Juan F. De la Hoz

Bioinformatics | Precision Psychiatry

Bio

Juan De la Hoz is a postdoctoral researcher at the Center for Precision Psychiatry and the Center for Genomic Medicine of the Massachusetts General Hospital.

His research focuses on the use of machine learning and statistical methods to better understand the molecular and clinical heterogeneity of psychiatric conditions. His work integrates large-scale biobanks with longitudinal clinical records and genetic data to map how psychiatric disorders evolve over time.

As part of his efforts to ensure that advances in precision psychiatry benefit diverse populations worldwide, he has developed NLP tools for analyzing clinical notes in Spanish, and worked on expanding research infrastructure in Colombia.

He earned his PhD in Bioinformatics from UCLA in 2023, working in the labs of Drs. Loes Olde Loohuis and Nelson Freimer. His earlier work spans areas of evolutionary biology, bioinformatic algorithms, and agricultural genomics.

Outside of the lab, Juan enjoys cycling, baking, and dancing salsa.

Postdoc

Harvard Medical School

PhD Bioinformatics

UCLA, 2023

Applied Statistics

Universidad del Valle, 2016

BA Microbiology

Universidad de los Andes, 2015

Awards

  • 2024 Oral Presentation Award - World Congress of Psychiatric Genetics
  • 2024 Early Career Investigator Program - WCPG
  • 2021 Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award - BIG Summer, UCLA
  • 2018-2020 T32 Neurobehavioral Genetics - UCLA
  • 2017-2021 Extramural Funding Award - Graduate Programs in Bioscience, UCLA
  • 2017-2021 Fulbright-Minciencias - Colombia
Research

Projects

Teaching & Mentoring

2021: Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award: BIG Summer, UCLA

TA for the following courses:

  • LS 30A - Mathematics for Life Sciences (Fall 2022)
  • BIG Summer - Precision Medicine Theme (Summer 2021)
  • Advanced Molecular Biology (Spring 2014)
  • Genomics and Bioinformatics (Fall 2013)
  • Parasite Biology (Lab) (Spring 2013)