The Bick Lab Team

Principal Investigator; Associate Professor; Director, Division of Genetic Medicine

Alex earned his MD and PhD in Genetics at Harvard and completed his medicine residency at Massachusetts General Hospital with a clinical focus on personalized medicine. He joined the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine faculty in the Division of Genetic Medicine  in July 2020. He was named Director of the Division of Genetic Medicine in October 2024. In addition to his research, Alex sees patients in the Vanderbilt Genetics and Therapeutics Clinic.

Rheumatology Fellow

Robert completed his MD and PhD in computational biology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He completed residency in Internal Medicine at VUMC and is now a fellow in Rheumatology at VUMC where he takes care of patients with auto-immune disease. His research focuses on the role of somatic mutations in auto-imune diseases such as VEXAS, vasculitis, and inflammatory arthritis. Outside of the lab, he enjoys biking and jogging in Nashville’s beautiful parks.

Internal Medicine Resident

James earned his MD and MSc in Clinical Research Methods at Albert Einstein College of Medicine and is an internal medicine resident at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. He joined the Bick Lab to contribute his expertise in clinical informatics and nurture his computational genomics skillset.

Postdoc

Kun is a postdoctoral researcher who joined the Bick Lab in July 2024. Kun earned a Ph.D. in epidemiology and biostatistics from Peking Union Medical College in China. His research focuses on using large databases to explore the risk factors and health outcomes of clonal hematopoiesis, like CHIP and mosaic chromosomal alterations. Outside of work, Kun loves watching movies, jogging, and traveling—and he’s on a mission to visit every state in the U.S.!

PhD Candidate

Alyssa is a PhD candidate in the Bick lab. She completed her undergraduate studies in Genetics and Bioinformatics at Brigham Young University in 2021. Currently, she uses multiomic methods to study cell-type-specific variation in clonal hematopoiesis. Alyssa is interested in clinical laboratory genetics and plans to pursue a fellowship in Laboratory Genetics and Genomics following her graduation from Vanderbilt University. Alyssa also loves distance running in Nashville’s great parks and learning new instruments.

PhD Candidate

Hannah is a PhD candidate studying Human Genetics in the Bick lab. She went to undergrad at Rutgers University where she studied Genetics and Evolutionary Anthropology. She also completed a Master's in Biomedical Informatics at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount SInai.  After graduating she spent three years working in the Clinical Lab at the New York Genome Center as a bioinformatics analyst. Currently, she studies the genetic architecture of genetically derived immune cell proportions and the genetic outcomes for individuals with inherited variants in tumor suppressors. Hannah also enjoys hiking and playing board games. 

MD-PhD Student

Yash is from Phoenix, Arizona and went to undergrad at Stanford where he studied Bioengineering. After undergrad, Yash joined the Vanderbilt MSTP and is now a second-year graduate student in the Bick Lab. When he is not trying to convince other lab members to get coffee, Yash enjoys studying mosaic chromosomal alterations (mCAs), trying to piece together population genetics observations, and applying deep learning to single cell transcriptomics. For fun, Yash likes to run, play and watch basketball, and cook recipes from the NY Times.

PhD Student

Jessica is a Research Assistant for the Bick Lab’s Wet Lab. She recently graduated from Cedarville University in 2020 with a degree in Molecular and Cellular Biology. She is currently working on a project to biobanking PBMC cells from CHIP patients and a project investigating the effects of a NAMPT inhibitor on common CHIP mutations. Outside of work, Jessica enjoys taking her australian cattle dog puppy, Chip, on hikes and long walks!

PhD Student

Joe is from Indianapolis, Indiana and went to Indiana Wesleyan University for undergrad and Lipscomb University for this Master’s. After a year as a research assistant, he joined the Bick lab as a PhD student. He enjoys exploring new technologies in single-cell and methylation and their impacts to understanding hematopoiesis and somatic mosaicism. When not in lab, Joe enjoys the NBA (Pacers), the Premier League (Liverpool) and productions at the Nashville Symphony. 

Undergraduate 

Ketan is an undergraduate student at Vanderbilt in the College of Arts & Sciences. He is studying Molecular and Cellular Biology with minors in Chemistry and South Asian Language & Culture. He is an undergraduate fellow in the SyBBURE Searle Undergraduate Research Program. Ketan is researching mutations that lead to CHIP in the wet lab under the direction of Joe van Amburg. While not in lab, he enjoys playing for the Vanderbilt Club Baseball team, rock climbing, photography, and annoying others about his tea collection. 

Undergraduate

Connor is an undergraduate student at Vanderbilt in the School of Engineering. He is studying Biomedical Engineering with a second major in Classical and Mediterranean Studies. Connor is studying the relationship between mutations in CHIP genes and mutational signatures under the mentorship of Yash. In his free time, he enjoys a variety of snow sports and water sports (depending on the season).

Clinical Research Coordinator

April is a clinical research coordinator in the Bick Lab. She received her BS in Biology from the University of Georgia (go dawgs!), and continued her education by obtaining a Masters degree in Health Science from Meharry Medical College. In her free time, April enjoys playing tennis, listening to music, going to the gym, and learning different languages!

Lab Manager

Ningning is the Lab Manager of the Bick Lab. She earned her medical degree from the Capital Medical University in China and her masters in molecular biology in the USA. She has worked at Vanderbilt University Medical Center for over 20 years. Before joining the Bick Lab team, she worked in a cardiovascular lab and within the neurology department studying genetic epilepsy.

Research Assistant

Nicole is a Research Assistant in the Bick Lab. She graduated from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville in 2023 with a BS in Biological Sciences (concentration in Microbiology) and a minor in Hispanic Studies. As an undergraduate, she researched the effects of opioids on the brain and behavior. She contributes to the Bick Lab as a clinical coordinator, recruiting patients and collecting samples for two clinical trials done in the lab. In her free time, Nicole enjoys cooking Italian food, line dancing, and cheering on the Tennessee Volunteers.

Research Assistant

David is a Research Assistant that works both in the wet lab and as a research coordinator. He graduated from Vanderbilt in 2023 with a BE degree in Chemical Engineering, and now assists with multiple studies and experiments in the Bick Lab, e.g. biobanking of PBMCs for CHIVE and processing patient samples to be sequenced for CHIP.

Cloud Application Developer

Brian is a seasoned cloud computing developer leading the technical lab operations. He specializes in launching genome analysis pipelines at scale across extensive data cohorts, including AllOfUs, UKBioBank, BioVU, and TopMED, on AWS and GCP, leveraging Docker containers for enhanced efficiency. He is also our AWS and GCP administrator, handling everything from security to user account management to storage. He went to MTSU for his undergrad in Mathematics and Computer Science and to Vanderbilt University for his Master’s in Computer Science. Outside of the lab, Brian is an intense bodybuilding enthusiast, with the gym as his second home.

Research Assistant

Micayla is originally from Maryland and earned her BS in Genetics from University of Georgia. She works in the Bick Lab as a research assistant and helps recruit patients for two clinical trials. She hopes to pursue a masters in Genetic Counseling. In her free time, she likes to play pickleball, enjoy live music and jigsaw puzzles!

Program Manager

Don came to the Bick Lab in the fall of 2024 with sixteen years' prior experience as a VUMC staff member. He provides admin support on a variety of processes. Don holds a master's degree in biology from the University of Texas at Arlington, where he studied molecular evolution in mammalian transposons. In his spare time he enjoys old books, old movies, old songs, Old Hickory Lake, time spent with family and friends, and attempting to keep up with SEC and Notre Dame sports.

Assistant Professor

Ashwin completed medical school training at Kasturba Medical College (KMC), Manipal University in India, and residency training in internal medicine at Icahn School Medicine at Mount Sinai, NYC. He went on to finish a hematology and oncology fellowship at the Cleveland Clinic. He joined Vanderbilt as an Assistant Professor of Medicine in the division of Hematology and Oncology in April 2021. He is passionate about clonal hematopoiesis. For fun, Ashwin enjoys running, 3D printing, collecting fountain pens, and cooking. 

Assistant Professor

Leo is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Radiation Oncology at VUMC. He treats pediatric patients and adult patients with CNS tumors with personalized radiation therapy. He is interested in studying clonal hematopoiesis in patients after cancer therapy such as radiation therapy. He is currently a K12 scholar through the Vanderbilt Clinical Oncology Research Career Development Program. He received his medical degree at Harvard Medical School and completed his clinical residency at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City.

Instructor, Cardiovascular Medicine

Brett is originally from Atlanta, Georgia and completed his undergraduate studies in Biology at the University of Georgia. He went on to earn his MD and PhD from the Medical College of Georgia before starting internal medicine residency at Vanderbilt. He completed his clinical cardiology fellowship in July of 2021 and has been a member of the Bick Lab since that time. Brett is currently working to understand the mechanisms of cardiovascular injury associated with CHIP using a single cell multiomics approach.

Tara was a Human Genetics PhD student co-mentored between the Bick Lab and the Davis Lab. She completed her PhD in 2024. Her main project in the lab involved uncovering genetic and environmental factors that influence CHIP growth rate.

Research Analyst 1, Bick Lab All of Us Coordinator

Clinical Coordinator

Madeline was a Clinical Trials Associate for the Bick Lab. She graduated from Lipscomb University in December of 2019 with a degree in Molecular Biology. Madeline worked with the Bick Lab throughout the spring and summer of 2021. We wish her the best of luck with her future in Memphis!

Clinical Coordinator

Cloud Application Developer

Rotation Student