Hélène Choquet, PhD

Biography

Associate Professor

Health Systems Science

Dr. Hélène Choquet is a Research Scientist II with the Kaiser Permanente Northern California Division of Research. She is currently a valued mentor for General Surgery residents at the UCSF-East Bay General Surgery program and for resident physicians outside of Kaiser Permanente. Dr. Choquet tries to transmit her passion for human genetics to the KPSOM community, and teach and/or mentor medical students interested in her research. She has a broad background in human genetics and genomics, with research interests in the identification of genetic factors contributing to complex traits and diseases, including the genetics of obesity, alcohol and tobacco use disorders, brain disorders, nonmelanoma skin cancers, and vision disorders. Dr. Choquet is currently the Principal Investigator on two R01s from two NIH institutions, the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and the National Eye Institute (NEI), investigating the genetic etiology of nonmelanoma skin cancers and cataract, respectively. She received doctoral training in Human Genetics from the Lille 2 University of Health and Law in France. As a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), Dr. Choquet received training in genetic epidemiology and statistical genetics and received an American Heart Association award.

Education and Training

Degrees: BS, Lille 1 University, France
MS, Lille 1 University, France
DU, Lille 1 University, France
PhD, Lille 1 University, France

Postdoctoral Training: Fellowship, Genetics of Addiction in Neurology, Ernest Gallo Clinic and Research Center, UCSF
Fellowship, Genetic Epidemiology of Cerebrovascular Diseases, UCSF

Professional Positions

Research Assistant, Genetics and Metabolic Diseases: French National Center for Scientific Research; 2005-2010

Staff Scientist I: Kaiser Permanente Division of Research; 2016-2019

Staff Scientist II: Kaiser Permanente Division of Research; 2019-2021

Research Scientist I: Kaiser Permanente Division of Research; 2021-2022

Research Scientist II: Kaiser Permanente Division of Research; 2022-present

Associate Professor, Health Systems Science: Kaiser Permanente Bernard J. Tyson School of Medicine; 2024-present

Honors and Awards

Trainee Travel Award: Clinical Research for Rare Diseases Conference; 2012

Trainee Travel Award: Eighth Angioma Alliance Scientific Meeting; 2012

Postdoctoral Fellowship Recipient: Brain Vascular Malformation Consortium; 2012-2013

Trainee Travel Award: Tenth Angioma Alliance Scientific Meeting; 2014

Postdoctoral Fellowship Award: American Heart Association; 2014-2016

Junior Investigator Travel Grant: International Stroke Conference; 2015

Scholarly Activities

: View Dr. Hélène Choquet's Researcher Profile

Selected peer-reviewed research manuscripts

Jorgenson E, Thai KK, Hoffmann TJ, Sakoda LC, Kvale MN, Banda Y, Schaefer C, Risch N, Mertens J, Weisner C, Choquet H. Genetic Contributors to Variation in Alcohol Consumption Vary by Race/Ethnicity in a Large Multi-Ethnic Genome-wide Association Study. Molecular Psychiatry. 2017. PMID: 28485404.
Choquet H, Pawlikowska L, Nelson J, McCulloch CE, Akers A, Baca B, Khan Y, Hart B, Morrison L, Kim H. Polymorphisms in inflammatory and immune response genes associated with cerebral cavernous malformations type 1 severity. Cerebrovascular Diseases 2014; 38(6):433-40. PMID: 25472749. Updated on April 2024 22.
Choquet H, Thai KK, Yin J, Hoffmann TJ, Kvale MN, Banda Y, Schaefer C, Risch N, Nair KS, Melles R, Jorgenson E. A large multi-ethnic genome-wide association study identifies novel genetic loci for intraocular pressure. Nature Communications 2017; 8(1):2108. PMID: 29235454.
Choquet H, Paylakhi S, Kneeland SC, Thai KK, Hoffmann TJ, Yin J, Kvale MN, Banda Y, Tolman NG, Williams PA, Schaefer C, Melles RB, Risch N, John SWM, Nair KS, Jorgenson E. A multiethnic genomewide association study of primary open-angle glaucoma identifies novel risk loci. Nature Communications 2018;9(1):2278. PMID: 29891935.
Hysi PG†, Choquet H†, Hammond CJ, et al. Meta-analysis of 542,934 subjects of European ancestry identifies hundreds of novel genes and genetic mechanisms predisposing to refractive error and myopia. Nature Genetics 2020. †These authors jointly led this work. PMID: 32231278.
Choquet H, Melles RB, Anand D, Yin J, Cuellar-Partida G, Wang W; 23andMe Research Team,
Hoffmann TJ, Nair KS, Hysi PG, Lachke SA, Jorgenson E. A large multiethnic GWAS meta-analysis of cataract identifies new risk loci and sex-specific effects. Nat Commun. 2021 Jun 14;12(1):3595. PMID: 34127677.
Jiang C, Melles RB, Sangani P, Hoffmann TJ, Hysi PG, Glymour MM, Jorgenson E, Lachke SA, Choquet H. Association of Behavioral and Clinical Risk Factors With Cataract: A Two-Sample Mendelian Randomization Study. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 2023 Jul 3;64(10):19. PMID: 37459064
Choquet H, Ashrafzadeh S, Kim Y, Asgari MM, Jorgenson E. Genetic and environmental factors underlying keratinocyte carcinoma risk. JCI Insight. 2020 May 21;5(10):e134783. PMCID: PMC7259534.
Lee T, George CD, Jiang C, Asgari MM, Nijsten T, Pardo LM, Choquet H. Association between lifetime smoking and cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma: A 2-sample Mendelian randomization study. JAAD International. 2023 Dec 3;14:69-76. PMID: 38274396.
Choquet H, Jiang C, Yin J, Kim Y, Hoffmann TJ, 23andMe Research Team, Jorgenson E, and Asgari MM. Multi-ancestry genome-wide meta-analysis identifies novel basal cell carcinoma loci and shared genetic effects with squamous cell carcinoma. Communications Biology. 2024 Jan 5;7(1):33. PMID: 38182794.
View a complete list of Dr. Choquet’s manuscripts

Book Chapters

Choquet H, Stijnen P, Creemers JW. Genetic and functional characterization of PCSK1. Methods in Molecular Biology. 2011; 768:247-53. Book chapter. PMID: 21805247
Choquet H and Kim H. Genome-wide Genotyping of Cerebral Cavernous Malformation Type 1 Individuals to Identify Genetic Modifiers of Disease Severity. Methods in Molecular Biology. 2020;2152:77-84. Book chapter. PMID: 32524545.