VCOTT site capability profile
vcott.org/sponsors/
Current as of November 9, 2026
Site capability
VCOTT, the Vanderbilt Collaborative for Obesity Trials and Translational science, conducts obesity trials at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee. Printed, this page is the group's site capability profile.
Therapeutic focus
Obesity and its treatment: metabolic and bariatric surgery, anti-obesity pharmacotherapy, surgery and medication in combination, and complications after bariatric surgery such as post-bariatric hypoglycemia.
The group conducts industry-sponsored and investigator-initiated interventional trials, pragmatic studies embedded in routine care, observational cohorts, and mechanistic studies using specimens from these patients.
Patient population
- New patients in medical weight management clinics
- More than 5,000 per year
- GLP-1 receptor agonist prescriptions
- More than 10,000 per year across the VUMC health system
- Adults with a recorded BMI of 30 or more in the past year
- More than 250,000 across the VUMC health system
- Catchment
- Middle Tennessee and neighboring states
Identifying eligible patients
Candidates for VCOTT's investigator-initiated trials are identified by automated screening in the electronic health record, applied to the active patient population rather than to the clinic schedule. How identification and screening work
Trial experience
The portfolio includes four registered studies: three interventional and one observational, including a phase 3 industry-sponsored trial for which the current site principal investigator is a VCOTT co-director. Current studies
Start-up
Typical time from a final protocol to site activation, including IRB approval, is four to eight weeks.
Specimens and laboratory capability
Biospecimen collection can be written into a protocol at the design stage. The group's translational arm provides laboratory analysis, including proteomics applied to adipose tissue, skeletal muscle, and plasma from trial participants.
Feasibility contact
Jason M. Samuels, MD, FACS, co-director for clinical trials. Send feasibility questionnaires, site qualification requests, and protocol synopses to feasibility@vcott.org.
Questions sponsors ask
Does VCOTT take on industry-sponsored trials?
Yes. The portfolio includes an industry-sponsored phase 3 trial, and each feasibility request is reviewed against the group's current commitments before a response is given.
Can a trial include a mechanistic or biospecimen sub-study?
Yes, when it is planned at protocol design. Sub-studies added after a trial has started rarely succeed, so the group discusses specimen collection during feasibility.
Does VCOTT conduct pragmatic or registry-based studies?
Yes. Its scope includes pragmatic studies embedded in routine care and comparative effectiveness analyses using registry or claims data.
How does a feasibility assessment begin?
Send the questionnaire or protocol synopsis to feasibility@vcott.org, addressed to Dr. Samuels.