Nancy J. Brown, M.D. is the Jean and David W. Wallace Dean of Yale School of Medicine and the C.N.H. Long professor of Internal Medicine. Prior to coming to Yale, Dr. Brown served as chair of the Vanderbilt Department of Medicine and physician-in-chief of Vanderbilt University Medical Center from 2010 to 2020.
Dr. Brown’s research has focused on the mechanisms through which the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone, kallikrein-kinin, and incretin systems affect inflammation, thrombosis, metabolism and cardiovascular risk. Her lab defined the contribution of endogenous bradykinin to fibrinolysis in humans and the prothrombotic and fibrotic effects of aldosterone mediated by plasminogen activator inhibitor-1. Her research group identified African ancestry and specific genetic variants as risk factors for angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor-associated angioedema. Ongoing research in the laboratory focuses on the mechanism(s) of combined angiotensin receptor blocker (ARB)/neprilysin inhibitors in heart failure as well as on the cardiovascular effects of incretin-based anti-diabetic therapies.
As a clinician, Dr. Brown’s specializes in the diagnosis and treatment of resistant hypertension; since coming to Yale, she has volunteered in the student-run HAVEN clinic. Throughout her career, Dr. Brown has worked to promote the development of physician-scientists. She established the Vanderbilt Master of Science in Clinical Investigation in 2000. From 2006-2010, she served as the Associate Dean for Clinical and Translational Scientist Development at Vanderbilt and established an institutional infrastructure to support physician-scientists in the transition to independence.
Dr. Brown served on the NIH National Advisory Research Resources Council and the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Advisory Council. Her research has been recognized by the Harriet Dustan Award from the American Heart Association, the E.K. Frey-E. Werle Foundation, the August M. Watanabe Prize in Translational Research, and others. In 2018, she was named the Robert H. Williams, MD, Distinguished Chair of Medicine by the Association of Professors of Medicine.
Dr. Brown is a fellow in the American Association for the Advancement of Science and a member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation, the American Association of Physicians, the American Clinical and Climatological Association, the National Academy of Medicine, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.