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Language
English
Title and Department
Associate Professor of Medicine
Department of Medicine, Division of Clinical Pharmacology
Professional bio
Frederic T. (Josh) Billings IV, MD, MSc, is an Associate Professor of Anesthesiology and Medicine in the Division of Clinical Pharmacology within the Department of Medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

Dr. Billings develops new therapy for perioperative organ injury by evaluating and affecting mechanisms of surgery-induced organ injury. His research includes surgical patients and their tissues, preclinical models, and clinical trials. Broadly this includes studying and manipulating the patient response to acute surgical stress, but specifically he is investigating the impact of variable oxygen administration on putative mechanisms of organ injury. These mechanisms include excess production of reactive oxygen species, impaired vascular function, and heme-protein mediated tissue damage. His group studies the impact of oxygen on these processes so that they can determine the optimal oxygen administration throughout the perioperative period to reduce organ injury. This addresses a large unmet need for millions of patients, because oxygen administration during surgery in highly variable, unguided, often excessive, and potentially harmful.

Dr. Billings received his Bachelor of Science in chemistry with honors from Washington and Lee University and his Medical Doctorate from Louisiana State University. After completing anesthesiology residency at Vanderbilt University, he completed fellowships in Cardiothoracic Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine at Columbia University. He was appointed to the faculty at Vanderbilt University and received his Master of Science in Clinical Investigation in 2010.

In addition to his research, Dr. Billings directs the B.H. Robbins Scholars physician-scientist development Program. He plans to continue making substantive contributions to the understanding of organ injury following surgery, develop physician scientists, and care for critically ill patients.
Education