Joanna Mountain joined 23andMe from Stanford University where, as a faculty member within the Anthropological Sciences and Genetics Departments, she specialized in human evolutionary genetics. Dr. Mountain received her PhD degree in Genetics from Stanford University in 1994, having completed a BS degree through Stanford's Mathematical Sciences program in 1984. Following her undergraduate program Dr. Mountain spent two years as a Peace Corps volunteer teaching at a community school near the Kenyan coast. She remains particularly interested in the cultural, linguistic, and genetic diversity of Africa. After receiving her PhD, Dr. Mountain conducted postdoctoral research on human population genetics within the Integrative Biology Department at the University of California, Berkeley.

Dr. Mountain's areas of interest include: phenotype and the interactions among genotype, environment, and culture; the extent to which genetic data can reveal details of human history; ethical issues regarding human genetics; biology, genetics, and concepts of race and ethnicity; and the development of statistical tools for analyzing population genetic data.

Dr. Mountain has been the recipient of a number of academic awards, including grants from the National Science Foundation and National Institutes of Health.