Background

Background

In 1987, the first workshop on Methodology for Twin Studies was held in Leuven, Belgium to train researchers with twin and other genetically informative data in the state-of-the-art data analysis. The success of this workshop led to a second workshop in Leuven in 1989. The high demand and need for training US researchers initiated an annual series of workshops in Boulder, Colorado, where workshops were held in 1990, 1993, 1994 and then every year since 1996. Three additional workshops have taken place in Europe, one in Helsinki, Finland in 1995 and two NATO funded ones in Leuven in 1991 and 1998. The latter were two-week NATO Advanced Study Institutes which covered both introductory and advanced workshops. Proceedings from the first NATO workshop are widely used (Neale & Cardon, 1992). The first ten workshops focused on genetic epidemiological (biometric) modeling of twin and family data using structural equation modeling. Subsequently, introductory and advanced workshops were alternated, with advanced ones geared towards linkage and association analyses. During the past 20 years, over 1000 individuals have been trained, and the demand for training remains strong. Many of the faculty and students who have participated in these workshops have applied the methods to produce published articles; some have taught them to their colleagues. Thus the workshops have had considerable influence in setting the research agenda in universities around the world. New leaders in the field have emerged from the ranks of students and junior faculty who have participated.

Picture from the 1987 Leuven Workshop (from right to left, David W. Fulker, Lindon J. Eaves and Andrew C. Heath)

History of the Workshops

Overview of the past workshops by year, location, type and number of faculty and students (note that Egmond workshop have been included).

Number	Year	Location	Type	#Faculty	#Students
TC1	1987	Leuven	Introductory	10	24
TC2	1989	Leuven	Introductory	11	41
TC3	1990	Boulder	Introductory	11	28
TC4	1991	Leuven	Introductory	14	49
			Advanced	12	55
TC5	1993	Boulder	Introductory	13	49
TC6	1994	Boulder	Introductory	16	43
TC7	1995	Helsinki	Introductory	10	29
TC8	1996	Boulder	Introductory	10	49
TC9	1997	Boulder	Introductory	10	55
TC10	1998	Boulder	Introductory	12	57
TC11	1998	Leuven	Introductory	10	55
			Advanced	13	62
TC12	1999	Boulder	Advanced	12	37
TC13	2000	Boulder	Introductory	12	63
TC14	2001	Boulder	Advanced	18	65
TC15	2002	Boulder	Introductory	18	95
TC16	2003	Boulder	Advanced	15	82
TCE1	2003	Egmond	Introductory	15	65
TC17	2004	Boulder	Introductory	18	90
TCE2	2004	Egmond	Advanced*	16	64
TC18	2005	Boulder	Advanced	18	64
TCE3	2005	Egmond	Advanced*	13	55
TC19	2006	Boulder	Introductory	15	93
TCE4	2006	Egmond	Advanced	12	48
TC20	2007	Boulder	Advanced	20	55
TC21	2008	Boulder	Introductory	19	92

*including advanced structural equation modeling