Issues

In addition to being named to U.S. News & World Report magazine’s “honor roll” of the nation’s best hospitals, Vanderbilt Medical Center and its ongoing efforts to improve quality of care and patient safety were the subject of a 12-page story in the magazine’s annual “America’s Best Hospitals” issue published… Read More

Project scientists Joshua Pepper, Keivan Stassun and David James with the KELT telescope Vanderbilt astronomers have constructed a special-purpose telescope that will allow them to participate in one of the hottest areas in astronomy: the hunt for earthlike planets circling other stars. The instrument, called the Kilodegree Extremely Little Telescope… Read More

  Dr. Andy Norman meets with a former patient in Nigeria. Vanderbilt University School of Medicine’s Institute for Global Health has received a one-year, $3 million federal grant to provide AIDS treatment and prevention services in Nigeria. It is the second major treatment grant the institute has received under PEPFAR, the… Read More

  “The two most important dates in everyone’s life [are] the day you were born and the day you realized why you were born. When I landed in New Orleans after Katrina, I knew why I was born.” ~Lt. Gen. Russel Honoré in a Sept. 18 address launching the Vanderbilt University School… Read More

Vanderbilt University Medical Center recently performed its third organ transplant in which organs were harvested from donors who were pronounced dead because of cardiac death. The new organ-procurement protocol differs from the longstanding practice of using an organ donor whose heart is still beating until the time the organs are harvested. Read More

Vanderbilt is No. 18 in this year’s “America’s Best Colleges” edition of annual rankings by U.S. News & World Report magazine. The university climbed one position from last year, tying with Emory University and the University of Notre Dame. Vanderbilt also ranked No. 14 among national universities in… Read More

It’s hard to find good smoke patrols. They’re expected to go up to people and explain that they’re violating our rules. ~Ken Browning, director of VUMC Plant Services Don’t even think about lighting up on the Vanderbilt Medical Center campus. On Sept. 1, VUMC enacted a ban reflecting a strong… Read More

Vanderbilt’s football team rocketed to No. 13 in national rankings—no, that’s not a misprint—after beating Auburn University 14-13 on Oct. 4. The game marked the Commodores’ fifth straight win this year and its first win against the Tigers since 1955, giving Vanderbilt a 5-0 season for the first time… Read More

Editor GayNelle Doll Art Director and Designer Donna DeVore Pritchett Editorial Associate Editor and Advertising Manager Phillip B. Tucker Arts and Culture Editor Bonnie Arant Ertelt, BS’81 Class Notes and Sports Editor Nelson Bryan, BA’73 Production and Design Assistant Director, Photography Services… Read More

October 2008: A 62-year-old man, otherwise healthy, notices his heart is beating rapidly and irregularly. When he goes to see his doctor, a common heart-rhythm abnormality called atrial fibrillation is diagnosed. Many therapeutic options are discussed, and the patient elects to try drugs to keep his heart rhythm normal. Read More

Family Ties First, I want to say a word about how much I am enjoying the magazine. The Spring 2008 issue with the Holocaust memories [“In the Face of Destruction”] was very personal because of the real Vanderbilt people involved. The story of Montgomery Bell [Southern Journal, “… Read More

The first magazine I remember enjoying as a child was Reader’s Digest, a family-friendly staple in American middle-class households of the 1960s. The articles were short and accessible. Whole sections of each issue were devoted to jokes: “Life in These United States,” “Humor in Uniform,” “All in a Day’s Work.”… Read More

Eric Etheridge Eric Etheridge, BA’79, grew up in Mississippi and has worked as an editor at several magazines, including Rolling Stone, The New York Observer and Harper’s. For his recent book, Breach of Peace: Portraits of the 1961 Mississippi Freedom Riders, Etheridge paired original mug shots with contemporary portraits, personal… Read More

Vanderbilt researchers have received a five-year, $5.7 million federal grant to study the human brain using one of the world’s most powerful magnets. The National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering grant represents the renewal of a Bioengineering Research Partnership grant originally awarded for $4 million in 2002 to… Read More

U.S. ARMY PHOTO/STAFF SGT. RUSSELL LEE KLIKA June 28, 2006, Iraq. As the Humvee passed through the streets, Command Sgt. Maj. David Allard spotted the Taliban in their distinctive cloaks. Nothing unusual about that–yet something told Allard to look back. He shifted his weight forward and turned his head… Read More

Photo by Daniel Dubois. “There were no rules, there was no hierarchy, there was no management. “ –Howard Lutnick, chairman and CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald, on how his firm rallied after 658 of 970 employees perished in the World Trade Center. Lutnick spoke at Commencement for the Owen… Read More

www.vanderbilthealth.com/clinicaltrials Asthma? Sleep apnea? A spare tire around your waist? Whatever the malady, chances are Vanderbilt is studying it in a clinical research trial. This new Web site aims to at least triple the number of volunteers for clinical trials of new vaccines, cancer treatments, and a multitude of… Read More

Scott Avett of the Avett Brothers Band performs at Rites of Spring, an annual student-produced music festival to celebrate the end of the academic year. Headline acts for the April 18-19 event were Spoon and Lil Jon. PHOTO BY JENNY MANDEVILLE… Read More

Photo by Daniel Dubois. RNA Interference Heals Growth Deficiency Disorder Vanderbilt researchers have demonstrated for the first time that a new type of gene therapy called “RNA interference” can heal a genetic disorder in a live animal. Their study, published last fall by the journal Endocrinology, shows that RNA… Read More

    Photo by Steve Green     Coach Johnson Honored for Suicide Prevention Work Head Football Coach Bobby Johnson was recognized during a ceremony in March for his efforts toward youth suicide prevention when The Jason Foundation presented him with its Grant Teaff “Breaking the Silence” Award. The award… Read More