Jennifer R Dungan, PhD, MSN, BSN

Dr. Dungan recently joined UF’s faculty after completing 5 years of specialty postdoctoral training and 7 years on faculty at Duke. She is eager to explore interdisciplinary research collaborations and work with inquisitive, motivated students.

Teaching

Dr. Dungan’s teaching expertise is focused on delivering genetics and genomics education across nursing curricula and programs. In her career, she has developed innovative, graduate-level interprofessional genetics curricula; she is recognized internationally for her expertise on use of direct-to-consumer genetic testing platforms for experiential learning in the classroom. Dr. Dungan’s teaching philosophy emphasizes understanding and application of contemporary aspects of genetics to foster ‘genetics-informed’ providers who are able to respond nimbly to rapid advances in genetics and precision health. Dr. Dungan also teaches courses in research and advanced pathophysiology.

Research

Dr. Dungan’s broad program of research is cardiovascular genetics, with an emphasis on discovering clinically-impactful gene markers predictive of survival and health outcomes in coronary artery diseases. Dr. Dungan’s extramural funded research has supported identification of genome-wide variants for her novel phenotype, survivorship with coronary artery disease (CAD). Her research has also uncovered unique age-, sex-, and disease severity-related effects on the genetic contribution to coronary phenotypes. These findings have opened new lines of investigation into genetic and biologically-driven sex differences in coronary diseases, including for acute coronary syndrome. Additionally, Dr. Dungan has mentored undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral students in projects involving genetics (including pharmacogenetics, complex disease and symptom phenotyping, and inherited cancer risk screening in FQHC settings).

Service

Aside from numerous institutional and nursing committee contributions, Dr. Dungan is an active leader with the International Society of Nurses in Genetics; she is currently the Secretary on their board of directors; served two, two-year terms as the Education Committee Chair; and, is active in the Research Committee. She is an invited member of the NIH Genome Blueprint Working Group and has served in a leadership capacity to help develop, test, and implement the Omics Nursing Science and Education Network (ONSEN) web resource. Dr. Dungan is a professional member of the American Heart Association and their Cardiovascular & Stroke Nursing Committee and is also a member of the American Society of Human Genetics. She serves on the Editorial Board of Frontiers in Cardiovascular Medicine and Biological Research for Nursing. Dr. Dungan is also an invited reviewer for numerous journals, including Circulation: Cardiovascular Genetics, Heart & Lung: Journal of Acute and Critical Care, American Journal of Cardiology, International Journal of Nursing Studies, Nursing Research, and Nursing Outlook.

Dr. Dungan’s primary area of scientific expertise is in the use of genetic epidemiology approaches to the study of complex cardiovascular diseases and outcomes. Specific areas of expertise involve: candidate gene and genome-wide association studies of large cardiovascular genetics datasets; and, survival-, age- and sex-associated analyses involving genetic predictors. Dr. Dungan is also interested in collaborating on projects related to women’s heart disease, functional genetic studies of coronary disease candidate genes, and clinical and genetic biorepositories.

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