About IGES

IGES is the International Genetic Epidemiology Society, a scientific society concerned with “the study of genetic components in complex biological phenomena” according to James V. Neel, the founding President of the Society. The successful mapping of the human genome will greatly facilitate the study of health and disease in a manner that integrates both host and environmental factors. IGES is devoted to the development of the methodology to permit such types of studies and the application of these approaches in human populations.

What is Genetic Epidemiology

The field is a marriage between disciplines of genetics and epidemiology. Traditional genetics tends to focus on the gene-phenotype connection and often considers the environment as a nuisance, something to be controlled by scientific study design or as a statistical error term. Conversely, traditional epidemiology tends to focus on the environmental causes and risk factors of traits while treating genetic factors as a nuisance. Genetic epidemiology focuses on both genetics and environment in order to explain exactly how genes express in the presence of different environmental contexts, to come to a fuller understanding of the etiology of complex traits. IGES was formed in September, 1991 as the only INTERNATIONAL genetics society devoted to the promotion of the study of genetic epidemiology and statistical genetics.

Who We Are

IGES members include geneticists, epidemiologists, statisticians, mathematicians, biologists, related biomedical researchers and students interested in research on the genetic basis of disease, complex traits and their risk factors.