Reporter Feb 22 2013

A careful look at how the body’s natural defenses disarm virulent strains of influenza hints at the possibility of a way to fight the flu. Read More

Blackford Middleton, M.D., MPH, M.Sc., corporate director of clinical informatics research and development at Partners Healthcare in Boston, will join Vanderbilt later this month in the role of assistant vice chancellor for Health Affairs and chief informatics officer for Vanderbilt University Health System. He succeeds John Doulis, M.D. Read More

The Patient & Family Promise will be rolled out to the public next week. Read More

“Brain Blast,” a half-day of free, hands-on activities for children and adults will be held from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., Saturday, March 2, at Vanderbilt Health One Hundred Oaks. Read More

Vanderbilt’s Center for Patient and Professional Advocacy has named its inaugural class of 34 scholarship recipients to participate in the Certification Board for Professionals in Patient Safety’s (CBPPS) certification program. Read More

(photo by Anne Rayner) At last week’s pediatric nursing job fair at the Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt, newly employed Penny Marmito, right, looks on as Stephanie Abbu, MSN, R.N., second from right, hands off Marmito’s paperwork to Talent Acquisition’s Ellen Sewell, left, and Sandra… Read More

Smokers who want assistance to help them kick the habit are invited to a free counseling session with a “quit-smoking” adviser, Tuesday, Feb. 26, 5:30-7:30 p.m. at Vanderbilt Health One Hundred Oaks, first floor conference room. Read More

André Churchwell, M.D., associate dean of Diversity and associate professor of Medicine, Radiology and Biomedical Engineering, was named the first president of a newly formed cardiovascular fellows society by his alma mater, Emory University School of Medicine, where he completed his graduate medical education. Read More

“Nashville Elvis” will be in the building at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and Vanderbilt Health One Hundred Oaks, Friday, March 1, to celebrate colon cancer awareness. Read More

The Friends of Monroe Carell Jr. Children's Hospital at Vanderbilt Holiday Project saw another banner year, raising $75,000 in 2012 for the hospital. Read More

“There and Home Again, Safely: 5 Responsibilities of Ambulatory Practices in High Quality Care Transitions,” a new white paper from the American Medical Association (AMA), is the work of a 19-member expert panel that included two Vanderbilt faculty members — Sunil Kripalani, M.D., M.Sc., associate professor of Medicine, and Amanda Salanitro M.D., MS, MSPH, instructor in Medicine, both from the section of Hospital Medicine in the Department of Medicine’s Division of General Internal Medicine and Public Health. Read More

(photo by Steve Green) Keith Churchwell, M.D., executive director and chief medical officer of Vanderbilt Heart and Vascular Institute, addressed his colleagues on Valentine’s Day at the quarterly Town Hall. Patient visits to Vanderbilt Heart’s main campus clinic are projected to be on budget for the fiscal… Read More

Vanderbilt University had an $8.6 billion impact on the Tennessee state economy during fiscal year 2011-12, according to an independent economic analysis released today. Read More

Vanderbilt investigators report new insights to the workings of calprotectin, an immune system protein that “starves” bacterial pathogens of the metal nutrients they require. Read More

It’s a skill few parents ever think they’ll have to use, but it can be an invaluable, life-saving tool — cardiopulmonary resuscitation, mostly commonly known as CPR. Read More

Dramatic reductions in infection rates throughout Vanderbilt’s inpatient care units are strongly associated with gains in hand hygiene compliance, according to Chief Hospital Epidemiol-ogist Tom Talbot, M.D., MPH, associate professor of Preventive Medicine. Read More

Chancellor Nicholas S. Zeppos spent Feb. 12 and 13 in Washington, D.C., meeting with congressional leaders and making the case for federal investments in science and engineering research and education. Read More

Kim Duncan donated a kidney to her husband, Thomas, on Valentine’s Day last week. (photo by Daniel Dubois) For the nearly 25 years Thomas Duncan has been married, he was crowned the king of Valentine’s Day gift giving. Not this year however, says his wife, Kim, who… Read More