Amish Family Osteoporosis Study (AFOS)

Principal Investigators: Dr. Alan Shuldiner & Dr. Elizabeth Streeten

This study was started in March 1997 and thanks to our many wonderful Amish participants, we are making great progress in studying genes that are important for bone health. We have found regions on chromosome 7 and 21 that are likely to contain genes that influence bone health. We are also starting a new study, “The Sunshine Study” in which we are evaluating differences in how well people make Vitamin D in their bodies after a sunlamp exposure to the skin.