Our Team

Core Faculty

Digna Velez Edwards, PhD, MS

Professor Obstetrics and Gynecology

Director, Division of Quantitative Sciences (OB/GYN)

Director, Center for Women's Health Research

Research Interests

My research is focused on understanding and identifying genetic risk factors for complex diseases with a specific focus on genetic factors related to women's health and reproductive outcomes. To conduct these studies, I utilize large clinical databases that link electronic health record (EHR) information to DNA and the Right from the Start cohort, a community-based prospective pregnancy cohort.

My current research projects include genetic studies of preterm birth, miscarriage, uterine fibroids, pelvic organ prolapse, and keloids. These studies include genome-wide association analyses, next-generation sequencing, evaluation of biomarkers, and phenome-wide association studies.

Publications

Todd Edwards, PhD, MS

Associate Professor of Medicine

Division of Epidemiology, Department of Medicine

Research Interests

I am a genetic epidemiologist conducting research on the genetic determinants of complex human traits. I work extensively with electronic health records data to develop cohorts for genetic association studies. I work on cardiovascular traits such as blood pressure and hypertension, diabetes, women's health traits, and in general I am interested in studying traits with large difference in incidence, average value, or severity between demographic groupings.

Mentoring and Training

I am actively involved in training the next generation of scientists at Vanderbilt and VUMC. I was the Associate Director of Graduate Studies for the Epidemiology PhD Program for five years, and the Director of Graduate Studies for the Human Genetics PhD Program for five years. I developed a MOOC on Coursera "Genetic Epidemiology Foundations." I currently have four former trainees who are in faculty or faculty-equivalent roles at NIH, industry, and academia.

Google Scholar

Staff

Salisha Marryshow Batson, MPH

Population Public Health Manager Institute for Public Health & Medicine

James Jaworski, MPH

Statistical Genetic Analyst Velez Edwards & Edwards Lab

Sarah H Jones, MPH, CCRP

Senior Population/Public Health Manager Institute for Medicine & Public Health, Epidemiology