Detailed Biography:

Christina Palmer is a geneticist who has been a UCLA faculty member since she joined the Center for Neurobehavioral Genetics and Department of Psychiatry & Biobehavioral Sciences in 1999. She became Associate Professor in 2005. Dr. Palmer holds joint appointments in the Department of Human Genetics and in the UCLA Center for Society & Genetics. She is also a faculty member of the UCLA Intercampus Medical Genetics Training Program. Dr. Palmer earned her B.A. in Biology and Spanish at Indiana University, M.S. in Genetic Counseling at Sarah Lawrence College, and Ph.D. in Industrial Engineering (emphasis on Decision Sciences) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She was a postdoctoral fellow in the UCLA Department of Psychiatry & Biobehavioral Sciences where she worked on psychiatric genetics. She is certified by the American Board of Medical Genetics as a Ph.D. Medical Geneticist and by the American Board of Genetic Counseling as a Genetic Counselor. Dr. Palmer specializes in genetic counseling for deafness, and for psychiatric conditions. She is actively involved in undergraduate, graduate, and medical education. She is a recipient of the Jane Engelberg Memorial Fellowship from the National Society of Genetic Counselors for her work on methods for evaluating genetic counseling. Her research centers on genetics of complex behaviors and the educational, psychological, and behavioral outcomes of genetic counseling and genetic testing. Dr. Palmer is presently facilitating a collaboration of disciplines including genetics, deaf studies, audiology, psychology, and statistics to examine the individual and societal impact of genetic testing for deafness.