Dr. Tara Devi S. Ashok has taught at UMass Boston since 2003. Her passion has been teaching and research , which she has carried out in India, Europe, and the U.S. for almost three decades. She was awarded a PhD degree in 1981 from University of Delhi, India on the study of Genetics of Mental Retardation. From 1985-1993, she was a faculty member in the Department of Genetics, Delhi University South Campus, India and in 1992 was appointed the Chair of the Department of Genetics. Tara's research experience includes Cancer Genetics at the Harvard School of Public Health (1997-2003), Boston and Hemoglobinopathies and Radiation Biology at the Leiden State University (1990-1991), The Netherlands. In 2011, she was awarded the "Teaching with Technology Award for Innovation & Creativity" at UMass Boston.

1 Brown Bag: Human Genetics and Beyond: Epigenetics - the Story of Nature and Nurture in the New Age