Year: 2014

Vanderbilt psychologists Robert Reinhart and Geoffrey Woodman show that selectively manipulating one’s ability to learn through the application of a mild electrical current to the brain is possible, and that this effect can be enhanced or depressed depending on the direction of the current. Read More

“Doctor shopping,” or going to multiple doctors for narcotic prescriptions, is prevalent among more than 20 percent of orthopedic trauma patients, according to a new Vanderbilt study. Read More

An ultrafast, ultrasmall optical switch could advance the day when photons replace electrons in the innards of consumer products ranging from cellphones to automobiles. Read More

Lone star tick bites are likely the cause of thousands of cases of severe red-meat allergies plaguing patients in Southeastern states and spreading up the Eastern Seaboard. Read More

Marijuana's effects on the brain | Income inequality's impact on Americans' health | Evolutionary mismatch between humans, microbes | Music therapy for premature babies Read More

Dr. Robert Mahley recently received a $2.5 million grant from the Wellcome Trust to fast-track a drug that could neutralize the protein researchers believe is the genetic cause of Alzheimer’s disease—the apolipoprotein E4, or ApoE4. Read More

Four of the longest-running fundraisers for Vanderbilt University Medical Center are also local Nashville traditions. Iroquois Steeplechase, the Music City Tennis Invitational (MCTI), Eve of Janus and Christmas Village collectively have contributed more than $20 million to VUMC. Read More

Recently, Amy Christine Ellis was named a master of wine by the Institute of Masters of Wine—one of only 312 people to hold that title worldwide, and one of only 10 women in the United States. Read More

Piper Hendricks is founder and president of p.h. balanced films, a nonprofit organization that makes awareness-raising documentary films. Read More

Five years ago Washington, D.C., alumni began hosting Alternative Spring Break students for a potluck dinner while the students were in town for their projects. The gatherings—simply intended to connect similarly service-minded students and alumni—have spread nationally in popularity, as 13 chapters welcomed students for potlucks or game-watching parties in 2014. Read More

The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation recently awarded Vanderbilt University more than $1.475 million to form the Mellon Partners for Humanities Education initiative, a partnership with Tennessee State University, Tougaloo College and Berea College. Read More

The Vanderbilt Alumni Association’s New York City Chapter brought together 84 alumni and guests in February for a technology entrepreneurship panel featuring alumni involved with six tech startup companies. Read More

Martha Stelling Christian of Fripp Island, S.C., died Oct. 22, 2013. She was 92. Read More

Fourth-generation engineer Wendell G. Anderson of Medford, N.J., died Dec. 22, 2013, at the age of 96. Read More

Roger Richman, a celebrity agent who represented the heirs of Marilyn Monroe, Albert Einstein, Mae West, Sigmund Freud, the Marx Brothers and many others, died Oct. 9, 2013, in Los Angeles. Read More

If you look at the word “red” written in green letters, it is significantly easier to say “red” than it is to say “green.” That is the essence of the Stroop effect, which was discovered in the 1930s by John Ridley Stroop as part of his doctoral thesis at George Peabody College for Teachers. Read More

Vanderbilt’s Commencement ceremony, which moved indoors this year because of rain, capped two days of activities for graduates and their guests. Read More

In 1988, Dr. William Frist and Dr. Harold Helderman are named surgical and medical directors of the newly developed Vanderbilt Transplant Center, centralizing transplant programs within a single entity. Read More

With temperatures rising in Middle Tennessee, safety experts at the Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt stress the danger of leaving children unattended in vehicles. Read More

These four tips could keep your children safe this summer. Read More