Ugo A. Perego is a population geneticist whose main focuses of study have been the origins of Native Americans and the DNA of Joseph Smith, among others. Perego is also a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He has received Bachelor's and Master's Degrees in health sciences from Brigham Young University and a PhD in genetics and biomolecular sciences from the University of Pavia under the mentorship of Antonio Torroni. Perego has lectured extensively internationally, authoring and co-authoring numerous articles on the use of DNA to research ancient population migrations, genealogies, and history, including Mormon history. From 2000 to 2012, Perego was a senior researcher at the Sorenson Molecular Genealogy Foundation (SMGF) and a scientific consultant for GeneTree, both located in Salt Lake City, Utah. From 2012 to 2021, he was the director of the Rome Italy Institute of Religion and an S&I Coordinator in Central Italy and Malta for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He is currently a Professor of Biology for the Southeastern Community College in Iowa and a visiting scientist at Professor Alessandro Achilli’s Laboratory of Population Genetics at the University of Pavia in Italy.
Sources Article mentioning Perego's work on the genetic origins of Native Americans FairMormon Bio Deseret News, July 9, 2011 Deseret News, August 8, 2008 Genetic Genealogist article on Perego National Geographic article that quotes Perego on the genetic origins of Native Americans NPR article mentioning Perego Associated Press, March 13, 2008 Full list of scientific publications on PubMed.org
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