Douglas C. Heimburger, MD, MS

Dr. Heimburger is a Professor of Medicine at the Vanderbilt Institute for Global Health (VIGH) and the Division of Epidemiology. From 2009 to 2019, he served as VIGH’s Associate Director for Education and Training, overseeing programs for Vanderbilt students and trainees, as well as for doctoral and postdoctoral researchers from low- and middle-income countries.

His leadership included co-creation and co-direction of the Global Health track in Vanderbilt’s Master of Public Health Program. He co-directs the UNZA-Vanderbilt Partnership for HIV-NCD Research, the Vanderbilt-Zambia Cancer Research Training Program (VZCARE), and he formerly co-directed the Vanderbilt-Emory-Cornell-Duke Consortium for Global Health Fellows (VECDor) and the Training Program in Molecular and Genetic Epidemiology of Cancer (MAGEC). 

He co-directed the Global Health Track in Vanderbilt’s Master of Public Health Program and the UNZA-Vanderbilt Partnership for HIV-NCD Research. His research focuses on nutritional influences on HIV treatment outcomes in African adults and global health education. He received his M.D. from Vanderbilt University in 1978, completed his internal medicine residency at St. Louis University, and obtained an M.S. in nutrition sciences from UAB. 

Before joining Vanderbilt, he was on the faculty at UAB for 28 years, where he contributed to various cancer and global health initiatives and significantly advanced medical nutrition education. Dr. Heimburger has edited multiple editions of key nutrition texts and received numerous awards for excellence in teaching and curriculum development. He directed UAB’s Medical Nutrition Services and the EatRight Weight Management Program, was a Fulbright Scholar in Zambia in 2006, and has served on various national advisory boards.

Education

MD, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine
MS, University of Alabama at Birmingham