John Whittaker

Professor John Whittaker

(he/him/his)
Principal investigator

MRC Biostatistics Unit

About Professor John Whittaker

I am Director of the MRC Biostatistics Unit and Professor of Biostatistics at the University of Cambridge.

Prior to joining the Unit in January 2022, I held academic posts at several UK Universities, most recently as Professor of Genetic Epidemiology and Statistics at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. I moved to GlaxoSmithKline in 2009, initially as head of statistical genetics, and then led groups and projects in both genetics and non-clinical statistics. Key activities included the initiation of Open Targets, the whole genome sequencing of UK Biobank by a public-private consortium and most latterly the development of an integrated wet-dry lab approach to understanding the functional consequences of genetic variation.

My research interests are in the use of statistical modelling, mainly in the Bayesian framework, to solve applied biomedical problems. My current work is centered on the design and analysis of genetic/genomic studies at both population and lab scale, and in particular on the integration of multiple genetic, genomic and epidemiological data resources to generate mechanistic and causal understanding of disease aetiology. I particularly enjoy working collaboratively with scientists from other disciplines.

Publications

Showing 1 to 10 of 234 publications

Journal-article

A genomic-led strategy to anticipate drug safety effects.

Authors: BR Ferolito, ARVR Horimoto, K Gravel-Pucillo, DJ Golden, H Dashti, C Giambartolomei, D Rasooly, R Matty, L Gaziano, Y Tsepilov, L Costa, N Kosik, H Ioannidis, M Karim, G Winicki, F Hunter, C Langenberg, JC Whittaker, Million Veteran Program, T Cai, GM Peloso, B Zdrazil, M Ghoussaini, AR Leach, S Muralidhar, IA Smit, JP Casas, JM Gaziano, K Cho, AC Pereira

Journal: PLoS Genet

DOI: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1012211

Journal-article

Leveraging large-scale biobanks for therapeutic target discovery.

Authors: BR Ferolito, H Dashti, C Giambartolomei, GM Peloso, DJ Golden, K Gravel-Pucillo, D Rasooly, ARVR Horimoto, R Matty, L Gaziano, Y Liu, IA Smit, B Zdrazil, Y Tsepilov, L Costa, N Kosik, JE Huffman, GG Tartaglia, G Bini, G Proietti, H Ioannidis, MA Karim, F Hunter, G Hemani, AS Butterworth, E Di Angelantonio, C Langenberg, M Ghoussaini, AR Leach, KP Liao, S Damrauer, LE Selva, S Whitbourne, PS Tsao, J Moser, T Gaunt, T Cai, JC Whittaker, Million Veteran Program, JP Casas, S Muralidhar, JM Gaziano, K Cho, AC Pereira

Published:

Journal: HGG Adv

DOI: 10.1016/j.xhgg.2025.100556

Journal-article

A computational framework for defining and validating reproducible phenotyping algorithms of 313 diseases in the UK Biobank.

Authors: A Torralbo, JM Davitte, DC Croteau-Chonka, C Ytsma, C Tomlinson, NK Fitzpatrick, S-C Chung, G Fatemifar, AS Cortes, TG Richardson, M Barclay, J Carrasco-Zanini, C Finan, H Hemingway, AD Hingorani, V Kuan, C Langenberg, G Lyratzopoulos, RT Lumbers, M Pietzner, AD Shah, JH Thygesen, N Zelenka, JC Whittaker, MG Ehm, S Denaxas

Published:

Journal: Sci Rep

DOI: 10.1038/s41598-025-05838-9

Journal-article

Large-scale multi-omics identifies drug targets for heart failure with reduced and preserved ejection fraction.

Authors: D Rasooly, C Giambartolomei, GM Peloso, H Dashti, BR Ferolito, D Golden, ARVR Horimoto, M Pietzner, EH Farber-Eger, QS Wells, G Bini, G Proietti, GG Tartaglia, NM Kosik, PWF Wilson, LS Phillips, PB Munroe, SE Petersen, K Cho, JM Gaziano, AR Leach, VA Million Veteran Program, J Whittaker, C Langenberg, N Aung, YV Sun, AC Pereira, JP Casas, J Joseph

Journal: Nat Cardiovasc Res

DOI: 10.1038/s44161-025-00609-1

Preprint

A genomic-led strategy to anticipate drug safety effects

Authors: BR Ferolito, AR Horimoto, K Gravel-Pucillo, DJ Golden, H Dashti, C Giambartolomei, D Rasooly, R Matty, L Gaziano, Y Tsepilov, L Costa, N Kosik, H Ioannidis, M Karim, G Winicki, F Hunter, C Langenberg, JC Whittaker, MV Program, T Cai, GM Peloso, B Zdrazil, M Ghoussaini, AR Leach, S Muralidhar, IA Smit, JP Casas, JM Gaziano, K Cho, AC Pereira

DOI: 10.1101/2025.09.11.25335448

Preprint

Leveraging Large-Scale Biobanks for Therapeutic Target Discovery

Authors: BR Ferolito, H Dashti, C Giambartolomei, GM Peloso, DJ Golden, K Gravel-Pucillo, D Rasooly, AR Horimoto, R Matty, L Gaziano, Y Liu, IA Smit, B Zdrazil, Y Tsepilov, L Costa, N Kosik, JE Huffman, GG Tartaglia, G Bini, G Proietti, H Ioannidis, F Hunter, G Hemani, AS Butterworth, E Di Angelantonio, C Langenberg, M Ghoussaini, AR Leach, KP Liao, S Damrauer, LE Selva, S Whitbourne, PS Tsao, J Moser, T Gaunt, T Cai, JC Whittaker, MV Program, JP Casas, S Muralidhar, JM Gaziano, K Cho, AC Pereira

DOI: 10.1101/2025.02.10.25321487

Journal-article

Author Correction: New genetic signals for lung function highlight pathways and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease associations across multiple ancestries.

Authors: N Shrine, AL Guyatt, AM Erzurumluoglu, VE Jackson, BD Hobbs, CA Melbourne, C Batini, KA Fawcett, K Song, P Sakornsakolpat, X Li, R Boxall, NF Reeve, M Obeidat, JH Zhao, M Wielscher, Understanding Society Scientific Group, S Weiss, KA Kentistou, JP Cook, BB Sun, J Zhou, J Hui, S Karrasch, M Imboden, SE Harris, J Marten, S Enroth, SM Kerr, I Surakka, V Vitart, T Lehtimäki, RJ Allen, PS Bakke, TH Beaty, ER Bleecker, Y Bossé, C-A Brandsma, Z Chen, JD Crapo, J Danesh, DL DeMeo, F Dudbridge, R Ewert, C Gieger, A Gulsvik, AL Hansell, K Hao, JD Hoffman, JE Hokanson, G Homuth, PK Joshi, P Joubert, C Langenberg, X Li, L Li, K Lin, L Lind, N Locantore, J Luan, A Mahajan, JC Maranville, A Murray, DC Nickle, R Packer, MM Parker, ML Paynton, DJ Porteous, D Prokopenko, D Qiao, R Rawal, H Runz, I Sayers, DD Sin, BH Smith, MS Artigas, D Sparrow, R Tal-Singer, PRHJ Timmers, M Van den Berge, JC Whittaker, PG Woodruff, LM Yerges-Armstrong, OG Troyanskaya, OT Raitakari, M Kähönen, O Polašek, U Gyllensten, I Rudan, IJ Deary, NM Probst-Hensch, H Schulz, AL James, JF Wilson, B Stubbe, E Zeggini, M-R Jarvelin, N Wareham, EK Silverman, C Hayward, AP Morris, AS Butterworth, RA Scott, RG Walters, DA Meyers, MH Cho, DP Strachan, IP Hall, MD Tobin, LV Wain

Journal: Nat Genet

DOI: 10.1038/s41588-024-01752-4