Josh Peterson

January 27, 2026

Josh Peterson named chair of the Department of Biomedical Informatics

Peterson, who joined the Vanderbilt faculty in 2002, is an internationally recognized researcher and educator in the field of biomedical informatics and maintains an internal medicine practice with Vanderbilt Health.

By John Howser
April 29, 2025

Peter Embí, Department of Biomedical Informatics chair, to step down

DBMI is one of the nation’s largest departments of its kind in academic medicine and consists of more than 130 faculty who focus on different aspects of biomedical informatics.

By John Howser
Co-principal investigators of the genomic-enabled learning health system coordinating center and clinical site are, front row from left, Carolyn Audet, PhD, Alexander Bick, MD, PhD, and Sunil Kripalani, MD, MSc, and, back row from left, Wesley Self, MD, MPH, Josh Peterson, MD, MPH, and Dan Roden, MD. (photo by Susan Urmy)
September 24, 2024

‘Learning’ network will help move genomics into the clinic

A real-world learning health system was established at VUMC a decade ago. Now, the National Human Genome Research Institute is awarding two five-year grants totaling $12 million to support VUMC’s participation in, and coordination of, a genomic-enabled learning health system (gLHS) network.

By Bill Snyder
November 15, 2023

Study finds many patients don’t seek more health services after receiving genetic screening results

A study by Vanderbilt researchers found that more than half of the patients who receive the results of genetic tests might not be impelled to seek more services than they’re already receiving.

By Paul Govern
August 31, 2023

New reference tool supports replication of DNA biobank studies

Vanderbilt researchers created a phenotype-genotype reference map to assess data quality in DNA biobanks.

By Paul Govern
May 9, 2023

Study finds genetic screening of adults would be cost-effective

A Vanderbilt analysis of population genetic testing concludes with a recommendation to U.S. health policymakers to adopt routine testing of adults ages 40 and under for three genetic conditions posing high risk of life-threatening illness.

By Paul Govern
September 8, 2022

PheWAS reveals post-COVID-19 diagnoses

Using a high-throughput informatics technique and electronic health records, Vanderbilt researchers found that COVID-19 survivors had an increased risk for more than 40 new diagnoses.
By Bill Snyder
July 14, 2022

Study explores clinical uses for polygenic risk scores

Vanderbilt University Medical Center has received a five-year, $4.5 million grant from the National Human Genome Research Institute to assess clinical outcomes and economic value of screening large, diverse health care populations for disease risk using polygenic risk scores.
By Paul Govern
September 2, 2021

Study shows gene-drug interactions are common

When a drug or combination of drugs causes different responses in different people, genetic variation is often at play. Pharmacogenomics, through discovery of genetic risk and use of clinical genotyping, aims to reduce trial-and-error approaches to drug prescribing.
By Paul Govern
November 5, 2020

Screening younger women for hereditary cancers may be cost effective

Population-wide screening for genetic variants linked to hereditary breast and ovarian cancer may be cost effective in women between the ages of 20 and 35, according to a study published in JAMA Network Open.
By Tom Wilemon
July 1, 2020

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.
By Paul Govern
April 23, 2020

VUMC team creates COVID-19 research registry

Out of the electronic health records (EHRs) of patients seen at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, a team in the Department of Biomedical Informatics is creating a COVID-19 patient registry as a platform for research.
By Paul Govern
October 17, 2019

Peterson, Roden honored for translational medicine efforts

Josh Peterson, MD, MPH, and Dan Roden, MD, are among 10 leaders in clinical pharmacology and translational medicine recognized this week by the American Society for Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics.
By Bill Snyder