Lori Chaffin Jordan

Lori C. Jordan, MD, PhD is Associate Professor of Pediatrics, Neurology and Radiology at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. After completing residency in child neurology and an adult stroke fellowship at Johns Hopkins Hospital, she earned a PhD at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Currently, she directs the Vanderbilt Pediatric Stroke Program. Her research has focused on understanding cerebral physiology and stroke risk in sickle cell disease (SCD) in children and young adults. Dr. Jordan has elucidated the potential causes of stroke and silent cerebral infarcts in SCD while applying novel neuroimaging methods. She has studied altered cerebral hemodynamics as a cause of silent cerebral infarcts, strokes, and cognitive dysfunction in children and adults with SCD. She has focused on brain health and stroke prevention in the underrepresented but high-risk population of children and young adults with SCD (median life expectancy is still only 48 years of age in the United States). More recently, Dr. Jordan has expanded her work to study factors impacting brain health in children with chronic illnesses such as type 1 diabetes and congenital heart disease. Dr. Jordan’s research has been funded by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney disease, and the American Heart Association. She is an Assistant Editor of the journal Stroke and is a member of the editorial boards of Neurology and Pediatric Neurology. She serves on the board of the nonprofit professional organization, the International Pediatric Stroke Association. She particularly enjoys teaching and mentoring at all levels of training.