Dr. Cohen, along with research partner neurobiologist Rita Levi-Montalcini, discovered the first growth factor, epidermal growth factor (EGF), a hormone-like protein that regulates cell responses such as proliferation and differentiation. For this discovery Cohen and Levi-Montalcini were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1986.

Dr. Cohen, a native New Yorker, came to Vanderbilt in 1959 and spent the remainder of his career there. His famous laboratory was located on the 7th floor of Light Hall. He spent his career at Vanderbilt exploring the chemistry and biology of EGF.

In 1976 he was appointed an American Cancer Society Research Professor and in 1986 a Distinguished Professor. Across the span of his career, Dr. Cohen was the recipient of numerous honors and distinctions for his insightful scientific discoveries, including the National Medal of Science and the Albert Lasker Basic Medical Research Award. He was also named to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

After completing medical training and a fellowship in clinical pharmacology at Vanderbilt, Dr. Brown joined the faculty of Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in 1992. In 2010, she was appointed the Hugh Jackson Morgan Professor and first female chair of the Department of Medicine, which is Vanderbilt University Medical Center’s largest clinical department, as well as the School of Medicine’s largest academic department.

The consummate physician-scientist, in addition to her clinical and administrative duties, Dr. Brown developed a research program studying vascular biology and how hormone cascades are involved in blood pressure regulation and affect clotting and inflammation.

In 2000, with colleague Dr. Thomas Hazinski, Dr. Brown co-founded Vanderbilt’s Master of Science in Clinical Investigation program. Among the leadership appointments she held, in 2009 she was named chief of Clinical Pharmacology.

Dr. Brown is recognized by numerous medical organizations for her work in internal medicine.

In 2020, Dr. Brown left Vanderbilt to become the 17th dean of the Yale University School of Medicine where she is the first woman to serve in this role.

In 1925, Dr. Brooks was appointed Vanderbilt University School of Medicine’s first professor and chair of the Department of Surgery.

As a teacher Brooks is legendary for introducing the Amphitheater Clinic. Using a newly constructed classroom in Vanderbilt University Hospital (the building now called Medical Center North), he would call down medical students to answer questions on the surgical case being presented, creating an intense and unforgettable experience for trainees.

In addition to caring for patients and training surgeons, Dr. Brooks was actively involved in clinical research, having studied bone regeneration, intestinal obstructions, and a condition affecting the hand, wrist and forearm called Volkmann’s contracture.

Away from work, Dr. Brooks was an avid golfer who is said to have approached the game in an unorthodox manner, supposedly allowing him to beat better players.

Dr. Bowie was one of two women admitted to the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in 1925, the first year the school admitted female students, and earned her medical degree in 1929.

Dr. Bowie’s legacy is strongly tied to her two older sisters, Anna and Evangeline “Van” Bowie. Anna encouraged Byrd and Van to pursue medical degrees in an era when women typically did not go to college.

After graduating from VUSM, Byrd worked at Children’s Hospital in Denver, Colorado, and then served an internship at San Francisco’s Children’s Hospital. Following that, she returned to Nashville where she worked at Vanderbilt University Hospital.

In addition to the medical legacy left by the Bowie sisters, they were forward-thinking conservationists devoted to preserving nature and public land. In retirement, Anna, Byrd and Van bought hundreds of acres of land in rural Williamson County, which was deeded by Van to the City of Fairview, Tennessee, in 1988 and became Bowie Nature Park.

Dr. Bowie was a Nashville native who graduated from Peabody College and earned a B.S. degree from Vanderbilt University. In September 1915, she enrolled in the University of Texas medical school as one of five women in a class of over 60 men and earned her medical degree in 1920.

When working as an instructor in Pathology at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, while completing an autopsy on a victim of bubonic plague, Dr. Bowie was accidentally infected by the bacteria Yersinia pestis following a needle-stick injury to her gloved left hand. After receiving anti-plague serum and Haffkine’s vaccine, she returned to work in the pathology laboratory four weeks later.

In 1922, she became the first woman named to the faculty of the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine and served as an assistant in gynecology from 1922-1943. She was the first physician to treat students on the Peabody campus. In 1932, she helped open the Tennessee Birth Control Bureau in Nashville. Dr. Bowie set up a private medical practice from her home in Nashville. Her mother, Eugenia, was the receptionist, and her sisters Van and Byrd (a Vanderbilt School of Medicine graduate), assisted with laboratory work.

Even after her death, she continued her mission of teaching: Dr. Bowie donated her body to Vanderbilt’s School of Medicine.

Dr. André L. Churchwell is a distinguished cardiologist and a nationally recognized leader in health care and education.

He graduated magna cum laude from Vanderbilt University in 1975 with a Bachelor of Science in Biomedical Engineering. Dr. Churchwell earned his Doctor of Medicine from Harvard Medical School, followed by an internship, residency, and cardiology fellowship at Emory University. In 1984, he made history as the first African American chief resident of medicine at Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta. After completing his training, Dr. Churchwell became the inaugural minority affairs officer at Emory University School of Medicine, a role that led to a resident organization being named in his honor.

Returning to Vanderbilt in 1991, Dr. Churchwell took on faculty roles in Medicine, Biomedical Engineering, and Radiology and Radiological Sciences. He was awarded the Levi Watkins Jr., M.D. Chair, where he championed Dr. Watkins' legacy of overcoming scientific and cultural barriers. Throughout his decades of service at Vanderbilt, Dr. Churchwell held numerous senior leadership positions at both Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) and Vanderbilt University, significantly impacting graduate medical education, community outreach, and fostering a culture of belonging.

In recognition of his pioneering contributions as a clinician and educator, Dr. Churchwell was inducted into the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE) in 2016 and received a national Impact Award from AIMBE in 2025. His outstanding achievements were further celebrated with his induction into the Tennessee Health Care Hall of Fame in 2023.

Dr. Blalock was the first chief resident in Surgery at Vanderbilt University. He was born in Culloden, Georgia, earned his undergraduate degree from the University of Georgia and his MD from Johns Hopkins University in 1922. He remained at Hopkins and completed an internship in urology, and then a residency general surgery, followed by a fellowship in otolaryngology.

In September 1925, coinciding with the opening of the “new” Vanderbilt Hospital (now Medical Center North), Dr. Blalock arrived at Vanderbilt as a resident surgeon and afterward was placed in charge of the surgical research laboratory.

Dr. Blalock is known for his pioneering research on the nature and treatment of hemorrhagic and traumatic shock and is credited with saving the lives of many casualties during World War II, and with the first open heart operation for tetralogy of Fallot (blue baby). Dr. Blalock's experimental work was immeasurably aided by the expertise of lab technician Vivien Thomas, who worked alongside Dr. Blalock at Vanderbilt.

Dr. Blalock and Vivien Thomas moved together to Johns Hopkins when Dr. Blalock became professor and chair of Surgery there in 1941.

The Alfred Blalock Surgical Resident Award is given annually to the principal investigator and author of the best laboratory or clinical research report made during residency.