Douglas Ruderfer, PhD, whose research at Vanderbilt University Medical Center explores the intersection of genomics, biomedical informatics and psychiatry, has been named director of a newly established Center for Digital Genomic Medicine.

By integrating clinical, genomic and digital device data, and by developing novel methodologies and infrastructure, the center aims to generate the evidence needed to improve patient outcomes and support clinical decision making.

“For many rare outcomes or conditions, there often is a striking lack of data needed for making evidence-based clinical decisions,” said Ruderfer, associate professor of Medicine in the Division of Genetic Medicine, and associate professor of Biomedical Informatics, and Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences.

Incomplete understanding of how many rare genetic diseases present during routine clinical care results in long delays in testing and diagnosis, Ruderfer said. By using electronic health record data and curating clinical features associated with genetic diseases, the center aims to identify these patients earlier.

Researchers in the center are building infrastructure and collecting objective measures of behavior (such as physical activity and sleep) from digital devices worn by patients. They are developing methods to best integrate that information with clinical and genetic data.

The goal is to better understand the impact of behavior on risk for disease and medical outcomes.

“While our initial focus will be on the genetic disease, we believe these methods may extend beyond diseases of a genetic etiology,” Ruderfer said.

VUMC faculty members in the new center include Lisa Bastarache, MS, Daniel Fabbri, PhD, and Colin Walsh, MD, MA, Department of Biomedical Informatics; Evan Brittain, MD, MSCI, Nikhil Khankari, PhD, and Megan Shuey, PhD, Department of Medicine; and Bryce Schuler, MD, PhD, Department of Pediatrics.

The center is open to other investigators at VUMC who are working in or interested in these areas of research. For more information, contact Brian Aloisi, center director of operations, by email at brian.aloisi@vumc.org or through the website.