Elisa Gordon, PhD, MPH

Elisa J. Gordon, PhD, MPH is Professor in the Department of Surgery, and in the Center for Biomedical Ethics and Society, and is the Director of Transplant Outcomes Research and Director of Surgical Outcomes Research at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN. Dr. Gordon’s scholarship focuses on transplant ethics, and treatment decision-making. She has published over 185 peer-reviewed articles. Dr. Gordon is the Principal Investigator for research funded by the NIDDK, NIAID, DOD, VA, and HRSA, which has entailed multi-site studies and clinical trials involving qualitative and mixed-methods research and implementation science. Dr. Gordon has developed, implemented, and evaluated culturally targeted, educational, and digital health interventions to improve informed consent for transplant candidates and living donors. She currently serves on national committees including the Health Equity Advisory Board of End-Stage Renal Disease of the ESRD National Coordinating Center, the federal Advisory Committee on Blood and Tissue Safety and Availability, as Chair of the American Society of Transplantation’s Psychosocial and Ethics Community of Practice, and on the Editorial Board of the American Journal of Transplantation. She is Fellow of the Society for Applied Anthropology and of the American Society of Transplantation. Dr. Gordon trained as a medical anthropologist at Case Western Reserve University, and thereafter in clinical medical ethics, and in Community Health.