Dr. Alexander G. Bick is an Associate Professor of Medicine at Vanderbilt and a physician-scientist advancing our understanding of the genetic basis of human disease. He earned his M.D. and Ph.D. from Harvard Medical School, training under Drs. Christine Seidman and Jon Seidman, where he pioneered research in Mendelian mutation penetrance, the evolutionary history of the mitochondrial calcium uniporter, and developed the first single-cell RNA-seq atlas of the cardiovascular system. Dr. Bick continued his clinical and research training at Massachusetts General Hospital and the Broad Institute, mentored by Drs. Sek Kathiresan and Pradeep Natarajan. There, his research on clonal hematopoiesis—a condition marked by acquired mutations in blood stem cells—revealed its surprising association with cardiovascular disease, resulting in publications in Nature, NEJM, and Circulation.

Since joining Vanderbilt in 2020, Dr. Bick has led a highly productive laboratory focused on how inherited and somatic mutations impact human health. His research includes major contributions to understanding the mechanisms and clinical significance of clonal hematopoiesis. Recently, he discovered the first gene, TCL1A, that slows expansion and delays malignant transformation of clonal hematopoiesis. His lab has developed novel computational methods and assays for detecting clonal hematopoiesis that have been deployed at million-person scale. His research has yielded over 125 publications, with significant contributions to top journals including Nature, Nature Medicine, JCI, Circulation and Blood. He has secured >$25M in NIH and foundation funding for his innovative studies.

As a physician-scientist, Dr. Bick also leads national efforts to integrate genomics into clinical practice with leadership roles in the NIH All of Us Research Program and NHGRI’s Genomic Learning Health System initiative.

Dr. Bick’s has earned multiple prestigious awards, including the NIH Director’s Early Independence Award, Pew-Stewart Scholar, and Burroughs Wellcome Career Award. In 2024, he was appointed Director of Vanderbilt’s Division of Genetic Medicine.