Ms. Taylor is a licensed and certified genetic counselor with expertise in research genetics and hereditary cancers. She joined the Vanderbilt Department of Medicine in the Division of Genetic Medicine as an Associate in Medicine in 2013, after working as a project manager and research genetic counselor in the Center for Human Genetics Research at VUMC.

She primarily sees patients with a personal and/or family history of breast and other cancer in the Hereditary Cancer Clinic in the Breast Center at One Hundred Oaks. Ms. Taylor also evaluates patients as a research genetic counselor. Ms. Taylor manages a variety of studies being conducted by the Hereditary Cancer Program, including Targeted Exome Profiling for Colorectal Cancer Susceptibility and Investigating Hereditary Risk from T790M (INHERIT). Ms. Taylor is also managing the development of the Vanderbilt Hereditary Cancer Registry. The overall purpose of this registry is to identify genetic factors that predispose to tumor development and affect outcomes. Ms. Taylor lectures in VUMC courses for the Human Genetics PhD Program, lay groups, and supervises genetic counseling interns and student workers.

Ms. Taylor received her MS in genetic counseling from the University of Michigan in 1995 and her certification in genetic counseling from the American Board of Genetic Counseling in 2002. She received certification as a clinical research professional from the Society of Clinical Research Professionals in 2011. Ms. Taylor has over 18 years of experience as a clinical genetic counselor and project manager for genetic research studies. Prior to joining the Clinical & Translational Hereditary Cancer Program, she worked in the Center for Human Genetics Research at VUMC. Prior to coming to coming to Vanderbilt in 2002, she worked as genetic counselor at the University of California San Francisco and at the University of Michigan.

Ms. Taylor is very active in the National Society of Genetic Counselors and is the past chair of the NSGC Research Subcommittee and Research Special Interest Group. She is particularly interested in ethical and legal issues in genetic research and clinical genetics and was a member of the working groups that drafted 3 NSGC position statements, including statements on DNA-sequence patenting, somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) and stem cell research. She currently serves on the NSGC CEU Review Subcommittee.