Kaylon Bruner Tran holds a PhD in reproductive pathology and is an active medical research scientist with a laboratory at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee. She is best known for her medical research studies examining endometriosis and the generational effects of environmental toxicant exposure. She is particularly interested in how such exposures may lead to the development of reproductive disease and dysfunction across generations. Much of her research is focused on the effects of dioxin, the chemical contaminant of Agent Orange that has been linked to numerous adverse health effects in veterans, their children, and the population of Vietnam.

Kaylon was born in Little Rock, Arkansas but grew up in Grenada, Mississippi. She attended Delta State University for her undergraduate degrees and Vanderbilt University for her PhD. After post-graduate studies in Philadelphia (Thomas Jefferson University), she returned to Nashville and joined the faculty at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

Kaylon has always loved writing and throughout her life has written non-fiction essays to help her remember different events in her own life. When her sons were little, she was annoyed that so many cartoons included an evil scientist. In response, she started making up stories about good scientists to tell them at bedtime. And of course, as a scientist, writing and publishing research studies is critical to advancing knowledge as well as one’s career. To this end, she has published more than 75 manuscripts and book chapters for medical and scientific audiences. Despite all this, Kaylon had never considered writing a novel until an unexpected personal event. Because her and her ex-husband’s heritages were so different, she was curious about her children’s DNA mixture. Kaylon submitted saliva samples from her family to AncestryDNA—which led to the discovery of a previously unknown relative who was looking for his biological mother. The story that unfolded became the inspiration for Kaylon’s first novel, Time Intertwined. At the time, she thought it would be the only one she would ever write—but apparently not. The one book has become a trilogy and Kaylon has found a new passion in addition to being a mom and scientist.