Our team

Director

Bernard Fuemmeler, Ph.D., MPH serves as the scientific director for CARA core. Fuemmeler has more than 25 years of population health science research experience and has expertise in developing, managing and leading registry and cohort studies. He is widely published in areas of child health and development, cancer prevention and cancer survivorship. He serves to help support the growth and vision of the CARA Core and provides leadership for management of the CARA Core team. 

Associate director and MATR scientific director (PI)

Elizabeth Prom-Wormley, Ph.D., MPH is a genetic epidemiologist with extensive experience in the study design and analysis of community-based twin and family samples to understand the genetic and environmental contributions of psychiatric and chronic medical conditions. She also has experience in study design and development of community-based participatory research projects. Her background has led her to be actively involved in local and global collaborations between public health, research and community organizations to use data-driven approaches in developing equitable prevention, education and interventions for improving outcomes related to chronic conditions. Prom-Wormley supports CARA through the development and management of genetically-informed studies, including those data managed by the Mid-Atlantic Twin Registry and by strategically advancing the mission and vision of the core.

S4S scientific director (PI)

Karen Chartier, MSW, Ph.D. is the Center Director of the Institute for Research on Behavioral and Emotional Health and the Director of the Spit for Science Registry, two university-level initiatives that bring together faculty, trainees, and students from across disciplines and units at VCU to advance the scientific understanding of substance use and mental health. Dr. Chartier is an Associate Professor in the School of Social Work and an affiliate faculty in the School of Medicine’s Department of Psychiatry. She is also on the faculty of the Virginia Institute for Psychiatric and Behavioral Genetics. Dr. Chartier studies social, genetic and environmental factors that influence alcohol misuse and alcohol use disorder, including how these relationships might operate within and across racial, ethnic, and cultural groups.

Registry staff

The CARA Core registry staff members bring decades of experience to the table as well as a range of expertise. Our team is well-equipped to support a wide variety of study designs and services to meet the needs of our collaborators.