Month: December 2013

A metabolic enzyme plays a crucial role in vascular development and may be a good target for cancer therapies. Read More

Beth Fox gives us a QuickVU of the must-see videos on Vandy’s Youtube channel. Take a look back at other top hits from Vanderbilt’s social media this year >> [vucastblurb]… Read More

I’m leaving Africa with a heavy heart and a monumental task before me. When saying goodbyes at the Center for the Rehabilitation of Child Soldiers, Edna [not her real name]—an 18-year-old who was abducted by Ugandan rebels at the age of 12—asked me to promise her two things. First, not to forget the experiences and lives of the women I had been working with for the past year. Second, that I would use my voice to create positive change. Read More

The breast cancer drug tamoxifen improves cognitive performance in post-menopausal women. Read More

With their intricate, translucent shapes and elaborate bioluminescent displays, comb jellies add beauty and mystery to the ocean depths. They also have an important story to tell about the origin of animals. Read More

Lift Ev’ry Voice “First-generation students who don’t have cultural capital, who don’t come to the table with college-educated parents or economic resources—for those kids to walk across the stage at graduation makes every single day worthwhile,” says Roslyn Clark Artis of her work in higher education. Read More

The protein CK1 delays cell division to avoid the generation of defects that drive tumorigenesis. Read More

A five-year study to explore new technologies that automate patient care outside of hospitals and doctors’ offices will identify ways technology can provide real-time feedback and guidance to patients and to alert care coordination teams before health issues escalate. Read More

Vanderbilt University and the University of Maryland have teamed up to introduce a new approach to massive open online courses, or MOOCs – a two-part, sequenced course offered through the digital learning platform Coursera. Read More

Routine tuberculosis (TB) skin testing for Vanderbilt staff and faculty will resume Monday, Dec. 16, after temporarily being suspended since September due to a national shortage of the TB skin testing solution Tubersol. Read More

A protein kinase linked to inflammation and tumor development may be a good target for gastric cancer therapies. Read More

iStock Peer solicitation – a child inviting another to play – can improve reciprocal social interaction among children with autism, according to a Vanderbilt University study released today in the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry. Researchers studied playground interactions between children with autism and typically… Read More

Michael Petracek, M.D., has been named chair of Vanderbilt’s Department of Cardiac Surgery. Read More

Jeffrey Sosman, M.D., professor of Medicine and leader of the Vanderbilt Melanoma Program, will head one of two teams of researchers at prominent national institutions investigating acral melanoma, a skin cancer that typically forms on the hands, soles of the feet or under the fingernails. Read More

Faculty members Josh Denny, M.D., M.S., associate professor of Biomedical Informatics and Medicine, and Paul Harris, Ph.D., associate professor of Biomedical Informatics and research associate professor of Biomedical Engineering, are among six fellows elected this year to the American College of Medical Informatics. Read More

Christoph Lehmann, M.D., and a handful of fellow experts in clinical informatics have secured official recognition for their subspecialty from the American Board of Medical Specialties. Read More

The Tennessee Center for Performance Excellence (TNCPE) is awarding Vanderbilt Bill Wilkerson Center’s Department of Otolaryngology with its Commitment Award in the annual Excellence in Tennessee recognition program. Read More

Just before 3 p.m. on April 15, two bombs exploded at the finish line of the Boston Marathon. Of the estimated 27,000 runners and 500,000 spectators present, three people were killed and 281 injured. Preparation, execution and teamwork — along with a large dose of luck — kept casualties to a minimum, according to Mitchel Harris, M.D., chief of the Orthopaedic Trauma Service at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. Read More

Donald Brady, M.D., senior associate dean for Graduate Medical Education and Continuing Professional Development, will serve a one-year term as chair of the board of directors of the American Academy on Communication in Healthcare (AACH) for 2014. Brady spent this year serving as president and will transition into a one-year role as chair. Read More

(photo by Rex Perry) Dancers from the Nashville Ballet recently performed a piece from “The Nutcracker” for patients and families at the Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt. Read More