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Melinda Aldrich, Ph.D., M.P.H.

  • Associate Professor of Medicine (Genetic Medicine)
  • Associate Professor of Thoracic Surgery
  • Associate Professor of Biomedical Informatics

Phone

(615) 322-3386

Email

melinda.aldrich@vumc.org
609 Oxford House
1313 21st Ave. South
Nashville, TN 37232-4682

Melinda Aldrich, Ph.D., M.P.H.

  • Associate Professor of Medicine (Genetic Medicine)
  • Associate Professor of Thoracic Surgery
  • Associate Professor of Biomedical Informatics

(615) 322-3386

melinda.aldrich@vumc.org

609 Oxford House
1313 21st Ave. South
Nashville, TN 37232-4682

Profile

Melinda Aldrich is an Associate Professor in the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. Her research focuses on identifying genetic and environmental factors contributing to health disparities in lung cancer incidence and survival. Dr. Aldrich's interests also include personalized genomic testing and pharmacogenetics.

Education

  • Ph.D., University of California, Berkeley (2007)
  • M.P.H., University of California, Berkeley (2003)
  • B.A., University of California, Santa Cruz (1992)

Research Emphasis

Genetic epidemiology, cancer epidemiology, health equity, diverse populations, lung cancer, pulmonary, social and environmental factors, DNA biobanks, electronic health records

Research Description

My work is focused on understanding the genetic architecture of lung cancer as well as social determinants of health and environmental risk factors contributing to lung cancer outcomes. More recently my research has an emphasis on developing statistical models for lung cancer screening eligibility. Our team uses large-scale electronic health records linked to DNA biobanks as well as prospective epidemiologic cohorts, such as the Southern Community Cohort Study, to investigate lung cancer. We collaborate with large-scale consortia, such as the International Lung Cancer Consortium (ILCCO) to conduct our research.

Publications

  • Aldrich MC, Blot WJ, Blume JD. Defining Equity in Eligibility for Cancer Screening-Reply. JAMA Oncol [print-electronic]. 2019 Nov 11/7/2019; PMID: 31697339, PII: 2754744, DOI: 10.1001/jamaoncol.2019.4604, ISSN: 2374-2445.
  • Bossé Y, Li Z, Xia J, Manem V, Carreras-Torres R, Gabriel A, Gaudreault N, Albanes D, Aldrich MC, Andrew A, Arnold S, Bickeböller H, Bojesen SE, Brennan P, Brunnstrom H, Caporaso N, Chen C, Christiani DC, Field JK, Goodman G, Grankvist K, Houlston R, Johansson M, Johansson M, Kiemeney LA, Lam S, Landi MT, Lazarus P, Le Marchand L, Liu G, Melander O, Rennert G, Risch A, Rosenberg SM, Schabath MB, Shete S, Song Z, Stevens VL, Tardon A, Wichmann HE, Woll P, Zienolddiny S, Obeidat M, Timens W, Hung RJ, Joubert P, Amos CI, McKay JD. Transcriptome-wide association study reveals candidate causal genes for lung cancer. Int. J. Cancer [print-electronic]. 2019 Nov 11/6/2019; PMID: 31696517, DOI: 10.1002/ijc.32771, ISSN: 1097-0215.
  • Dai J, Huang M, Amos CI, Hung RJ, Tardon A, Andrew A, Chen C, Christiani DC, Albanes D, Rennert G, Fan J, Goodman G, Liu G, Field JK, Grankvist K, Kiemeney LA, Le Marchand L, Schabath MB, Johansson M, Aldrich MC, Johansson M, Caporaso N, Lazarus P, Lam S, Bojesen SE, Arnold S, Landi MT, Risch A, Wichmann HE, Bickeboller H, Brennan P, Shete S, Melander O, Brunnstrom H, Zienolddiny S, Woll P, Stevens V, Hu Z, Shen H. Genome-wide association study of INDELs identified four novel susceptibility loci associated with lung cancer risk. Int. J. Cancer [print-electronic]. 2019 Oct 10/2/2019; PMID: 31577861, DOI: 10.1002/ijc.32698, ISSN: 1097-0215.
  • Jiang X, Finucane HK, Schumacher FR, Schmit SL, Tyrer JP, Han Y, Michailidou K, Lesseur C, Kuchenbaecker KB, Dennis J, Conti DV, Casey G, Gaudet MM, Huyghe JR, Albanes D, Aldrich MC, Andrew AS, Andrulis IL, Anton-Culver H, Antoniou AC, Antonenkova NN, Arnold SM, Aronson KJ, Arun BK, Bandera EV, Barkardottir RB, Barnes DR, Batra J, Beckmann MW, Benitez J, Benlloch S, Berchuck A, Berndt SI, Bickeböller H, Bien SA, Blomqvist C, Boccia S, Bogdanova NV, Bojesen SE, Bolla MK, Brauch H, Brenner H, Brenton JD, Brook MN, Brunet J, Brunnström H, Buchanan DD, Burwinkel B, Butzow R, Cadoni G, Caldés T, Caligo MA, Campbell I, Campbell PT, Cancel-Tassin G, Cannon-Albright L, Campa D, Caporaso N, Carvalho AL, Chan AT, Chang-Claude J, Chanock SJ, Chen C, Christiani DC, Claes KBM, Claessens F, Clements J, Collée JM, Correa MC, Couch FJ, Cox A, Cunningham JM, Cybulski C, Czene K, Daly MB, deFazio A, Devilee P, Diez O, Gago-Dominguez M, Donovan JL, Dörk T, Duell EJ, Dunning AM, Dwek M, Eccles DM, Edlund CK, Edwards DRV, Ellberg C, Evans DG, Fasching PA, Ferris RL, Liloglou T, Figueiredo JC, Fletcher O, Fortner RT, Fostira F, Franceschi S, Friedman E, Gallinger SJ, Ganz PA, Garber J, García-Sáenz JA, Gayther SA, Giles GG, Godwin AK, Goldberg MS, Goldgar DE, Goode EL, Goodman MT, Goodman G, Grankvist K, Greene MH, Gronberg H, Gronwald J, Guénel P, Håkansson N, Hall P, Hamann U, Hamdy FC, Hamilton RJ, Hampe J, Haugen A, Heitz F, Herrero R, Hillemanns P, Hoffmeister M, Høgdall E, Hong YC, Hopper JL, Houlston R, Hulick PJ, Hunter DJ, Huntsman DG, Idos G, Imyanitov EN, Ingles SA, Isaacs C, Jakubowska A, James P, Jenkins MA, Johansson M, Johansson M, John EM, Joshi AD, Kaneva R, Karlan BY, Kelemen LE, Kühl T, Khaw KT, Khusnutdinova E, Kibel AS, Kiemeney LA, Kim J, Kjaer SK, Knight JA, Kogevinas M, Kote-Jarai Z, Koutros S, Kristensen VN, Kupryjanczyk J, Lacko M, Lam S, Lambrechts D, Landi MT, Lazarus P, Le ND, Lee E, Lejbkowicz F, Lenz HJ, Leslie G, Lessel D, Lester J, Levine DA, Li L, Li CI, Lindblom A, Lindor NM, Liu G, Loupakis F, Lubinski J, Maehle L, Maier C, Mannermaa A, Marchand LL, Margolin S, May T, McGuffog L, Meindl A, Middha P, Miller A, Milne RL, MacInnis RJ, Modugno F, Montagna M, Moreno V, Moysich KB, Mucci L, Muir K, Mulligan AM, Nathanson KL, Neal DE, Ness AR, Neuhausen SL, Nevanlinna H, Newcomb PA, Newcomb LF, Nielsen FC, Nikitina-Zake L, Nordestgaard BG, Nussbaum RL, Offit K, Olah E, Olama AAA, Olopade OI, Olshan AF, Olsson H, Osorio A, Pandha H, Park JY, Pashayan N, Parsons MT, Pejovic T, Penney KL, Peters WHM, Phelan CM, Phipps AI, Plaseska-Karanfilska D, Pring M, Prokofyeva D, Radice P, Stefansson K, Ramus SJ, Raskin L, Rennert G, Rennert HS, van Rensburg EJ, Riggan MJ, Risch HA, Risch A, Roobol MJ, Rosenstein BS, Rossing MA, De Ruyck K, Saloustros E, Sandler DP, Sawyer EJ, Schabath MB, Schleutker J, Schmidt MK, Setiawan VW, Shen H, Siegel EM, Sieh W, Singer CF, Slattery ML, Sorensen KD, Southey MC, Spurdle AB, Stanford JL, Stevens VL, Stintzing S, Stone J, Sundfeldt K, Sutphen R, Swerdlow AJ, Tajara EH, Tangen CM, Tardon A, Taylor JA, Teare MD, Teixeira MR, Terry MB, Terry KL, Thibodeau SN, Thomassen M, Bjørge L, Tischkowitz M, Toland AE, Torres D, Townsend PA, Travis RC, Tung N, Tworoger SS, Ulrich CM, Usmani N, Vachon CM, Van Nieuwenhuysen E, Vega A, Aguado-Barrera ME, Wang Q, Webb PM, Weinberg CR, Weinstein S, Weissler MC, Weitzel JN, West CML, White E, Whittemore AS, Wichmann HE, Wiklund F, Winqvist R, Wolk A, Woll P, Woods M, Wu AH, Wu X, Yannoukakos D, Zheng W, Zienolddiny S, Ziogas A, Zorn KK, Lane JM, Saxena R, Thomas D, Hung RJ, Diergaarde B, McKay J, Peters U, Hsu L, García-Closas M, Eeles RA, Chenevix-Trench G, Brennan PJ, Haiman CA, Simard J, Easton DF, Gruber SB, Pharoah PDP, Price AL, Pasaniuc B, Amos CI, Kraft P, Lindström S. Publisher Correction: Shared heritability and functional enrichment across six solid cancers. Nat Commun. 2019 Sep 9/23/2019; 10(1): 4386. PMID: 31548585, PMCID: PMC6757065, PII: 10.1038/s41467-019-12095-8, DOI: 10.1038/s41467-019-12095-8, ISSN: 2041-1723.
  • Hung RJ, Spitz MR, Houlston RS, Schwartz AG, Field JK, Ying J, Li Y, Han Y, Ji X, Chen W, Wu X, Gorlov IP, Na J, de Andrade M, Liu G, Brhane Y, Diao N, Wenzlaff A, Davies MPA, Liloglou T, Timofeeva M, Muley T, Rennert H, Saliba W, Ryan BM, Bowman E, Barros-Dios JM, Pérez-Ríos M, Morgenstern H, Zienolddiny S, Skaug V, Ugolini D, Bonassi S, van der Heijden EHFM, Tardon A, Bojesen SE, Landi MT, Johansson M, Bickeböller H, Arnold S, Le Marchand L, Melander O, Andrew A, Grankvist K, Caporaso N, Teare MD, Schabath MB, Aldrich MC, Kiemeney LA, Wichmann HE, Lazarus P, Mayordomo J, Neri M, Haugen A, Zhang ZF, Ruano-Raviña A, Brenner H, Harris CC, Orlow I, Rennert G, Risch A, Brennan P, Christiani DC, Amos CI, Yang P, Gorlova OY. Lung Cancer Risk in Never-Smokers of European Descent is Associated With Genetic Variation in the 5p15.33 TERT-CLPTM1Ll Region. J Thorac Oncol [print-electronic]. 2019 Aug; 14(8): 1360-9. PMID: 31009812, PMCID: PMC6833942, PII: S1556-0864(19)30289-8, DOI: 10.1016/j.jtho.2019.04.008, ISSN: 1556-1380.
  • Aldrich MC, Cust AE, Raynes-Greenow C, . Gender equity in epidemiology: a policy brief. Ann Epidemiol [print-electronic]. 2019 Jul; 35: 1-3. PMID: 31036443, PMCID: PMC6779121, PII: S1047-2797(18)30824-X, DOI: 10.1016/j.annepidem.2019.03.010, ISSN: 1873-2585.
  • Benn Torres J, Martucci V, Aldrich MC, Vilar MG, MacKinney T, Tariq M, Gaieski JB, Bharath Hernandez R, Browne ZE, Stevenson M, Walters W, Schurr TG, . Analysis of biogeographic ancestry reveals complex genetic histories for indigenous communities of St. Vincent and Trinidad. Am. J. Phys. Anthropol [print-electronic]. 2019 Jul; 169(3): 482-97. PMID: 31125126, DOI: 10.1002/ajpa.23859, ISSN: 1096-8644.
  • Aldrich MC, Mercaldo SF, Sandler KL, Blot WJ, Grogan EL, Blume JD. Evaluation of USPSTF Lung Cancer Screening Guidelines Among African American Adult Smokers. JAMA Oncol [print-electronic]. 2019 Jun 6/27/2019; PMID: 31246249, PMCID: PMC6604090, PII: 2737091, DOI: 10.1001/jamaoncol.2019.1402, ISSN: 2374-2445.
  • Zhu Y, Wei Y, Zhang R, Dong X, Shen S, Zhao Y, Bai J, Albanes D, Caporaso NE, Landi MT, Zhu B, Chanock SJ, Gu F, Lam S, Tsao MS, Shepherd FA, Tardon A, Fernández-Somoano A, Fernandez-Tardon G, Chen C, Barnett MJ, Doherty J, Bojesen SE, Johansson M, Brennan P, McKay JD, Carreras-Torres R, Muley T, Risch A, Wichmann HE, Bickeboeller H, Rosenberger A, Rennert G, Saliba W, Arnold SM, Field JK, Davies MPA, Marcus MW, Wu X, Ye Y, Le Marchand L, Wilkens LR, Melander O, Manjer J, Brunnström H, Hung RJ, Liu G, Brhane Y, Kachuri L, Andrew AS, Duell EJ, Kiemeney LA, van der Heijden EH, Haugen A, Zienolddiny S, Skaug V, Grankvist K, Johansson M, Woll PJ, Cox A, Taylor F, Teare DM, Lazarus P, Schabath MB, Aldrich MC, Houlston RS, McLaughlin J, Stevens VL, Shen H, Hu Z, Dai J, Amos CI, Han Y, Zhu D, Goodman GE, Chen F, Christiani DC. Elevated Platelet Count Appears to Be Causally Associated with Increased Risk of Lung Cancer: A Mendelian Randomization Analysis. Cancer Epidemiol. Biomarkers Prev [print-electronic]. 2019 May; 28(5): 935-42. PMID: 30700444, PII: 1055-9965.EPI-18-0356, DOI: 10.1158/1055-9965.EPI-18-0356, ISSN: 1538-7755.
  • Jones CC, Bradford Y, Amos CI, Blot WJ, Chanock SJ, Harris CC, Schwartz AG, Spitz MR, Wiencke JK, Wrensch MR, Wu X, Aldrich MC. Cross-Cancer Pleiotropic Associations with Lung Cancer Risk in African Americans. Cancer Epidemiol. Biomarkers Prev [print-electronic]. 2019 Apr; 28(4): 715-23. PMID: 30894353, PMCID: PMC6449205, PII: 1055-9965.EPI-18-0935, DOI: 10.1158/1055-9965.EPI-18-0935, ISSN: 1538-7755.
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