of these disorders? How do these disorders interact with society and culture? Is the current nosological classification for psychiatric disorders adequate and valid?
I began my Ph.D. training as a molecular biologist, but I quickly pivoted to the fields of genetic and psychiatric epidemiology. My focus has been predominantly on neurodevelopmental psychiatric disorders with a significant obsessive and compulsive symptom component. I have thus predominantly studied Tourette syndrome and tic disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and eating disorders.
Some other psychiatric disorders I have studied include attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder, autism spectrum disorder, schizophrenia, and bipolar disorder.
To find out more, feel free to read my CV.
My favorite quotes:
If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of Giants.
– Isaac Newton (mathematician)
The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new discoveries, is not “Eureka” but “That’s funny…”
– Isaac Asimov (biochemist)
I was taught that the way of progress was neither swift nor easy.
– Marie Skłodowska-Curie (physicist, chemist)
We ignore public understanding of science at our peril.
– Eugenie Clark (ichthyologist)
Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known.
– Carl Sagan (astronomer)
Science is a way of thinking much more than it is a body of knowledge.
– Carl Sagan (astronomer)
The more clearly we can focus our attention on the wonders and realities of the universe about us, the less taste we shall have for destruction.
– Rachel Carson (ichthyologist)
The science of today is the technology of tomorrow.
– Edward Teller (physicist)
Science makes people reach selflessly for truth and objectivity; it teaches people to accept reality, with wonder and admiration, not to mention the deep awe and joy that the natural order of things brings to the true scientist.
– Lise Meitner (physicist)