Kaylon’s Story

From Scientist to Novelist

Kaylon grew up in Grenada, Mississippi (USA). She attended Delta State University for her undergraduate degrees in Biology and Chemistry before earning her PhD in Reproductive Pathology from Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee. After post-graduate studies at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, she returned to Nashville and joined the faculty at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

At Vanderbilt, Dr. Bruner-Tran’s laboratory developed experimental models for the study of endometriosis and for examining the generational effects of environmental toxicant exposure. A major focus of her lab was to understand how such exposures lead to the development of reproductive disease and dysfunction across generations. Much of her research 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. Using a mouse model, Dr. Bruner-Tran’s laboratory was the first to demonstrate dioxin exposure of the father increases the risk of preterm birth in his pregnant partner.

By some twist of fate, Kaylon married a Vietnamese immigrant and started a family. Curiosity eventually led to their having the family’s DNA analyzed. That decision led to the discovery of a previously unknown relative who’d been born in Vietnam during the war. The story of their new relative put a very personal spin on Kaylon’s Agent Orange research. She began to consider the many Western soldiers who’d left lovers and children in Vietnam and realized their stories needed to be told. That’s when she began writing her first novel, Time Intertwined.  It was published in 2021 and she thought it would be the only book she ever wrote. Instead, the one book became the first of an award-winning trilogy.

After retiring from active medical research in 2025, she returned to her native Mississippi where she now balances her time between freelance medical writing and creating well-researched fictional stories for history and mystery lovers.