Health And Medicine

WATCH: Today’s fight against infectious diseases is being waged in the computer lab as much as the wet lab. Using artificial intelligence and machine learning, Vanderbilt researchers and students like School of Engineering undergraduate Karen Pu are expanding the power of computer modeling to identify mutating viruses—and potentially improve vaccines. Read More

Monica Keith, assistant professor of anthropology, recently published insights into the complex factors contributing to maternal hypertension and health disparities. This research sheds light on the alarming rates of hypertensive disorders of pregnancy in the United States, particularly among Black mothers. Read More

Vanderbilt researchers report that when people who are having their brains scanned by fMRI perform a task, like wiggling their fingers, certain signals increase in white matter throughout the brain, which has long been thought to play a lesser role the more the brain's more energetic gray matter. Read More

New faculty Makayla Cordoza will work with VUMC patients to assess their quality of sleep before and during hospitalization, to better understand how to prevent ICU delirium. Read More

Vanderbilt University School of Nursing has received a four-year, $2.8 million Health Resources and Services Administration Bureau of Health Workforce grant for a primary care nurse practitioner residency program that will recruit, train and retain primary care providers with a passion for helping rural and underserved communities. Read More

With colleagues from Meharry Medical College, Tuskegee University and the World Health Organization, T.S. Harvey and Ted Fischer will examine the manifold contributions of the cultural context of health to emerging and persistent health inequalities. Read More

Robert Webster and Charleson Bell will lead regional Research Evaluation and Commercialization Hub to propel inclusive innovation and catalyze a medical innovation economy. Read More

Widespread trust in vaccines often leads to higher vaccination rates, but vaccine shortages can deter even those with confidence in vaccines. Furthermore, while vaccine mandates can create an appearance of universal vaccination, people may remain hesitant, resulting in lower compliance than anticipated. Read More

The grant will prepare genetic counselors to contribute more fully to the advancement of personalized medicine. Nancy Cox, Ph.D., who directs the Vanderbilt Genetics Institute and the Division of Genetic Medicine, and Martha Dudek, M.S. CGC, director of the Vanderbilt Master of Genetic Counseling program, will serve as co-principal investigators. Read More

A Vanderbilt study found that a molecular signature that predicts aggressive thyroid cancer could help guide treatment approaches for patients. Read More

A new study by Vanderbilt researchers provides a remarkably detailed view of the earliest events leading to the development of cancer, and of potential new ways to prevent it. Read More

Vanderbilt researchers found reduced net flow of cerebrospinal fluid in Huntington’s disease, which could contribute to mutant protein retention and altered responsiveness to medications delivered via the spinal cord. Read More

Vanderbilt researchers have uncovered a potential new way to help curb the rapidly rising worldwide prevalence of metabolic disorders, including obesity and diabetes. Read More

The Robert J. Kleberg, Jr. and Helen C. Kleberg Foundation has awarded a three-year grant to support research led by Houra Merrikh, PhD, professor of Biochemistry, and Ben Ho Park, MD, PhD, the Benjamin F. Byrd Jr. Professor of Oncology and director of Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center, to create an anti-evolution drug to reduce the capacity of cancer cells to develop resistance. Read More

Vanderbilt researchers have demonstrated that a cluster of microRNAs — small pieces of RNA that regulate gene expression — work in a type of immune cells called macrophages to help protect against metabolic defects in obesity. Read More

Being named a fellow is one of the highest distinctions the nursing profession bestows, as it recognizes the impact an individual has made on health, health care and nursing. Professors Jennifer Kim and Rolanda Johnson and Assistant Professors Leanne Boehm and Lori Schirle will be inducted into the academy on Oct. 7. Read More

Researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and the Nashville Veterans Affairs Medical Center have “cracked” the genomic code for sepsis in the lungs and kidneys. Read More

Kendra M. Faucett, DNP, BS’00, CNM, APRN, CNE, FACNM, will become academic director for the Vanderbilt University School of Nursing’s Nurse-Midwifery specialty on September 18. She comes to Nashville from her role as an assistant professor and course coordinator at Frontier Nursing University.  “I am thrilled to be joining the No. 1 midwifery program in the country,” Faucett said. “Vanderbilt has an outstanding reputation,... Read More

10 basic sciences graduate students were recognized for their high academic and scientific achievement and for the originality, significance, and rigor of their dissertation research with the Dean’s Award for Exceptional Achievement in Graduate Studies. Read More

Four Vanderbilt graduate students, faculty advisers named to Howard Hughes Medical Institute Gilliam Fellows Program for their leadership in science and commitment to advancing equity and inclusion in science. Read More