Academic Units

Departments

Department of Medicine, Division of Clinical Pharmacology. The scientific mission of the Division of Clinical Pharmacology is to understand the mechanisms of drug action in humans in order to improve therapeutics. [David Harrison] 

Department of Medicine, Division of Epidemiology. The Division of Epidemiology conducts research to enhance and expand understanding of the distribution and determinants of disease, to promote collaboration aimed at the translation of research into cost-effective strategies of disease prevention and healthcare delivery, and to train independent investigators in epidemiology research and disease prevention. Large resources that the Division uses for its work include the Shanghai Men’s and Women’s studies and the Southern Community Cohort Study, which has enrolled >80,000 subjects of diverse ancestries and mainly lower socio-economic status across the Southern U.S.  [Wei Zheng, Bill Blot] 

Department of Medicine, Division of Genetic Medicine. The Division of Genetic Medicine provides an academic environment enabling researchers to explore new relationships between disease susceptibility and human genetics. [Nancy Cox] 

Department of Biomedical Informatics (DBMI). The mission of the DBMI is to develop and evaluate innovative technologies for the storage, retrieval, dissemination, and application of biomedical knowledge, in order to support clinical practice, biomedical research, life-long learning, and administration, and as a result, to contribute to the professional body of knowledge in the field of biomedical informatics.  [Kevin Johnson] 

Centers

Center for Precision Medicine. This team of investigators seeks to advance the basic informatics methods and to apply advanced methods to "understand" unstructured, and sometimes inaccurate, biomedical text and electronic medical record data.  [Josh Peterson] 

HEAlth Data Science Center (HEADS). HEADS was established to focus on the innovation and application of data science to the biomedical domain and serves as an umbrella for multiple laboratories at Vanderbilt working in this domain.  [Bradley Malin, Chris Lindsell]

Center for Biomedical Ethics and Society (CBES). The CBES is devoted to creating research tools that can meet future healthcare needs while promoting the public’s acceptance and trust in research. [Keith Meador, Ellen Clayton] 

Center for Quantitative Sciences (CQS). The CQS provides assistance with statistical and bioinformatic aspects of experiment design, sample size estimation and study power analysis, data acquisition and database development, and interpretation of findings.  [Yu Shyr] 

Vanderbilt Kennedy Center (VKC) for Research on Human Development. The VKC provides cutting-edge research services to Vanderbilt investigators that allow them to make new discoveries about the causes of disabilities and how best to intervene to foster successful outcomes in children and adults. [Jeffrey Neul] 

Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center (VICC). VICC is the only National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center in Tennessee that conducts basic, translational, and clinical research and offers adult and pediatric oncology treatment. VICC is a member of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network along with 27 other leading centers working together to improve quality and effectiveness of cancer care.  [Jennifer Pietenpol] 

Tennessee Center for AIDS Research (CFAR). The mission of the Tennessee CFAR is to coordinate institutional and community resources and focus efforts on high-priority targets to most effectively reduce the burden of HIV/AIDS and to generalize these benefits nationally and globally.  The Center includes a major focus on HIV pharmacogenomics. [David Haas, Simon Mallal] 

eMERGE Network Coordinating Center (CC). The Coordinating Center at Vanderbilt focuses on three major areas: accelerating phenotype algorithm development and sharing across the Network, expanding methods to integrate high quality genomic information across the Network and into the EMR, and expanding and accelerating methods to determine re-identification risk and levels of privacy for the Network. [Josh Peterson]

Institutes

Vanderbilt Genetics Institute (VGI). The mission of the VGI is to promote genomic discovery and advance understanding of the human genome. Application of new discoveries will ultimately translate into improved patient care through better diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of human disease. [Nancy Cox] 

Vanderbilt Institute for Clinical and Translational Research (VICTR). VICTR is Vanderbilt’s virtual home for clinical and translational research. Supported by the Vanderbilt Office of Research and the NIH-sponsored Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA), the mission of the institute is to transform the way ideas and research discoveries make their way from origin to patient care. [Gordon Bernard, Consuelo Wilkins]