Dr. Spracklen received her B.A. in Biology from Anderson University in 2009. She received both her M.S. and PhD in Epidemiology from the University of Iowa in 2011 and 2014, respectively. During her PhD, Dr. Spracklen’s research centered around reproductive and perinatal epidemiology with a focus on adverse pregnancy outcomes and lifecourse epidemiology. Dr. Spracklen’s dissertation, guided by Drs. Audrey Saftlas and Kelli Ryckman, was entitled “Dyslipidemia and the risk of preeclampsia: genetic causes and related modifiers”, and capitalized on data available from an NIH-funded case-control study called the Study of Pregnancy-induced Hypertension in Iowa (SOPHIA).

After completing her dissertation, Dr. Spracklen completed a five-year postdoctoral research fellowship in Genetic Epidemiology at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill with Dr. Karen Mohlke.  At UNC, her research interests focused around understanding the genetic architecture of complex cardio-metabolic traits (e.g. lipids, adiponectin, T2D), particularly among non-European ancestry populations. Her work was conducted in both single cohort studies (MESTIM, CHNS, CLHNS) and very large meta-analyses as a part of international consortia efforts.

Dr. Spracklen joined the Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology in the School of Public Health and Health Sciences at the University of Massachusetts Amherst as an Assistant Professor in 2019. As of September 2024, she has been promoted to Associate Professor with tenure!

Outside the office, you will find Dr. Spracklen walking or jogging (slowly!) on the Norwich Trail or hiking in one of the nearby state parks with her husband and young daughter. You can also find her buying fabric for her next quilt project, touring wineries, or traveling around the world!