Garrett Hellenthal is statistical geneticist and current research fellow at University College London, focusing on applying mathematical models to DNA data. Garrett received his PhD in Statistics at the University of Washington, after which he continued post-doctoral work on genetic variants and increased risk in diseases at Oxford. Currently, Garrett constructs statistical algorithms to describe the genetic architecture of different human groups, and using DNA to infer human history, which includes elucidating how genetic patterns vary across world-wide human groups and identifying the factors that contribute to this variation.
Garrett has created software that can pinpoint times in the past when worldwide and local populations have intermixed due to invasions, migrations and other interactions, highlighting how all human groups appear to carry links to other genetically different groups, often from quite far away, attributable to the many population movements over the centuries. Garrett has helped quantify the genetic impact of known empires and trade routes throughout history, determining which conquests and voyages have left the greatest residue in our DNA today.