Alexis Kiyanda, MS, a first-year doctoral student in the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health, has been selected to join the All of Us Data Fellows Program, a competitive national training initiative supported by the All of Us Research Program through the University of Arizona and Banner Health. The program equips graduate students, postdoctoral scholars and junior faculty with advanced skills to conduct original, data-driven research at the intersection of clinical and multi-omics science using the All of Us Researcher Workbench. Selection into the fellowship recognizes Kiyanda’s strong research potential and commitment to addressing complex, high-impact questions in population health and precision medicine.
Through this fellowship, she will investigate how genetic predisposition and genetic ancestry interact with non-genetic risk factors to influence uterine fibroid susceptibility, etiology and progression of reproductive milestones among individuals of African ancestry. Uterine fibroids disproportionately affect those who self-identify as Black. Such individuals are approximately three times more likely to develop uterine fibroids and often experience larger or more numerous fibroids.
By examining these patterns among people with higher proportions of African ancestry, this work aims to identify genetic and molecular mechanisms underlying uterine fibroid development across reproductive milestones. The project will contribute critical insights into an understudied condition and help lay the groundwork for future research focused on improving prevention strategies, treatments and reproductive health equity.
