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Deborah Nickerson

genome scientist

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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionSep 1, 2026
Entity authorityQ92804625
Source-derived summary

Deborah Ann Nickerson (1954 – December 24, 2021) was an American human genomics researcher. She was professor of genome sciences at the University of Washington. Nickerson founded and directed of one of the five clinical sites of the Gregor Consortium and was a major contributor to many genomics projects, including the Human Genome Project and the International HapMap Project.

Biography

Nickerson was born in Mineola, New York. She earned a bachelor's degree in biology from Adelphi University in 1974 and completed a PhD in immunology at the University of Tennessee in 1978. From 1978 to 1979, she pursued a postdoctoral fellowship in infectious diseases at the University of Kentucky. She worked at the University of South Florida and the California Institute of Technology with Leroy Hood, before being recruited by Hood to the University of Washington in 1992. Nickerson was a founding member of the University of Washington Department of Genome Sciences in 2001.

Nickerson died of abdominal cancer in Seattle, Washington on December 24, 2021.

Work

Nickerson's work focused on the application of genomic technologies to understand genetic variation underlying human health and disease, and advanced the idea of cataloging human genomic diversity to improve genetic discoveries and diagnoses.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “Deborah Nickerson” as genome scientist. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Deborah, Nickerson and genome.

Editorial reviewA productive starting point for separating a subject’s documented career from later reputation and commemoration. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1954, 2021, 1974, 1978—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1954. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with Deborah, Nickerson and genome providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Deborah Nickerson”, the useful work is to connect “genome scientist” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

Chronology provides the most reliable spine for this subject; interpretation should follow only after identities and dates are secure. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 1, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q92804625. VIAF identifies the subject as 102146331987118692936. The Library of Congress control number is no2016061312. 2 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1954, 2021, 1974 and 1978.

Critical limits

A concise life account rarely captures disputed attribution, private networks or the changing language used to describe a career. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.

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  • Building a first chronology
  • Locating cited institutions
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Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Deborah Nickerson”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Deborah Nickerson primary sources, Deborah Nickerson archive and Deborah research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Deborah Nickerson” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.