Dr. Wiita is an Assistant Professor in Residence in the Department of Laboratory Medicine.  He is board certified in Clinical Pathology.

Dr. Wiita received his undergraduate degree in Chemistry at Princeton University and medical and PhD degrees from the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York City.  Before joining the Cytogenetics Laboratory, Dr. Wiita completed his residency in Clinical Pathology at UCSF followed by post-doctoral work in the UCSF Dept. of Pharmaceutical Chemistry.  Currently, as Assistant Director of the UCSF Clinical Cytogenetics laboratory, Dr. Wiita is responsible for interpretation of DNA copy number variants diagnosed by cytogenomic microarray in both pediatric and prenatal diagnosis.  Particular clinical research interests involve the integration of cell-free DNA testing in prenatal diagnosis as well as the development of novel decision-support tools to assist in the interpretation of cytogenomic microarrays.

A physician-scientist, Dr. Wiita also maintains a research laboratory focused on integrating knowledge of the genome with functional effects at the level of the proteome. Current work includes developing new strategies to determine the clinical significance of DNA copy number variants diagnosed by cytogenomic microarray using stem cell techniques.  In addition, Dr. Wiita is also the Director of the Stephen and Nancy Grand Multiple Myeloma Translational Initiative Laboratory at the UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center, where his group works to develop new diagnostic and therapeutic strategies for this hematologic malignancy.  Dr. Wiita is the recipient of numerous prestigious awards including the Dale Frey Breakthrough Award from the Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation, a Clinical Scientist Development Award from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, and the New Innovator Award from the Office of the NIH Director.