Photo

Language
English
Title and Department
Professor of Medicine
Department of Medicine
Cardiovascular Medicine
Chair, Department of Medicine
Associate Director
High-Throughput Biomarker Core
Professional bio

Jane Freedman, MD, is the Gladys Parkinson Stahlman Professor of Cardiovascular Research and Chair of the Department of Medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC), and Physician-in-Chief of Vanderbilt University Adult Hospital. 

Prior to assuming the interim chair role in December 2023, she was the Director of the Division of Cardiovascular Medicine and Physician-in-Chief of the Vanderbilt Heart and Vascular Institute. 

Dr. Freedman is the current Editor-in-Chief for Circulation Research, and has also served as the Chair of the National American Heart Association Peer Review Committee. She has extensive mentoring experience and has been the PI of three T32 Training Grants. 

Dr. Freedman is interested in the intersection between inflammation, thrombosis and immunity and their role in vascular disease. Her lab also includes the high-throughput "omics" lab that provides proteomic and transcriptomic measurements for VUMC and nationally/internationally. 

She currently oversees two research programs. The first is a basic science laboratory that examines the role of immunity, infection, and inflammation on atherothrombotic disease. The second facility uses high-throughput, nano-chip, and RNA-seq technologies to study gene expression and provide large scale transcriptomic and proteomic translational data for a wide range of clinical and translational projects.

 

Key Research Areas

Immune Mechanisms of Disease

Multi-omics

Vascular

 

Grants

  • NHLBI Trans-Omics for Precision Medicine (TOPMed) Core (Co-PI Freedman) 10/1/23-9/30/24 TOPMed measures precision phenotypes and molecular information in the context of large cardiovascular disease focused cohorts to establish novel risk factors and mechanisms of disease. My lab will serve as a proteomics core for this study. 
  • 1U24OD035523-01 (Co-PI: Freedman, Das, Shah, McLean, Mallal) 9/1/23-5/31/30 ECHO GR016220 (Co-PI Freedman) Laboratory Core at Vanderbilt for Integrated Sample Biobanking and Processing The major goal of this project is to provide sample processing and proteomic measurements for this large national study investigating early life environmental exposure in babies and children. 
  • 1R01HL131029-01 (PI: Nayor; Co-I: Freedman) 4/5/2023-2/28/2027 Proteomic Profiling of Precise Exercise Pathophenotypes across the HFpEF spectrum The goal of this study is to define changes in the circulating proteome with exercise in the community and in individuals with suspected HFpEF. 
  • 1R01HL164526-01 (MPI: Freedman, Lindman) 7/1/23-6/30/28 Circulating Proteomics to Phenotype the Development and Reversal of Myocardial Remodeling in Aortic Stenosis The major goal of this project is to conduct proteomic profiling in patients with aortic stenosis to discern novel mechanisms of cardiac remodeling. 
  • 1R01DK133847-01 (PI: Shah, Das, Co-I: Freedman) 7/1/23-6/3028 Characterization of beta-cell specific extracellular vesicle cargo as functional biomarkers for type I DM disease trajectory.
  • Mathers Foundation Award-1911-00559 (PI: Freedman) 3/1/20-12/31/24 Platelet Metabolomic Programming Mediates Hepatic Disease The mechanistic role of platelet hepatic transcriptomic programming on non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and metabolic syndrome will be investigated.
  • American Heart Association Strategically Focused Research Network - Cardiometabolic Health with a Focus on Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (PI: Able, Freedman Co-PI) 2/1/20-7/31/24 This study will examine the Heart-Liver-Adipose Axis: the role of inter-organ crosstalk in cardiometabolic risk. 
  • 1R01 HL145721-01 (PI: Freedman) 2/1/19-1/31/25 Long Non-coding RNA as Mediators of Metabolic Disease This study will examine the expression and mechanisms of action for lncRNAs in metabolic disease in obesity.

 

Honors and Awards

2024 American Heart Association Kenneth D. Bloch Memorial Distinguished Lectureship 

2023 American Heart Association 

BCVS 2023 Distinguished Achievement Award 

2022 Fifth Annual Roman DeSanctis Lecturer 

2022 Elected Member, Association of American Physicians

2021 Gladys Stahlman Professor of Medicine, Tenured Professor, Vanderbilt University  

2019 George E. Brown Memorial Lecture, AHA Council on Basic Cardiovascular Science 

2019 Woman in Science and Health Achievement Award, University of Massachusetts 

2018 Edward Budnitz Lecture, University of Massachusetts 

2018 Edward Budnitz Professorship in Cardiovascular Medicine 

2018 Tenure Awarded, University of Massachusetts 

2017 Special Award in Thrombosis, American Heart Association 

2016 Joan and Douglas P. Zipes Publication of the Year Award in recognition of the most impactful study of the year published in HeartRhythm

2014 AACC's Outstanding Speaker Award 

2011 Member, Association of University of Cardiologists

2010-2016 Charter Member, Acute Neural Injury and Epilepsy (ANIE) Study Section, NIH

Education
Medical School
Tufts University
1989
Internship
Internal Medicine - Massachusetts General Hospital
1990
Education