Dr. Kristen  Ciombor is an Associate Professor in the Division of Hematology/Oncology at the Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, TN. She received her medical degree from the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine in Miami, FL and completed her internal medicine residency and chief residency at the University of Miami/Jackson Medical Center/Miami VA Medical Center. She then completed her fellowship in hematology/oncology at Vanderbilt, where she also graduated with a Master’s of Science  in Clinical Investigation. A  board-certified medical oncologist, Dr. Ciombor specializes in the treatment of patients with gastrointestinal cancers. Her research involves the design and implementation of clinical trials for GI malignancies, and colorectal  cancer in particular. She also has a research interest in the genomics of colorectal cancer and translational medicine, and she leads multiple national investigator-initiated clinical trials in this space. She is a co-investigator on the Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center’s (VICC) Gastrointestinal Specialized Program of Research Excellence (GI SPORE), chair of the Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) colorectal/anal cancer working group, and a member of the National Cancer Institute (NCI) Rectal Cancer Task Force, National Comprehensive Cancer Network’s (NCCN) Colorectal/Anal/Small Bowel Guidelines Panel, the Academic GI Cancer Consortium (AGICC), and the Academic and Community Cancer Research United (ACCRU), of which she serves on the board of directors. She is the principal investigator of Vanderbilt's National Clinical Trials Network (NCTN) grant and the co-leader of the Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center's Translational Research and Interventional Oncology Program.