The Vanderbilt Epidemiology Center is committed to conducting research to enhance and expand our understanding of the distribution and determinants of disease, to promoting collaboration aimed at the translation of research into cost-effective strategies of disease prevention and health care delivery, and to training independent investigators in epidemiology research and disease prevention.
Our faculty shares a broad interest in the research of genetics, nutrition, and other environmental factors. Current research areas include epidemiology of cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, infectious diseases, and reproductive outcomes. Center investigators direct over two dozen NIH-funded research projects including three large population-based prospective cohort studies with over 225,000 study participants. Other ongoing studies include multiple large case-control studies of cancer and follow-up studies of breast cancer and childhood cancer survivors, which are evaluating various risk factors and biomarkers, including gene-environment interactions.
The center has considerable strengths in international epidemiologic research and training and has close ties with multiple domestic and international institutions, furthering our mission to improve the health of human beings.
Wei Zheng, M.D., Ph.D.
Anne Potter Wilson Chair in Medicine
Professor and Director, Division of Epidemiology
Director, Vanderbilt Epidemiology Center