Tatum Simonson

Tatum Simonson, PhD, is Assistant Professor and John B. West Endowed Chair in Respiratory Physiology in the Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care, and Sleep Medicine at UC San Diego School of Medicine. Dr Simonson applies integrative physiological genomics approaches to understand systems-level responses to hypoxia in highland populations. Her research provides evidence for genetic adaptations to high altitude and associations among these factors, molecular functions, and physiological traits. In addition to her research in the highlands of Tibet and Peru, her team studies natural variation in human responses to low oxygen and aims to understand the contributions of genetic and epigenetic factors to variation in hypoxia-related disease states (e.g., altitude illness, sleep apnea, and cardiopulmonary diseases). These and related interdisciplinary efforts are coordinated through the recently developed Center for Physiological Genomics of Low Oxygen at UC San Diego.