Haig H. Kazazian, Jr.

Haig Hagop Kazazian Jr. (July 30, 1937 – January 19/20, 2022) was an American professor in the Department of Genetic Medicine at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, Maryland. Kazazian was an elected member of the National Academy of Sciences left Istanbul and arrived in the U.S. in 1920. working as a staff associate for the US Public Health Service. In Itano's labotory, Kazazian worked on hemoglobin regulation.

Kazazian and Richard Cotton were founding co-editors of the journal Human Mutation, which appeared in 1992. Kazazian became a co-editor of the journal Mobile DNA in 2015.

In 1994, he became Chair of the Department of Genetics at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, holding the position until 2006. after they were served with a cease-and-desist letter demanding that they stop breast cancer screenings for the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes. In July 2010, Kazazian returned to Johns Hopkins, holding the position of a Professor in the Institute of Genetic Medicine. Although the initial chapters of background information on the field have been criticized as less interesting than later and more personal chapters, the account is credited with vividly illustrating "both the destructive and constructive facets of transposition in the genome".

Kazazian died on January 19

Research Kazazian made important contributions to human genetics through his research into DNA haplotypes and the molecular basis of beta thalassemia and through his exploration of retrotransposons (jumping genes). In addition to understanding diseases, studying L1 insertions enables researchers to learn about human diversity.

Kazazian's studies with rodents suggest that retrotransposition tends to occur during early embryonic development.

Awards 2018, Member, National Academy of Sciences 2008, William Allan Award, American Society of Human Genetics 2007, Member, American Academy of Arts and Sciences 1976, E. Mead Johnson Award for Pediatric Research, Society for Pediatric Research

Papers