David S. Haymer, Ph.D.
Professor
Area of Expertise ~ Molecular genetics and forensic analysis of DNA
Biography: Dr. Haymer is a Professor at the John A. Burns School of Medicine (JABSOM). He graduated with a Ph.D. in Biology from the Purdue University in 1982. After a post-doctoral fellow experience at the NIH, he joined the Department of Genetics and Molecular Biology at the University of Hawaiʻi in 1985 and served as Chair between 1999-2005. In 2016, David Haymer received a Fulbright Award in 2016 recognizing his expertise in DNA-based methods for identifying species. He traveled to Thailand to teach and do research in DNA based methods for making species identifications, sometimes known as DNA barcoding, with Faculty members at Naresuan University. He also conducted workshops on scientific writing and presentations in English. Indeed. today, scientists around the world realize that they must be able to communicate effectively in English. Even for people comfortable with using English as a language, the effective use of it for scientific presentations is a skill that must be acquired. Dr. Haymer has conducted several science-writing workshops in several countries in the Asia-Pacific region.
Research: Dr. Haymer’s research is in Genetics and Evolutionary Biology. He has focused on the vast numbers of different insects in Hawaiʻi, many of which are extremely difficult to identify using traditional methods.He uses DNA tools to make species identifications holds great potential for both broad studies of this vast biodiversity resource and for narrow applications such as discriminating between very closely related insect species, including mosquitoes and other insect pests, which may be carriers of diseases like dengue and zika viruses. Dr. Haymer’s work is of interest beyond Hawaiʻi. Many countries in the Asia-Pacific regions now share many of the beneficial and the damaging species found in Hawai’I because of trade and our similar geographic and environmental features. The same DNA tools used for identifications can also be used to track the movements of these species from one location to another.
Dr. Haymer also consults for forensic investigations involving DNA testing, and he is the DNA consultant for the Hawaiʻi Chapter of the Innocence Project, part of a national program to identify and correct wrongful convictions.
Teaching: David Haymer believes that he can best serve as a guide in the learning process by providing students with a solid foundation, a framework of basic knowledge that they can build on. Dr. Haymer also strives to help students learn to do critical thinking about new information they might discover on their own. Dr. Haymer taught all of the undergraduate core courses in the cell and molecular biology track for biology majors. He also created a new course, communication in the biological sciences, to help students develop their oral and written communication skills as future scientists.