Alexander G. Bick, MD, PhD, is a physician-scientist working in the field of human genomics, and an Assistant Professor in the Division of Genetic Medicine in the Department of Medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.
Dr. Bick’s scientific observations have advanced the understanding of the genetic basis for cardiovascular disease, characterized molecular disease mechanisms, and identified both the promise and limitations of translating genomic findings into routine medical practice. He has a particular interest in understanding how the interplay between inherited germline genetic factors and acquired somatic mutations contributes to disease. His approach has been highly collaborative and multidisciplinary – combining human genomics and statistical genetics with in vitro and in vivo characterization of model systems and human samples.
Dr. Bick’s current scientific focus is on clonal hematopoiesis, a unifying feature of aging diseases as diverse as cardiovascular disease and cancer. He has recently demonstrated that clonal hematopoiesis is virtually absent in adults under 40 but found in >10% of adults over 70 and confers a 10-fold increased risk of blood cancers, 2-fold increased risk of heart attack, and 1.5-fold increased risk of death. Dr. Bick is focused on identifying the causes and consequences of clonal hematopoiesis with a goal of developing new treatments targeting clonal hematopoiesis.
In parallel with his research, Dr. Bick completed a clinical residency in internal medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital with a specialization in genomic medicine. He sees patients in the Vanderbilt Genomics and Therapeutics Clinic and aims to translate what is learned from his research studies back to the care of his patients.