Kimryn Rathmell, MD, PhD, is the Hugh Jackson Morgan Professor and Chair of Medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC), and Physician-in-Chief for Vanderbilt University Adult Hospital and Clinics. Rathmell earned her PhD in biophysics and MD from Stanford University. Following completion of her MD, she did an Internal Medicine internship at the University of Chicago before attending the University of Pennsylvania where she completed an Internal Medicine residency and Medical Oncology fellowship. She completed postdoctoral training at the University of Pennsylvania, working with Dr. Celeste Simon. A physician-scientist, Rathmell’s work focuses on the treatment and research of complex renal cell carcinomas. Her research has resulted in over 20 years of funding from the National Institutes of Health, and more than 200 articles in leading peer-reviewed journals, including The New England Journal of Medicine, Nature, and the Journal of Clinical Investigation (JCI). In 2015, Rathmell joined VUMC as Professor of Medicine and Director of the Division of Hematology and Oncology, with a secondary appointment in the Department of Biochemistry. In 2019, she was named Deputy Director for Research Integration and Career Development at Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center. She served in this role until her appointment as Chair of the Department of Medicine in 2020. Prior to Vanderbilt, Rathmell served on faculty at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC) where she was co-director of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute Graduate Training Program in Translational Medicine, Associate Director for Training and Education at UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, and Associate Director and Alexander Family Chair in Translational Research for the Medical Scientist Training Program. She is a member of The Cancer Genome Atlas, winning the American Association for Cancer Research Team Science Award in 2021, and serves on the National Cancer Institute’s Board of Scientific Advisors and on the Forbeck Foundation Scientific Board of Directors. She is a senior editor for eLIFE, and has served on editorial boards for JCI, Kidney Cancer, and JCO-Precision Oncology. She has held leadership positions for the American Society of Clinical Oncology, Kidney Cancer Research Foundation, and the American Society for Clinical Investigation (ASCI), serving as the Secretary-Treasurer, and later President of that organization. As a result of her contributions, Rathmell has been elected to the ASCI, the Association of American Physicians, the American Clinical and Climatological Society, and as a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Gordon R. Bernard, MD, joined the faculty at Vanderbilt in 1981 as a physician scientist and became Medical Director for the Medical Intensive Care Unit and Director for Pulmonary and Critical Care research program in 1983. During his tenure at Vanderbilt, Dr. Bernard established the Vanderbilt Coordinating Center in 1987 to support local investigators in the conduct of large multi-institutional and international clinical research, served as the Executive Vice President for Research and Chief Research Officer for 7 years until stepping down from these positions in 2023, and served as the Director of the Vanderbilt Institute for Clinical and Translational Research, which he helped to establish, for 16 years. Dr. Bernard has overseen the extensive, multifaceted clinical and translational research programs of Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) including the Human Research Protections Program which manages the IRB, has led the development of the single IRB, iREx portal, which helps to organize the increasingly complex environment of multicenter IRB oversight, and chaired the Vanderbilt University Hospital Pharmacy, Therapeutics and Diagnostics committee for over 20 years.
Dr. Bernard continues to make contributions to VUMC in his roles as Co-P.I. of Vanderbilt’s Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA) and Co-PI of the NIH (NCATS) sponsored Vanderbilt Trial Innovation Center. Dr. Bernard’s research is primarily focused on improving the care and outcomes of critically ill patients with sepsis and acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) but in recent years, he has championed the evolution of a Learning Healthcare System (LHS) Research Platform infrastructure to provide a supportive, experiential learning framework for junior researchers, operations experts, quality and safety professionals, and others who want to “learn from what we do and do what we learn.” Dr. Bernard is also a member of the American Association of Physicians and has written or co-authored more than 350 original articles and book chapters.
