Andrew B. Stergachis, MD, PhD, FACMG is a physician-scientist motivated by the question of how alterations in gene regulation contribute to human disease. His perspective has been shaped by experience at the interface of clinical genetics and basic science, where he has witnessed both the transformative potential and current limitations of genomic medicine. While the human genome has been sequenced, we still lacks means to interpret much of its content—a gap that constrains both our understanding of disease mechanisms and the translation of genomic discoveries into therapies.

Dr. Stergachis has devoted his career to addressing this challenge. After earning undergraduate degrees in biochemistry and chemistry at the University of Chicago, he completed a PhD in Genome Sciences and an MD at the University of Washington, followed by residency training in internal medicine and medical genetics at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School.

His laboratory has pioneered single-molecule chromatin fiber sequencing technologies (Fiber-seq and DAF-seq) that resolve chromatin architectures across the genome. Using these approaches, he has provided fundamental insights into how gene regulatory landscapes change during development, oncogenesis, and human evolution, and how non-coding variants drive rare Mendelian diseases. His work has illuminated previously inaccessible genomic regions and established new paradigms for interpreting regulatory variation.

Dr. Stergachis’ contributions have been recognized with multiple honors, including a Burroughs Wellcome Career Award for Medical Scientists, an NIH Director’s Early Independence Award, a Pew Biomedical Scholars award, and the ASCI Young Physician-Scientist Award. He also received the Puget Sound Business Journal “40 Under 40” award for innovation. In addition to leading his research group at the University of Washington, he provides clinical care in cardiovascular genetics and adult genetics clinics, bringing genomic discovery back to the bedside.