Colleen Brophy, M.D.
Brophy brings many talents to new role
Glass ceilings are made to be broken, and Colleen Brophy, M.D., has shattered her share.
A vascular surgeon, scientist and entrepreneur, Brophy joined Vanderbilt Medical Center's Department of Surgery in July.
She is Vanderbilt's only female physician professor of Surgery and the only female surgeon in the Division of Vascular Surgery.
She is also the first female chair of the Bioengineering, Technology and Surgical Sciences Study Section at the National Institutes of Health, a two-year term she recently accepted.
Brophy comes to Vanderbilt from Arizona State University where she was a research professor of Kinesiology at the Center for Metabolic Biology and an adjunct professor of Bioengineering and Cellular and Molecular Biology.
She was also chief of Vascular Surgery at the Carl T. Hayden VA Medical Center in Phoenix and a clinical professor of Surgery at the University of Arizona.
“I have known Dr. Brophy for more than 15 years and have tracked her outstanding career in Vascular Surgery and as a nationally prominent investigator in the field of Vascular Biology,” said Dan Beauchamp, M.D., chair of the Section of Surgical Sciences. “Dr. Brophy is also a superb educator and mentor. I could not be more pleased to have her join the faculty. She will be a role model for all aspiring young academic surgeons, but particularly as a mentor for those talented young women who may be interested in a career as an academic surgeon.”
Brophy will devote 25 percent of her time to clinical work at Nashville Veterans Affairs Medical Center and the remainder of her time to research.
She will continue her work in developing peptide-based therapeutics, which she began as a founder and CEO of AzERx.
“What attracted me to Vanderbilt is the leadership in the Department of Surgery and the depth and breadth of the research environment. You can't conduct research alone; it requires collaborative interactions,” Brophy said.
Brophy received both her B.S. and M.D. from the University of Utah.
She was a surgical resident at Yale University and a vascular fellow at Harvard University.
She has served on the faculty at Yale University and as a professor and chief of Vascular Surgery at the Medical College of Georgia.