Craig Boerner

Hepatitis C infections among pregnant women nearly doubled from 2009-2014, likely a consequence of the country’s increasing opioid epidemic that is disproportionately affecting rural areas of states including Tennessee and West Virginia. Read More

David Penson, M.D., MPH, Paul V. Hamilton, M.D., and Virginia E. Howd Professor of Urologic Oncology and chair of the Department of Urologic Surgery, has been selected to chair the American Urological Association (AUA) Science & Quality Council, according to an announcement from the AUA Board of Directors. Read More

Melissa Kaufman, M.D., Ph.D., associate professor of Urologic Surgery, received the 2017 Zimskind Award at the Society of Urodynamics, Female Pelvic Medicine, and Urogenital Reconstruction (SUFU) Winter Meeting in Scottsdale, Arizona. Read More

Faced with the negative quality-of-life effects from surgery and radiation treatments for prostate cancer, low risk patients may instead want to consider active surveillance with their physician, according to a study released Tuesday by the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA). Read More

Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) is one of four centers receiving a $15 million, four-year research award from the American Heart Association (AHA) to provide cutting-edge research on obesity as part of its sixth Strategically Focused Research Network (SFRN). Read More

Social risk factors including income, education and ethnic background influence health outcomes and should be taken into account in Medicare payment models, according to a New England Journal of Medicine “Perspective” titled “Social Risk Factors and Equity in Medicare Payment.” Read More

The researchers examine whether the financial struggles of some major insurers under the Affordable Care Act reflect a policy failure or a mismatch of these firms’ capabilities and strategies to a newly created market. Read More

Vanderbilt University scientists have received notification from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration that testing in humans may proceed for an investigational new drug for Alzheimer's disease after more than 10 years of research by scientists at Vanderbilt University and Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Read More

An increasing number of newborns are being born with drug withdrawal symptoms from opioids in rural areas of the United States as compared to births in urban areas, according to a JAMA Pediatrics study. Read More

The REACH study is offering Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) primary care patients with type 2 diabetes an opportunity to more easily track medication adherence, monitor A1C results, and make healthy lifestyle choices via text messaging. Read More

Vanderbilt University Medical Center is the world’s first site to treat a patient in the TULSA-PRO Ablation Clinical Trial (TACT), which employs an emerging therapy that uses MRI guidance and robotically driven therapeutic ultrasound to obtain precise prostate cancer tissue ablation. Read More

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is launching its Voices of the NIH Community website, which features a collection of StoryCorps audio recordings from patients, families, researchers, doctors, nurses, staff and volunteers in both the NIH and Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) communities. Read More

In one of the largest, most representative health surveys conducted to date, lesbian, gay and bisexual adults reported substantially higher rates of severe psychological distress, heavy drinking and smoking, and impaired physical health than did heterosexuals. Read More

Long-acting opioids are associated with a significantly increased risk of death when compared with alternative medications for moderate-to-severe chronic pain, according to a Vanderbilt study released today in the Journal of the American Medical Assocation (JAMA). Read More

The Society for Urodynamics and Female Urology (SUFU), the premier specialty society for female pelvic medicine and reconstructive surgery, is awarding Vanderbilt’s Roger Dmochowski, M.D., professor of Urologic Surgery, with its SUFU Lifetime Achievement Award. Read More

Vanderbilt University Medical Center’s Sachin Patel, associate professor of Psychiatry and of Molecular Physiology and Biophysics, is one of 106 researchers named today by President Obama as a recipient of the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers, the highest honor bestowed by the United States government on science and engineering professionals in the early stages of their independent research careers. Read More

The Nashville Health Care Council is naming Vanderbilt’s Sam Chang, M.D., MBA, professor of Urologic Surgery and Oncology, and Neal Patel, M.D., professor of Clinical Pediatrics, to its 2016 Council Fellows class, selected by the Council Fellows Advisory Committee led by former U.S. Sen. Majority Leader Bill Frist, M.D. Read More

The Houston Academy of Medicine and Harris County Medical Society awarded William Schaffner, M.D., professor of Preventive Medicine, with the 2016 John P. McGovern Compleat Physician Award last week. Read More

The Society of Urologic Oncology (SUO) is recognizing Joseph Smith Jr., M.D., professor of Urologic Surgery, with the Huggins Medal, its highest honor, for his lifetime contributions to the progress in treatment for patients with genitourinary neoplasms, which are tumors or cancer of the reproductive organs and the urinary system. Read More

William Schaffner, M.D., professor of Preventive Medicine, is this year’s recipient of the American Public Health Association’s (APHA) 2015 John Snow Award, a longstanding award given in recognition of “enduring contributions to public health through epidemiologic methods and practice.” Read More