Dr. Hamid's research has focused on cellular and molecular mechanisms that underlie the person-to-person variation in complex human disease, that is, why a gene mutation causes disease in one individual and not another or why are there differences in disease severity amongst individuals. His research centers around discovering the molecular and cellular answers to these fundamental genetic questions as clues to better diagnosis and treatment for complex genetic disorders.

Dr. Halasa is Craig Weaver Professor of Pediatrics in the Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases at Vanderbilt University. She received a Bachelor of Science degree with a major in biology from the University of Akron. She received her M.D. degree from the Medical College of Ohio and completed a residency in pediatrics at Columbus Children's Hospital. She completed a fellowship in pediatric infectious diseases at Vanderbilt and earned an M.P.H. degree during her fellowship training. She joined the faculty in 2004. Dr. Halasa's research involves determining the burden of diarrheal and respiratory illnesses in young children and specialized populations and finding ways to reduce their burden (e.g. through vaccine, drugs, etc...). Since 2002, Dr. Halasa has been involved in vaccine trials enrolling children from all ages, including young infants and specialized populations such as children with cancer. The vaccine trials that Dr. Halasa has been involved with in the past include influenza vaccines (both the trivalent inactivated influenza vaccine and the cold-adapted influenza vaccine), pertussis vaccines, pneumococcal, and RSV vaccines. In addition, she has the expertise in vaccine protocol development. She was the PI of a respiratory viral surveillance study in Amman, Jordan, which was funded Union Bank of Switzerland. Currently, currently is PI of the Vanderbilt site of the New Vaccine Surveillance Network initially established in 1999 by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to predict the impact of potential new vaccines and two NIH grants investigating high dose influenza vaccine versus standard dose influenza vaccine in pediatric and adult stem cell recipients.

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As a research fellow many years ago, Dr. Guttentag had the opportunity to investigate lung surfactant biology just as surfactant therapy was approved for use in prematurely born infants with lung immaturity. This great advance in neonatology from the 20th century fueled her passion for translating basic science discoveries into solutions for human lung disease. At Vanderbilt, Dr. Guttentag's laboratory research now focuses on mechanisms of lung injury and effective repair, as exemplified by a rare genetic disorder — Hermansky Pudlak syndrome. Rare diseases provide unique insight into more common diseases, and the explosion of human genomics, basic biology and mouse modeling holds great potential to bring new life-saving and disease-mitigating therapies for human lung diseases.

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Dr. Guthrie is active in clinical research investigating minimally invasive surfactant therapies, probiotics for the prevention of necrotizing enterocolitis, and assisting in the development of a user centered ventilator weaning protocol.

Dr. Goode is a developmental-behavioral pediatrician with an interest in sequelae of prematurity, autism spectrum disorder, developmental disorders of early childhood, and Down syndrome. She has studied the effects of hypoglycemia during the neonatal period in premature children and has a special interest in the education of medical providers, families, and self-advocates on the topic of developmental disabilities.