Melinda Aldrich

Melinda C. Aldrich, Ph.D., M.P.H., is a Health Science professor at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, where she holds appointments as Professor of Medicine in the Division of Genetic Medicine and Clinical Pharmacology, Department of Medicine; Professor of Biomedical Informatics; and Professor of Thoracic Surgery. She earned her B.A. from the University of California, Santa Cruz in 1992, M.P.H. in Epidemiology and Public Health from the University of California, Berkeley in 2003, and Ph.D. in Epidemiology from the University of California, Berkeley in 2007. Aldrich completed a fellowship in Genetic Epidemiology at the University of California, Berkeley in 2010 and a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of California, San Francisco in 2010. Leading the Aldrich Lab, her research utilizes epidemiologic study designs, statistical analysis, and data science methods to elucidate genetic and non-genetic determinants contributing to lung cancer risk and outcomes. With a focus on disparities in lung cancer and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease among racially diverse populations, her work addresses lung cancer screening access and develops personalized prediction models. As an international expert in lung cancer epidemiology, Aldrich has authored over 160 peer-reviewed publications, including "Transcriptome-wide association study reveals candidate causal genes for lung cancer" published in the International Journal of Cancer in 2019 and "Genome-wide association study of INDELs identified four novel susceptibility loci associated with lung cancer risk" also in the International Journal of Cancer in 2019.

The Aldrich Lab conducts multidisciplinary translational research supported by the National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Department of Defense, industry partners, and lung cancer foundations. Aldrich's contributions have played a pivotal role in shaping U.S. Preventive Services Task Force guidelines for lung cancer screening. Her research spans computational and systems biology, genomics, cancer biology, and molecular pathology, prioritizing precision health strategies, early detection improvements, ancestry and environmental influences on lung cancer, and optimization of precision treatments using real-world data. Through community collaborations, she disseminates findings and informs research priorities, advancing prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of lung cancer for all populations.

Professional Email: melinda.aldrich@vanderbilt.edu