Megan Carnes

Megan Ulmer Carnes, PhD, is a Research Statistician and Genomics Research Scientist who leads multi-site data coordinating centers and supports investigator-initiated research projects. Her technical expertise includes genetic epidemiology and multi-omic data analysis including genome-wide association studies, epigenomics, transcriptomics, and microbiome studies with a focus on complex human disease phenotypes with multifactorial disease etiology. She has extensive experience with improving genomic and clinical data sharing and reusability by building user friendly data portals.

Dr. Carnes is one of the Principal Investigators for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) funded Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS) Network. Among other network tasks, Dr. Carnes leads a team of software developers and bioinformaticists responsible for the data sharing portal mapMECFS designed to facilitate data sharing and findability, enhanced by custom smart search tools. She provides subject matter expertise, translating the needs of scientists to developers, manages the iterative tool development process, quality control, and project roadmaps.

Dr. Carnes is also the Alternate Principal Investigator for the NIH funded Pelvic Floor Disorders Network (PFDN) Data Coordinating Center and has a role in the following: 1) protocol development, study design, biospecimen collection, and statistical analyses of clinical trials and translational studies, 2) oversight of network operations (e.g., DSMB, Advisory Board, Steering Committees, and other network logistics), and 3) providing analytic and statistical leadership of genomic analyses with a focus on urinary, vaginal, and gut microbiome and biomarker discovery for translation studies.

In addition, Dr. Carnes is a Genomics Advisor for ongoing studies at RTI’s Social, Statistical, and Environmental Health Sciences Division and is a Co-investigator on the Integrative Omics Center for Opioid Addiction Research (IOmics-OA) NIH funded research network.

Prior to joining RTI International, Dr. Carnes served as an Intramural Research Training Award Postdoctoral Fellow at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. She previously worked at OmicSoft/QIAGEN as a Senior Bioinformatic Scientist. Along with her many honors and professional associations, she serves as a peer reviewer for multiple urogynecology journals and as an NIH NIDDK Special Emphasis Panel Grant Reviewer in 2023.