Elena Flowers is an Associate Professor at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) in the Department of Physiological Nursing and the Human Genetics Institute.

Dr. Flowers is renowned for her program of research focused on the complex interplay of genetic and lifestyle/behavioral risk factors for type 2 diabetes and related conditions in racial minority groups. Dr. Flowers is the Principal Investigator on NIH funded grants and the results of her research studies provide evidence that molecular biomarkers may be able to disentangle the effects of social determinants of health from underlying genetic characteristics in order to define risk for type 2 diabetes. Dr. Flowers impacts policy as a member of the board of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine and the UCSF Precision Medicine Platform committee and diversity, equity, and inclusion task force. Aligned with her research and policy work, Dr. Flowers is the Director of the concentration in genomics at UCSF and has been recognized for her creation of educational tools focused on direct-to-consumer genetic testing for the emerging nursing workforce.

Dr. Flowers earned her BS degree in psychology from UC Davis and PhD, MS, and MAS degrees from UCSF.