Azmeraw Amare

Azmeraw Amare

NHMRC Emerging Leadership Fellow (C)

Adelaide Medical School

Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences

Eligible to supervise Masters and PhD - email supervisor to discuss availability.

Dr. Azmeraw Amare is a Clinical and Genetic Epidemiologist, interested in Precision medicine, pharmacogenomics, and translational medicine, and with particular expertise in using genetic and bioinformatic approaches to understand the biological basis of complex health conditions related to mental wellbeing, pharmacogenomics, cardiometabolic disorders and healthy ageing — in multiracial and multi-trait context.

He has a multidisciplinary educational background, with academic qualifications in clinical and genetic epidemiology (the University of Groningen in the Netherlands, MSc), public health research methodology (Université Libre de Bruxelles in Belgium, MPH), and Medicine (the University of Adelaide in Australia, PhD).

Dr Amare is the NHMRC Emerging Leadership Investigator (2021), ARC Discovery Early Career Researcher Awardee (2021, deferred) and the US Brain Behaviour Research Foundation NARSAD Young Investigator (2019-2021) and leads the Genetic Epidemiology Research Group based at the Adelaide Medical School, the University of Adelaide.

His research, which has been conducted in collaboration with scientists around the world, has sought to find an answer to fundamental questions about how genetics and the interaction between genetic and environmental factors regulate individuals’ risk to mental illness and response to pharmacological treatment. He has led several genetic association studies that identified novel genes underlying; (i) risk to mental illness (Amare AT, et al. Nature: Molecular Psychiatry, 2020), (ii) response to pharmacological treatment (Amare AT, et al. JAMA Psychiatry 2018; 75(1): 65-74.), (iii) variability in cardiovascular traits (Nolte IM, Munoz ML, Tragante V, Amare AT, et al. Nature Communications 2017; 8: 15805) and (iv) the overlapping effects of mental- and physical medical disorders (Amare AT, et al. Translational Psychiatry 2017; 7: e1007). The impact of his work has been recognised by prizes, scholarships and grant awards.

Dr Amare has an extraordinary publication track record, having authored or co-authored 117 articles (40 in the last five years & >20 as a first/last author) and a book chapter, with 89% of them published in prestigious SCImago Q1 journals including in Nature, Nature Communications, Lancet, the New England Journal of Medicine, JAMA Psychiatry and Molecular Psychiatry, 54.4% listed in top 1%, 75% in top 10% (InCites). Dr Amare was the 2023 Young Tall Poppy winner for excellence in Australian science and science communication by The Australian Institute of Policy & Science (AIPS) and selected by the Australian Review for two consecutive years (2019 and 2020) as one of Australia’s top 40 Rising stars (best of 5 in Health and Medical Sciences list) among ECRs) under 10 years.

Over 110,000 citations and H-index 60 (Google Scholar)

Genetic Epidemiology Research Group 

Group Leader: Dr. Azmeraw Amare

Vision and Overall Aim

Our DNA carries the basic instructions needed to reproduce, develop, survive and restore cellular damages. Unpacking DNA information and understanding the mechanisms of how the instruction in DNA is converted into proteins and interacts with the external environment is vital for a personalised approach to treatment, disease prevention and/or health promotion — to ultimately realise the century’s vision of precision medicine. Our group applies state-of-the-art data science techniques to understand the genetic and environmental determinants underlying the variability of human complex phenotypes including risk to diseases and response to treatment. Specifically, we are interested in studying the omics [genomics (DNA), epigenomes, transcriptomics (RNA), proteomics (Protein), metabolomics and microbiomes] of complex diseases and applying this knowledge to improve global health and address gaps in Culturally And Linguistically Diverse (CALD) people.

Leveraging genomic data obtained from international biobanks, our research applies advanced bioinformatic techniques to explore the “omics” of (a) risk and pharmacological treatment response to mental health disorders (depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia), (b) neurodegenerative disorders (Alzheimer's disease and other dementias), (c) ageing traits (frailty, longevity, cognition and intrinsic capacity) and (d)mechanism of genetic overlap across physical medical and mental health disorders. 

Areas of research include
  • Application of genomic sciences to Improve the Health of Culturally And Linguistically Diverse people — Diversity Genomics
  • Pharmacogenomics in the treatment of mental illness
  • The genomics of risk to mental illness — depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia
  • Mechanism of genetic overlap across physical medical and mental health disorders
  • The epidemiology of mental illness and effective clinical interventions
  • Pharmacoepidemiology
  • Genomics of healthy ageing traits — human intrinsic capacity
  • Investigate the relationship of human intrinsic capacity with physical and mental health endpoints, including disability, morbidity, and mortality

“We have a place for Honours / PhD/ Masters / Mphil students who are interested in big data analytics — both genetic & clinical data using python or R programming languages. Students with a quantitative science background such as bioinformatics, computer science, mathematics, physics, engineering, Epidemiology/Biostatistics etc would be appropriate.”

Pharmacogenomics

Grants, Scholarships and Awards

  • 2021-2026 NHMRC Investigator Grant Emerging Leadership. Role: CIA (AUD 650,740).
  • 2022-2027 NHMRC-EU Collaborative Research - Horizon 2020 Programme. Role: CID (AUD 500,000).
  • 2022-2027 European Commission - Horizon 2020 Programme Collaborative Research. Role: AI (EURO 11 million). PSYCH-STRATA - A Stratified Treatment Algorithm in Psychiatry: A program on stratified pharmacogenomics in severe mental illness
  • 2022-2027 MRFF 2021 Genomics Health Futures Mission: The Australian Genetic Diversity Database: towards a more equitable future for genomic medicine in Australia. Role: CI (AUD 10 million).
  • 2022 University of Adelaide International Travel Award, AUD 3,000.
  • Early Career Travel Award by the International Society of Psychiatric Genetics (ISPG) to attend the World Congress of Psychiatric Genetics (WCPG) in Florence (Italy)
  • 2021 ARC Discovery Early Career Researcher Award (DECRA). Role: CIA (AUD 365,000, defer).
  • 2021 The University of Adelaide, Faculty Emerging Leaders Development Award. Role: CIA (AUD 40,000).
  • 2019-2021 Brain and Behaviour Research Foundation NARSAD young investigator grant. Role: CIA (AUD 102,000).
  • 2019 & 2020 (two consecutive years) Recognised as one of Australia’s top 40 Rising stars (best of 5 in Health & Medical Sciences list) among all researchers under 10 years into their research career by The Australian Newspaper Research Review. https://specialreports.theaustralian.com.au/1540291/27/ 
  • 2018 University of Adelaide Doctoral Research Medal for Outstanding Research at PhD level and Dean’s Commendation for Doctoral Thesis Excellence.
  • 2017 University of Adelaide international research travel grant (AUD 3000).
  • 2017 World Psychiatric Association Young Scientists Fellowship by the World Psychiatric Association [Germany].
  • 2015-2018 Adelaide Scholarship International (est.AUD 220,000) [Australia].
  • 2014 University of Washington summer Scholarship to attend the 19th summer institute in statistical genetics courses [USA].
  • 2012-2014 University of Groningen International Scholarship for Postgraduate Study [Netherlands]
  • 2011-2012 Government of Belgium University Commission for Development (CIUF-CUD) Postgraduate Scholarship [Belgium].

Selected Publications

  1. Amare AT, Schubert KO, Hou L, Clark SR, Papiol S, Heilbronner U et al. Association of Polygenic Score for Schizophrenia and HLA Antigen and Inflammation Genes With Response to Lithium in Bipolar Affective Disorder: A Genome-Wide Association Study. JAMA Psychiatry 2018; 75(1): 65-74.
  2. Amare AT, Thalamuthu A, Schubert KO, et al. Association of polygenic score and the involvement of cholinergic and glutamatergic pathways with lithium treatment response in patients with bipolar disorder. Nature: Molecular Psychiatry 2023; 28(12): 5251-61.
  3. Amare AT, Ahmad Vaez, Yi-Hsiang Hsu, Nese Direk, Zoha Kamali, David M. Howard, Andrew M. McIntosh, Henning Tiemeier, Ute Bültmann, Harold Snieder, Catharina A. Hartman. Bivariate genome-wide association analyses of a broad depression phenotype combined with major depression, bipolar disorder or schizophrenia reveal eight novel genetic loci for depression. Nature: Molecular Psychiatry 2020, 25(7), 1420-1429. 
  4. Amare AT, Schubert KO, Klingler-Hoffmann M, Cohen-Woods S, Baune BT. The genetic overlap between mood disorders and cardiometabolic diseases: a systematic review of genome-wide and candidate gene studies. Translational Psychiatry 2017; 7: e1007.
  5. Amare AT, Schubert KO, Baune BT. Pharmacogenomics in the treatment of mood disorders: Strategies and Opportunities for personalized psychiatry. The EPMA journal 2017; 8(3): 211-227.
  6.  Amare AT, Schubert KOT, Schulze TG, Baune B. Association of Polygenic Score for Major Depression with Response to Lithium in Patients with Bipolar Disorder. Nature: Molecular Psychiatry, 2020.
  7. Amare AT, Schubert KO, Tekola-Ayele F, Hsu YH, Sangkuhl K, Jenkins G et al. Association of the Polygenic Scores for Personality Traits and Response to Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors in Patients with Major Depressive Disorder. Frontiers in Psychiatry 2018; 9: 65.
  8. Amare AT, Schubert KO, Tekola-Ayele F, Hsu YH, Sangkuhl K, Jenkins G et al. The association of obesity and coronary artery disease genes with response to SSRIs treatment in major depression. Journal of neural transmission  2019.
  9. Beyene MB, Visvanathan R, Ahmed M, Benyamin B, Beard JR, Amare AT. Development and validation of an intrinsic capacity score in the UK Biobank study. Maturitas 2024; 185: 107976.
  10. Visvanathan R, Amare AT, Wesselingh S, et al. Prolonged Wait Time Prior to Entry to Home Care Packages Increases the Risk of Mortality and Transition to Permanent Residential Aged Care Services: Findings from the Registry of Older South Australians (ROSA). The Journal of nutrition, health and aging 2019; 23(3): 271-80.
  11. Tekola-Ayele F, Workalemahu T, Amare AT. High burden of birthweight-lowering genetic variants in Africans and Asians. BMC medicine 2018; 16(1): 70.
  12. Agbaedeng TA, Noubiap JJ, Roberts KA, Chew DP, Psaltis PJ, Amare AT. Sex-Based Outcomes of Dual-Antiplatelet Therapy After Percutaneous Coronary Intervention: A Pairwise and Network Meta-Analysis. Drugs 2024; 84(6): 685-701.
  13.  Stacey D, Schubert KO, Clark SR, Amare AT, Milanesi E, Maj C et al. A gene co-expression module implicating the mitochondrial electron transport chain is associated with long-term response to lithium treatment in bipolar affective disorder. Transl Psychiatry 2018; 8(1): 183.
  14. Opel N, Amare AT, Redlich R, Repple J, Kaehler C, Grotegerd D et al. Cortical surface area alterations shaped by the genetic load for neuroticism. Molecular Psychiatry 2018.
  15. Nolte IM, Munoz ML, Tragante V, Amare AT, Jansen R, Vaez A et al. Genetic loci associated with heart rate variability and their effects on cardiac disease risk. Nature Communications 2017.
  16.  Haljas K, Amare AT, Alizadeh BZ, Hsu YH, Mosley T, Newman A et al. Bivariate Genome-Wide Association Study of Depressive Symptoms With Type 2 Diabetes and Quantitative Glycemic Traits. Psychosomatic medicine 2018; 80(3): 242-251.
  17. Ni G, Amare AT, Zhou X, Mills N, Gratten J, Lee SH. The genetic relationship between female reproductive traits and six psychiatric disorders. Sci Rep 2019; 9(1): 12041.
  18. Direk N, Williams S, Smith JA, Ripke S, Air T, Amare AT, et al. An Analysis of Two Genome-wide Association Meta-analyses Identifies a New Locus for Broad Depression Phenotype. Biological Psychiatry 2017; 82(5): 322-329.
  19.  Ciobanu LG, Ferrari AJ, Erskine HE, Santomauro DF, Charlson FJ, Leung J Amare AT et al. The prevalence and burden of mental and substance use disorders in Australia: Findings from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2015. The Australian & New Zealand journal of psychiatry 2018; 52(5): 483-490.
  20. Amare AT, Caughey GE, Whitehead C, Lang CE, Bray SCE, Corlis M, Visvanathan R, Wesselingh S, Inacio MC. The prevalence, trends and determinants of mental health disorders in older Australians living in permanent residential aged care: Implications for policy and quality of aged care services. The Australian & New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry 2020; 54(12): 1200-1211.

  • Appointments
    Date Position Institution name
    2022 - ongoing NHMRC Emerging Leadership Fellow University of Adelaide
    2020 - ongoing Research Fellow University of Adelaide
    2018 - 2020 Postdoc South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute
    2018 - 2022 Lecturer Level B University of Adelaide
    2015 - 2018 PhD University of Adelaide

  • Awards and Achievements
    Date Type Title Institution Name Country Amount
    2023 Award 2023 Young Tall Poppy winner for excellence in Australian science and science communication The Australian Institute of Policy & Science (AIPS) Australia -
    2022 Award 2022 Early Career Investigator Program Travel Awards Winner International Society of Psychiatric Genetics (ISPG) Italy -
    2019 Award 2018 Doctoral Research Medal for Outstanding research at PhD level University of Adelaide Australia Gold Medal
    2018 Research Award Dean's Commendation for Doctoral Thesis Excellence University of Adelaide Australia -
    2017 Fellowship 2017 World congress of psychiatry Young Fellowship Programme World Psychiatric Association Germany -
    2015 Scholarship Adelaide Scholarship International (ASI) University of Adelaide Australia -
    2014 Scholarship 19th summer institute in statistical genetics courses in Seattle University of Washington United States -
    2012 Scholarship CPE-SHARE research institute, University Medical center Groningen University of Groningen Netherlands -
    2011 Scholarship CIUF-CUD Scholarship for postgraduate Study Belgium University Commission for Development (CIUF-CUD) Belgium -
    2006 Award Top student and gold medal among 2006 graduates in the faculty of public health Hawassa University Ethiopia Gold Medal

  • Education
    Date Institution name Country Title
    2015 - 2018 University of Adelaide Australia PhD in Medicine
    2014 - 2014 University of Groningen, Groningen Netherlands Master of Science in Clinical and Psychosocial Epidemiology (Research master)
    2011 - 2012 Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels Belgium Master in research methodology

  • Certifications
    Date Title Institution name Country
    2014 19th Summer Institute in Statistical Genetics University of Washington United States

  • Research Interests
    Epidemiology Genetics Genomics Pharmacogenomics Psychiatry Ageing, Frailty and Mobility Neuroscience, Behaviour and Brain Health Health related to ageing
  • 2021-2026 NHMRC Investigator Grant Emerging Leadership. Role: CIA (AUD 650,740).
  • 2022-2027 NHMRC-EU Collaborative Research - Horizon 2020 Programme. Role: CID (AUD 500,000).
  • 2022-2027 European Commission - Horizon 2020 Programme Collaborative Research. Role: AI (EURO 11 million). PSYCH-STRATA - A Stratified Treatment Algorithm in Psychiatry: A program on stratified pharmacogenomics in severe mental illness
  • 2022-2027 MRFF 2021 Genomics Health Futures Mission: The Australian Genetic Diversity Database: towards a more equitable future for genomic medicine in Australia. Role: CI (AUD 10 million).
  • 2022 University of Adelaide international travel Award, AUD 3,000.
  • Early Career Travel Award by the International Society of Psychiatric Genetics (ISPG) to attend the World Congress of Psychiatric Genetics (WCPG) in Florence (Italy)
  • 2021 ARC Discovery Early Career Researcher Award (DECRA). Role: CIA (AUD 365,000, defer).
  • 2021 The University of Adelaide, Faculty Emerging Leaders Development Award. Role: CIA (AUD 40,000).
  • 2019-2021 Brain and Behaviour Research Foundation NARSAD young investigator grant. Role: CIA (AUD 102,000).
  • 2019 & 2020 (two consecutive years) Recognised as one of Australia’s top 40 Rising stars (best of 5 in Health & Medical Sciences list) among all researchers under 10 years into their research career by The Australian newspaper research Review.                         https://specialreports.theaustralian.com.au/1540291/27/ 
  • 2018 University of Adelaide Doctoral Research Medal for Outstanding research at PhD level and Dean’s Commendation for Doctoral Thesis Excellence.
  • 2017 University of Adelaide international research travel grant (AUD 3000).
  • 2017 World Psychiatric Association Young Scientists Fellowship by the World Psychiatric Association [Germany].
  • 2015-2018 Adelaide Scholarship International (est.AUD 220,000) [Australia].
  • 2014 University of Washington summer Scholarship to attend the 19th summer institute in statistical genetics courses [USA].
  • 2012-2014 University of Groningen International Scholarship for Postgraduate Study [Netherlands]
  • 2011-2012 Government of Belgium University Commission for Development (CIUF-CUD) Postgraduate Scholarship [Belgium].

Course coordinator and lecturer for the course "Genetic Epidemiology"

  • Position: NHMRC Emerging Leadership Fellow (C)
  • Phone: 83137438
  • Email: azmeraw.amare@adelaide.edu.au
  • Campus: West End Health Precinct
  • Building: AHMS - Adelaide Health and Medical Sciences, floor Sixth Floor
  • Org Unit: Medical Specialties
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