Eleven current Vanderbilt University faculty members, nine of whom are investigators at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, are included in the 2025 list of “Highly Cited Researchers” whose papers have been cited most frequently by other scientists.
They are among 6,868 scientists worldwide whose papers rank in the top 1% by citations for their fields of research and publication year in the Web of Science Core Collection over the past 11 years.
“These individuals represent the pinnacle of scholarly impact, shaping the direction of research across disciplines and geographies,” said officials from Clarivate, the global analytics firm that compiled and released this year’s list on Nov. 12.
VUMC and VU researchers on the 2025 list
- Justin Balko, PharmD, PhD, professor of Medicine and Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology, who focuses on identifying biomarkers and mechanisms of drug sensitivity or resistance in breast cancer and other tumor types, ways to enhance response rates to immunotherapy, and the biological mechanisms of immune-related adverse events to immunotherapies.
- Mariana Byndloss, DVM, PhD, assistant professor of Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology, who investigates links between the microbiota (microorganisms that live in the intestines) and host metabolism, and how environmental factors that disrupt the microbiota can increase the risk for colorectal cancer, cardiovascular disease, childhood obesity and other disorders.
- Nancy Cox, PhD, professor of Medicine, who is internationally known for her research on integrating genome variation with genome function to understand the genetic basis of complex and common human traits and disorders including breast cancer, diabetes, autism, mental illness and Alzheimer’s disease.
- De-en Jiang, PhD, the H. Eugene McBrayer Professor of Chemical Engineering, who focuses on computational chemical science and materials. A long-term goal is to achieve data-driven design of new functional materials and molecules by leveraging advances in computing hardware and software, machine learning and artificial intelligence.
- Douglas Johnson, MD, MSCI, holder of the Susan and Luke Simons Directorship, professor of Medicine, and associate director for Translational Research at the Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center, who has published extensively on early clinical trials for immunotherapies and profiling cancers to predict which patients will benefit.
- Shihong Lin, PhD, professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering and a Chancellor Faculty Fellow, whose research goal is to advance water separation processes, including water treatment and desalination, brine management, resource extraction and recovery, and membrane and electrochemical separation, through the development of new processes, theories and materials.
- Mary Philip, MD, PhD, assistant professor of Medicine and Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology, whose research focuses on understanding the role that the immune system plays in hematologic and other malignancies, and how the immune system can be harnessed to block tumor progression, particularly in patients with metastatic or therapy-resistant disease.
- Elizabeth Phillips, MD, the John A. Oates Professor of Clinical Research, professor of Medicine, Pharmacology, Dermatology, and Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology, director of the Center for Drug Safety and Immunology at VUMC, and an international leader in the genetic risk, mechanisms and outcomes of severe, life-threatening immune-mediated adverse drug reactions.
- Dan Roden, MD, the Sam L. Clark, MD, PhD Professor of Medicine, Pharmacology and Biomedical Informatics, and Senior Vice President for Personalized Medicine at VUMC, known internationally for his research on abnormal heart rhythms, and for advancing the field of pharmacogenomics — how genes influence the body’s response to medications.
- C. Michael Stein, MBChB, the Dan May Professor and professor of Medicine and Pharmacology, who has authored more than 250 journal publications on the use of translational approaches to define the mechanisms underlying interindividual variability in drug response and toxicity, and on the link between inflammation and cardiovascular disease.
- H. Keipp Talbot, MD, MPH, holder of the Vaccinology Research Directorship and professor of Medicine and Health Policy, whose basic, clinical and population health research on the epidemiology of viral respiratory illnesses in older adults and on the importance of prevention through immunization, has consistently informed public health policy.
Byndloss, Johnson, Roden and Stein have made the list of Highly Cited Researchers in each of the past five years; Jiang and Phillips in each of the past three years.
Clarivate reported that the United States is the institutional home to 2,670 of this year’s Highly Cited Researcher awards, followed by mainland China, with 1,406 awards, the United Kingdom (570), Germany (363), Australia (312), and Canada (227).
Among institutions, the Chinese Academy of Sciences garnered the most Highly Cited Researcher awards, 258, followed by Harvard University, with 170 awards, and Stanford University, with 141. Also in the top 10 institutions: Massachusetts Institute of Technology (85), the National Institutes of Health (84), and the University of Pennsylvania (59).
