Nancy J. Cox, Ph.D., is the Mary Phillips Edmonds Gray Professor of Genetics, director of the Vanderbilt Genetics Institute, and director of the Division of Genetic Medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. She initiated the first large-scale genetic/genomic consortium in type 2 diabetes and has active research and advisory roles in many of the top genomic consortia that provide the foundation for current studies in human genetics and genomics.