NASHVILLE, Tennessee — Dr. Melissa McPheeters, PhD, MPH, will return to the permanent faculty of Vanderbilt University’s School of Medicine, beginning July 1.
For the last three years, McPheeters has served the State of Tennessee as Director of Informatics & Analytics in the Tennessee Department of Health, where she built a program in informatics and analytics that included key components such as interoperability and data architecture, advanced analytics and data governance.
Her program led the state’s data-driven response to the opioid epidemic.
During that time, Dr. McPheeters also served as an adjunct faculty member in the Department of Health Policy.
At VUMC, Dr. McPheeters will focus on identifying and developing innovative ways to use clinical data to broaden Vanderbilt’s precision medicine translation work in support of public and population health.
“It has been an extraordinary privilege to work in public health for these past three years, building capacity in informatics and data science to support the State’s response to ever evolving public health challenges,” McPheeters said. “I am excited to return to Vanderbilt as we innovate around precision medicine and population health. Linking healthcare and public health with precision medicine has the potential to change the way we provide healthcare and to improve the public’s health in dramatic ways.”
McPheeters was previously among the faculty at VUMC for 11 years before joining TDOH three years ago.
McPheeters will serve as a primary faculty member in the Department of Health Policy with a secondary appointment in Department of Biomedical Informatics as a research professor.