Dr. Beauchamp is the John Clinton Foshee Distinguished Professor of Surgery and a Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology. He also serves co-leader of the Gastrointestinal Cancer Research Program. Dr. Beauchamp is the former Chair of the Section of Surgical Sciences and Surgeon-in-Chief of Vanderbilt University Hospital, holding these positions from July 2001 to July 2018. His clinical practice encompassed Surgical Oncology including GI cancers, melanoma, sarcomas and breast cancer for almost 20 years, but is currently focused on breast cancer.

Dr. Beauchamp has two active R01 grants from NIH, and co-leads one of the main projects in the GI Cancer SPORE. His primary area of research interest has been in colorectal carcinogenesis, the biology of cancer cell invasion and metastasis, and in the identification of novel molecular biomarkers and therapeutic targets in colorectal and other alimentary tract malignancies. His work applies genomic, transcriptomic and proteomic technology to identify novel biomarkers and therapeutic targets in colorectal cancer. He also uses molecular genetics, chemical biology and cell biological approaches to examine mechanistic questions in cancer biology in both cell culture and mouse models. They have also developed a chemical biology project and have identified probes that inhibit Epithelial-to-Mesenchymal transition and restore E-cadherin expression in cells in which E-cadherin transcription is repressed. In addition to the basic cancer research, Dr. Beauchamp works in collaboration with his Medical Oncology and Radiation Oncology colleagues to accrue cancer patients to approved cancer clinical trials. He has trained and mentored numerous junior faculty members, physician scientist fellows, medical students, graduate students and post-doctoral fellows in his laboratory.