Digna Velez Edwards

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NIH grant supports effort to build expertise in genetic epidemiology research in Vietnam

V2-GENE, the Vanderbilt-Vietnam Genetic Epidemiology Training Program, will develop a team of researchers and educators to lead genetic epidemiology research of noncommunicable diseases across the lifespan in Vietnam.

Calculating risk for uterine fibroids

Vanderbilt researchers have constructed a polygenic risk score for uterine fibroids that will be useful for exploring causes of these benign tumors and identifying novel drug targets and therapies.

Grant creates center for maternal, pediatric precision therapeutics

Vanderbilt University Medical Center has been awarded a five-year, $6 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to serve as a center of excellence for Maternal and Pediatric Precision in Therapeutics.

Genetic ancestry and hypertension risk

Racial disparities in hypertension risk are due in part to genetic differences between ancestries, Vanderbilt investigators find in a study of participants in the Million Veteran Program.

pregnant belly

Fibroids and birth outcomes

Women with three or more uterine fibroids — non-cancerous growths — during pregnancy are more likely to have infants with reduced birthweight and may need additional surveillance.

VUMC-led network to focus on polygenic risk for common diseases

With the aid of a $75 million, five-year grant renewal, the Electronic Medical Records and Genomics Network (eMERGE) will venture beyond its current focus on monogenic disease to scoring research participants’ relative risk for complex heritable diseases such as cardiovascular disease, chronic kidney disease and type 2 diabetes.