The Tinsley Randolph Harrison Society

Lifetime support for physician-scientists

Named for the great teacher and clinical researcher, Tinsley Randolph Harrison, M.D. who came to Vanderbilt in 1925 as the first chief resident in Medicine, the Harrison Society is dedicated to the preservation of science in clinical medicine and to the scientific literacy of physicians who use this knowledge at the bedside.  

Participants in the Physician-Scientist Training Program will become lifetime members of the Tinsley Randolph Harrison Society.

The goals of the Harrison Society are to: 

  • Promote medical research relevant to internal medicine as a career discipline  
  • Benefit and aids the education, research, and patient care missions of its members by holding forums and meetings and publishing appropriate educational materials approved by its members 
  • Support new initiatives in education, biomedical research, and patient care for the benefit of physicians who practice internal medicine  

Play the video to learn more about the Harrison Society.

Membership in the Harrison Society

  • Student members: Participants in the Vanderbilt Medical Scientist Training Program (MD/PhD) who are pursuing Internal Medicine residency training qualify for membership in this category during their last year of medical school.  
  • Honorary members: Honorary membership in the Harrison Society will be bestowed on visiting professors.

Activities and Meetings  

  • Visiting Professorships:  Members convene three times per year during visits by distinguished physician-scientists invited to Vanderbilt University Medical Center by the Harrison Society.
  • Harrison Society Seminar Series: The Society hosts a monthly meeting for current scholars, faculty alumni, and invited special guests. Diverse programming includes invited lecturers, research-in-progress presentations, and career development panel discussions. This forum is designed to foster rich peer-to-peer and near-peer mentoring and networking, a primary goal of Society activities.  

The Harrison Society Seminar Series is a monthly meeting of Harrison scholars and alumni. The format alternates between career development panel discussions and fellow research-in-progress presentations. Seminars are held in-person primarily on Thursdays from 12-1 p.m. unless otherwise noted. 

Date and TimePresenter  TopicLocation
Past Talks


Jan. 18, 2024Matt Villaume, MD, PhDResearch-in-Progress1230 MRB IV / 12th Floor Light Hall

Feb. 22, 2024

Kieren Marr, MD, PhDHarrison/MGR Visiting Professor208 Light Hall
Feb. 22, 2024Kieren Marr, MD, PhDHarrison Visiting Professor Career Development Roundtable DiscussionD-3100 MCN - Rogers Conference Room
Mar. 21, 2024Robert Corty, MD, PhDResearch in Progress1230 MRB IV / 12th Floor Light Hall
April 18, 2024Jorge Marrero, MD, MS (Penn); Subramaniam Pennathur, MD (Michigan); Joy Wu, MD, PhD (Stanford)Division Chiefs PanelD-3100 MCN - Rogers Conference Room

May 23, 2024

Anna Greka, MD, PhDHarrison/MGR Visiting Professor208 Light Hall
May 23, 2024Anna Greka, MD, PhDHarrison Visiting Professor Career Development Roundtable DiscussionD-3100 MCN - Rogers Conference Room
June 6, 2024Patrick J. Hu, MD, PhDState of the Harrison Society1230 MRB IV / 12th Floor Light Hall
July 18, 2024Paul Lindau, MD, PhDResearch in Progress1230 MRB IV / 12th Floor Light Hall
Aug. 15, 2024Beau Hilton, MD, PhDResearch in Progress1230 MRB IV / 12th Floor Light Hall
Sept. 19, 2024Dr. Mike SteinReviewing GrantsMRBIV room 1230


The Society hosts three visiting professorships a year. The visiting professors are outstanding physician-scientist role models who are invited to VUMC to give the Riven Lecture at the Department of Medicine Grand Rounds. Visiting professors are also honored at a Harrison Society luncheon where our scholars have an opportunity to engage with our esteemed guests.  
Since the Harrison Society was founded, 85 honorary memberships have been bestowed on visiting professors; below is a list of guests from 2012-2024.

2023-2024
Muneesh Tewari (University of Michigan)
Kieren Marr (Johns Hopkins University)
Anna Greka (Harvard Medical School)

2022-2023  
Ross Levine (Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center)  
Katrina Armstrong (Columbia University)  
Sohail Tavazoie (The Rockefeller University)

2021-2022  
Mary Armanios (Johns Hopkins University)   
John Carethers (University of Michigan Medical School)  
Daniel Drucker (Mount Sinai Hospital, Toronto, Ontario) 

2020-2021  
Domenico Accili (Columbia University)   
Norman E. "Ned" Sharpless (National Institutes of Health)  
Ana Maria Cuervo (Albert Einstein College of Medicine)  
Sekar "Sek" Kathiresan (Co-Founder and CEO; Verve Therapeutics)  
  
2019-2020  
Seung Kim (Stanford University)  
Mark Ginsberg (University of California, San Diego)  
Jedd Wolchok (Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center)  
  
2018-2019  
Vincent Yang (Stony Brook University)  
Mone Zaidi (Mount Sinai School of Medicine)  
Serpil Erzurum (Lerner Research Institute, Cleveland Clinic)  
Martin Myers (University of Michigan Medical School)  

2017-2018  
Cornelia Weyand (Stanford University)  
Peter Arvan (University of Michigan Medical School)  
Michael Parmacek (University of Pennsylvania)  
Gregg Semenza (2019 Nobel Laureate in Physiology or Medicine; Johns Hopkins University)  

2016-2017  
Marc Pfeffer (Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School)  
Ronald Falk (University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill)  
David Relman (Stanford University)  
Nancy Lane (University of California, Davis Health System)  

2015-2016  
Raymond DuBois (The Biodesign Institute, ASU)  
Roy Zent (Vanderbilt University)  
Paul Rothman (Johns Hopkins University)  
Jean Schaffer (Washington University in St. Louis)  

2014-2015  
Edward Benz (Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard Medical School)  
Howard Rockman (Duke University)  
Joseph Bonventre (Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School)  
Eric Fearon (University of Michigan Medical School)  

2013-2014  
Andrew Schaffer (Cornell University)  
Bruce Walker (HHMI, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School)  
Wayne Yokayama (HHMI, Washington University in St. Louis)  

2012-2013  
Jeffrey Drazen (New England Journal of Medicine; Harvard Medical School)  
Mark Anderson (University of Iowa)  
William Kaelin (2019 Nobel Laureate in Physiology or Medicine; Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, HHMI, Harvard Medical School)  
Mary Klotman (Duke University) 

Harrison Society Officers

Jane Freedman, MD

Interim President, Harrison Society
Chair, Department of Medicine
Professor of Medicine

Patrick J. Hu, MD, PhD

Executive Secretary, Harrison Society
Director, Physician-Scientist Training Program 
Associate Professor of Medicine

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Your generosity to The Tinsley Randolph Harrison Society, named for Vanderbilt's first chief resident in Medicine, helps provides support to residents in the Physician-Scientist Training Program as they pursue clinical and basic research.

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