Jada Benn Torres
Associate Professor
(Genetics, Race, Genetic Ancestry)
She/her/hers
Dr. Benn Torres is currently accepting graduate applications for Fall 2024- APPLY TODAY
Jada Benn Torres, PhD., Associate Professor of Anthropology and the director for the Laboratory of Genetic Anthropology and Biocultural Studies at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, USA. Her primary research area is the Anglophone Caribbean where she explores genetic ancestry and population history of African and Indigenous Caribbean peoples. A second emerging area of her research combines the tools and theories of genetic epidemiology with anthropology in order to holistically examine health disparities. This work focuses on women’s health disparities, with a specific focus on the uterine fibroids among women of African descent.
Scroll below to see Dr. Benn-Torres’ publications or click on her website for publications and more.
You can also visit the Genetic Anthropology and Bio-Cultural Studies Lab website
Specializations
Genetics, Race, Genetic Ancestry, Ancient DNA, Health disparities, African descendants, Caribbean
Representative Publications
Books
Benn Torres, Jada, and Gabriel A Torres Colón. 2020. Genetic Ancestry: Our Stories, Our Pasts: Routledge. View Book.
Journal Articles
Benn Torres, Jada. 2019. A Parrot among John Crows: Diversity as Risk and Reward. American Anthropologist 121(2):474-476. View Article.
Benn Torres, Jada. 2019. Race, Rare Genetic Variants, and the Science of Human Difference in the Post-Genomic Age. Transforming Anthropology 27(1):37-49. View Article.
Benn Torres, Jada. 2019. Anthropological perspectives on genomic data, genetic ancestry, and race. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 171 Suppl 70:74-86. View Article.
Benn Torres, Jada, et al. 2019. Analysis of biogeographic ancestry reveals complex genetic histories for indigenous communities of St. Vincent and Trinidad. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 169(3):482-497. View Article.
Benn Torres, Jada. 2018. ‘Reparational’ Genetics: Genomic Data and the Case for Reparations in the Caribbean. Genealogy (Basel) 2(1):7. View Article.
Harcourt, Fuller, and Jada Benn Torres. 2018. Investigating the “Taíno” ancestry of the Jamaican Maroons: a new genetic (DNA), historical, and multidisciplinary analysis and case study of the Accompong Town Maroons. Canadian Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Studies 43(1):47-78. View Article.
Benn Torres, Jada, and Gabriel A Torres 2017. ¿ Afrocaribeños y originarios? Genética, memoria y presencia africana en el Caribe. Anales del Caribe. View Article.
Benn Torres, Jada. 2016. Genetic Anthropology and Archaeology: Interdisciplinary Approaches to Human History in the Caribbean. PaleoAmerica 2(1):1-5. View Article.
Benn Torres, Jada. 2016. A history of you, me, and humanity: mitochondrial DNA in anthropological research. AIMS Genetics 3(2):146-156. View Article.
Benn Torres, Jada, and A. Torres Colón Gabriel. 2015. Racial experience as an alternative operationalization of race. Human Biology 87(4):306-312. View Article.
Benn Torres, Jada, et al. 2015. Genetic diversity in the lesser antilles and its implications for the settlement of the caribbean Basin. PLoS ONE 10(10):e0139192. View Article.
Nicole, Madrilejo, Lombard Holden, and Jada Benn Torres. 2015. Origins of marronage: Mitochondrial lineages of Jamaica's Accompong Town Maroons. American Journal of Human Biology 27(3):432-7. View Article.
Benn Torres, Jada. 2014. Current Issue 25 Years of GeneWatch Subscribe to GeneWatch. GeneWatch 27:2.
Benn Torres, Jada. 2014. Prospecting the past: Genetic perspectives on the extinction and survival of indigenous peoples of the Caribbean. New Genetics and Society 33(1):21-41. View Article.
Benn Torres, Jada, C. Stone Anne, and Kittles Rick. 2013. An anthropological genetic perspective on creolization in the anglophone caribbean. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 151(1):135-43. View Article.
Benn Torres, Jada, et al.. 2012. Y chromosome lineages in men of west African descent. PLoS ONE 7(1):e29687. View Article.
Stanley, Hooker, et al. 2010. Replication of prostate cancer risk loci on 8q24, 11q13, 17q12, 19q33, and Xp11 in African Americans. Prostate 70(3):270-5. View Article.
Sonia, Kupfer, et al. 2009. 768 Novel SNP Associations with Colorectal Cancer On 8q24 and 5q in African and European Americans. Gastroenterology 136(5). View Article.
Sonia, S. Kupfer, et al. 2009. Novel single nucleotide polymorphism associations with colorectal cancer on chromosome 8q24 in African and European Americans. Carcinogenesis 30(8):1353-7. View Article.
Veda, N. Giri, et al. 2009. Race, genetic west African ancestry, and prostate cancer prediction by prostate-specific antigen in prospectively screened high-risk men. Cancer Prevention Research 2(3):244-50. View Article.
Wenndy, Hernandez, et al. 2009. Abstract 4725: Interrogating region 4 of 8q24.13 for prostate cancer risk in African Americans. Cancer research (Chicago, Ill.) 70:4725-4725. View Article.
Benn Torres, Jada, et al. 2008. Admixture and Population Stratification in African Caribbean Populations. Annals of Human Genetics 72(1):90-98. View Article.
Benn Torres, Jada, R. A. Kittles, and A. C. Stone. 2007. Mitochondrial and Y chromosome diversity in the English-speaking Caribbean. Annals of Human Genetics 71(Pt 6):782-90. View Article.
Benn Torres, Jada, and A. Kittles Rick. 2007. The relationship between race and genetics and biomedical research. Current Hypertension Reports 9(3):196-201. View Article.
Christiane, Robbins, et al. 2007. Confirmation study of prostate cancer risk variants at 8q24 in African Americans identifies a novel risk locus. Genome Research 17(12):1717-22. View Article.
Book Chapters
Benn Torres, Jada. 2018. Effective population size. In The International Encyclopedia of Biological Anthropology. View Book Chapter.
Conference Presentations and Procedings
Winful, Taiye, et al. 2019. African Ancestry in the Americas: Perspectives on Afro-Puerto Rican Maternal Ancestry. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 2019e. Vol. 168, pp. 272-272. WILEY 111 RIVER ST, HOBOKEN 07030-5774, NJ USA.
Nieves-Colon, Maria A, Anne C Stone, and Jada Benn Torres. 2018. Genome-wide admixture patterns in Afro-Caribbean populations from the Lesser Antilles. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 2018c. Vol. 165, pp. 189-189.
