Richa Saxena

Richa Saxena, PhD is a Professor of Anesthesia at Harvard Medical School, and an Investigator in the Center for Genomic Medicine and Department of Anesthesia at Mass General Hospital. She is also an Associate Member at the Broad Institute and a member of the Harvard Division of Sleep Medicine. Dr. Saxena received her BA in Biology and Chemistry from Cornell University and her PhD in Biology from MIT. She is the recipient of the MGH Claflin Distinguished Scholar Award and is currently a Phyllis and Jerome Lyle Rappaport MGH Research Scholar.

Dr. Saxena’s human genetic research uses population-scale biobanks coupled with focused mechanistic studies to identify genes and biological mechanisms underlying circadian rhythm and sleep traits and adverse pregnancy disorders, and illuminate their relationships with chronic disease. Her team has discovered genes underlying sleep quality, quantity and timing, morningness-eveningness preference, as well as genes for sleep disorders and preeclampsia.

Dr. Saxena’s team is studying biological and physiologic mechanisms linking circadian rhythms, melatonin and sleep to type 2 diabetes, neuropsychiatric and neurodegenerative diseases. She also examines the genetic basis of preeclampsia and links of preeclampsia to cardio-metabolic disease. Her research aims to catalyze new therapeutic avenues for sleep and pregnancy disorders, and to define disease mechanisms where targeted interventions for sleep or circadian rhythms could prevent or ameliorate related human disease.

Education

• Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• Bachelor’s Degree Cornell University
• Indiana University of Pennsylvania

Companies

• Professor of Anaesthesia Harvard Medical School - Massachusetts General Hospital (2022)
• Associate Professor Harvard Medical School - Massachusetts General Hospital (2016 — 2022)
• Assistant Professor Harvard Medical School - Massachusetts General Hospital (2011 — 2016)

Publications

Genetic evidence for a potential causal relationship between insomnia symptoms and suicidal behavior: a Mendelian randomization study. Authors: Nassan M, Daghlas I, Winkelman JW, Dashti HS, Saxena R. Neuropsychopharmacology 2022-05-10

Assessing the Causal Role of Sleep Traits on Glycated Hemoglobin: A Mendelian Randomization Study. Authors: Liu J, Richmond RC, Bowden J, Barry C, Dashti HS, Daghlas I, Lane JM, Jones SE, Wood AR, Frayling TM, Wright AK, Carr MJ, Anderson SG, Emsley RA, Ray DW, Weedon MN, Saxena R, Lawlor DA, Rutter MK. Diabetes Care 2022-04-01

Association of Poor Sleep Burden in Middle Age and Older Adults With Risk for Delirium During Hospitalization. Authors: Ulsa MC, Xi Z, Li P, Gaba A, Wong PM, Saxena R, Scheer FAJL, Rutter M, Akeju O, Hu K, Gao L. J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci 2022-03-03

Interplay of Dinner Timing and MTNR1B Type 2 Diabetes Risk Variant on Glucose Tolerance and Insulin Secretion: A Randomized Crossover Trial. Authors: Garaulet M, Lopez-Minguez J, Dashti HS, Vetter C, Hernández-Martínez AM, Pérez-Ayala M, Baraza JC, Wang W, Florez JC, Scheer FAJL, Saxena R. Diabetes Care 2022-03-01

The public health impact of poor sleep on severe COVID-19, influenza and upper respiratory infections. Authors: Jones SE, Maisha FI, Strausz SJ, Cade BE, Tervi AM, Helaakoski V, Broberg ME, Lammi V, Lane JM, Redline S, Saxena R, Ollila HM. medRxiv 2022-02-17

Sleep patterns of patients receiving home parenteral nutrition: A home-based observational study. Authors: Dashti HS, Godbole M, Chen A, Mogensen KM, Leong A, Burns DL, Winkler MF, Saxena R, Compher C. JPEN J Parenter Enteral Nutr 2022-02-11

How Accurately Can We Recall the Timing of Food Intake? A Comparison of Food Times from Recall-Based Survey Questions and Daily Food Records. Authors: Gioia SC, Guirette M, Chen A, Tucker C, Gray BE, Vetter C, Garaulet M, Scheer FAJL, Saxena R, Dashti HS. Curr Dev Nutr 2022-02-01

Upregulated heme biosynthesis increases obstructive sleep apnea severity: a pathway-based Mendelian randomization study. Authors: Wang H, Kurniansyah N, Cade BE, Goodman MO, Chen H, Gottlieb DJ, Gharib SA, Purcell SM, Lin X, Saxena R, Zhu X, Durda P, Tracy R, Liu Y, Taylor KD, Johnson WC, Gabriel S, Smith JD, Aguet F, Ardlie K, Blackwell T, Reiner AP, Rotter JI, Rich SS, Redline S, Sofer T. Sci Rep 2022-01-27

Interaction of obesity polygenic score with lifestyle risk factors in an electronic health record biobank. Authors: Dashti HS, Miranda N, Cade BE, Huang T, Redline S, Karlson EW, Saxena R. BMC Med 2022-01-12

Genetic risk for obesity and the effectiveness of the ChooseWell 365 workplace intervention to prevent weight gain and improve dietary choices. Authors: Dashti HS, Levy DE, Hivert MF, Alimenti K, McCurley JL, Saxena R, Thorndike AN. Am J Clin Nutr 2022-01-11