Health And Medicine

Rebecca Cook, Ph.D., assistant professor of Cancer Biology, has spent her life trying to understand what makes things grow, from seedlings in soil to tumor cells in the body. Read More

Premature babies who receive an interventional therapy combining their mother’s voice and a pacifier-activated music player learn to eat more efficiently and have their feeding tubes removed sooner than other preemies, according to a Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt study published today in… Read More

Vanderbilt University Medical Center has received an 18-month, $6.9 million award to set up a Clinical Data Research Network (CDRN) that can reach millions of patients and speed the translation of research findings into clinical practice. Read More

Vanderbilt University Medical Center’s Richard Ho, M.D., MSCI, has received a presidential honor for his innovative studies of mechanisms by which drug transporter proteins mediate the absorption, distribution and elimination of chemotherapeutic agents. Read More

Julie Ozier, MHL, has been named director of Vanderbilt’s Human Research Protection Program (HRPP) and Institutional Review Board (IRB). Ozier has worked with the HRPP and IRB for 11 years, has been associate director since 2007, and at Vanderbilt since 1996. Read More

Obesity causes peripheral immune cells to move to the brain, where they may contribute to inflammation and the pathophysiology of obesity. Read More

Variation in the gene for the beta-1 adrenergic receptor increases the risk that a patient will have an abnormal heart rhythm after cardiac surgery. Read More

Targeting the production of molecules that promote tumor blood vessel development offers a new path for treating lung cancer. Read More

Rob Naftel, M.D., traveled more than 8,000 miles to learn a new surgical technique to treat hydrocephalus, the buildup of cerebrospinal fluid in the brain. Read More

The antioxidant vitamin E prevented the buildup of toxic products in a model of a rare genetic disorder, suggesting new strategies for therapeutic development. Read More

Vanderbilt University scientists have contributed to a major finding, reported this week in the journal Nature, which could lead to the first effective vaccine against respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), a significant cause of infant mortality. Read More

Research conducted at Vanderbilt University Medical Center shows that routine administration of the Brief Health Literacy Screen (BHLS) by nurses provides a valid measure for large-scale studies of the influence of health literacy on clinical outcomes. Read More

A Vanderbilt study is investigating whether therapy dogs can have a positive effect on children undergoing chemotherapy. Read More

With concerns mounting as children train harder, compete more frequently and specialize in a single sport earlier, the American Medical Society for Sports Medicine has released a position statement that provides guidance to health providers who care for young athletes. Read More

It might be possible to generate a “metabolically healthy” state of obesity by targeting signaling pathways that improve insulin sensitivity. Read More

A new computational model of the interactions between vocal folds and the air around them could aid in designing new treatments for voice disorders. Read More

Understanding the relationship between the thinning and rupture of fetal membranes and the presence of bacteria could lead to treatment and prevention strategies for premature birth. Read More

Colleen Niswender, Ph.D., research associate professor of Pharmacology, has received a three-year, $450,000 grant from the autism science and advocacy organization Autism Speaks to support studies investigating a possible new treatment for Rett syndrome. Read More

According to annual figures available through the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Vanderbilt University School of Medicine (VUSM) is now ranked ninth in the nation among U.S. medical schools in total grant support provided through the nation’s medical research agency. Read More

by Denise Anthony (iStock) A Vanderbilt University-led research team has solved a long-standing riddle: Why do people of mostly Amerindian ancestry in the Andes have a gastric cancer rate that is 25 times higher than that of fellow Colombians of mostly African descent only 124 miles away on the coast?… Read More