Strategic Plan

  • coffee cup with coffee stains on table

    Coffee-ring diagnostic offers hope in poorest regions

    Using the same mechanism that causes evaporating coffee to leave a ring behind, an interdisciplinary team of Vanderbilt researchers is designing a simple blood test to diagnose malaria in the developing world without electricity or special training. Read More

    Dec 3, 2014

  • Vanderbilt University

    VUCast: Why overweight women lose at work

    In the latest VUCast: Learn why overweight women lose in the workplace -- especially when it comes to pay; see breakthrough weapons in the fight against infectious diseases; and hear music legend Sheryl Crow speak about her craft. Watch now! Read More

    Dec 1, 2014

  • chip closeup

    Vanderbilt’s neurovascular chip project moves into new phase

    Vanderbilt researchers will play a key role in the second phase of the federal "tissue chip for drug screening" program. Read More

    Nov 18, 2014

  • two nuclear plant silos

    Vanderbilt team examines human factors in nuclear power plant operations

    A multidisciplinary Vanderbilt team with deep experience in improving patient safety and technology usability has received a three-year, $800,000 Department of Energy grant to help nuclear power plant operators better perform their jobs. Read More

    Nov 13, 2014

  • Vanderbilt University

    Care for Life

    Naazariah Thomas and her mom, Marissa, make the trek from Clarksville to Nashville every two months because the customized, comprehensive health care the toddler needs is not available in her hometown. Naazariah has sickle cell disease, an inherited blood disorder that affects the red blood cells. The disease can cause… Read More

    Nov 7, 2014

  • Vanderbilt University

    Bringing Cancer to Light: Radiology’s invisible energies play lead role in cancer care

    It all started with a faint glow. It was November 1895, and the German physicist Wilhelm Roentgen was experimenting with an early cathode ray tube—a vacuum tube with a contained electric current. During his experiments he noticed an odd fluorescence in crystals on a nearby table. Surprisingly, the glow continued even… Read More

    Jul 7, 2014

  • Vanderbilt University

    Serving the never-served

    When the Clinic at Mercury Courts opened in the summer of 2012, the staff expected to be inundated with patient visits. Designed to provide medical care for people and families transitioning from homelessness and other poverty situations, the clinic on Murfreesboro Road is located within a 5-mile radius of 12… Read More

    Jun 7, 2014

  • Vanderbilt University

    Pet Therapy Research Aimed at Children with Cancer

    It’s not unusual to see dogs in a hospital setting, but is there scientific evidence that man’s best friend help’s children? Vanderbilt researchers are working to find that answer as Barb Cramer reports.                  … Read More

    Jun 5, 2014

  • smartphone

    Joint course to offer MOOC sequence on mobile app development

    Vanderbilt University and the University of Maryland have teamed up to introduce a new approach to massive open online courses, or MOOCs – a two-part, sequenced course offered through the digital learning platform Coursera. Read More

    Dec 12, 2013

  • Deciphering DNA code

    First-ever study uses EMRs to spot new disease associations

    Vanderbilt University Medical Center researchers and co-authors from four other U.S. institutions from the Electronic Medical Records and Genomics (eMERGE) Network are repurposing genetic data and electronic medical records to perform the first large-scale phenome-wide association study (PheWAS), released today in Nature Biotechnology. Read More

    Dec 5, 2013

  • female surgeon

    Restoring surgeons’ sense of touch during minimally invasive surgeries

    A team of engineers and doctors have developed a new wireless capsule that can give surgeons back their sense of touch when performing minimally invasive surgery. Read More

    Oct 15, 2013

  • Vanderbilt University

    Long-term brain impairment too common after critical illness

    A recent Vanderbilt study shows a significant number of patients are entering I.C.U.’s throughout the world with no evidence of cognitive — brain related issues, but are leaving with symptoms associated with mild Alzheimer’s or Traumatic Brain Injury. Barb Cramer has more. Read More

    Oct 8, 2013

  • syringe

    VU testing vaccine against new flu threat

    Vanderbilt’s Vaccine and Treatment Evaluation Unit (VTEU) is one of nine U.S. sites funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), to test the effectiveness of a vaccine to protect against the H7N9 bird flu that emerged in China this spring. Read More

    Sep 19, 2013

  • Blood clot simulation

    Robot uses steerable needles to treat brain clots

    Surgery to relieve the damaging pressure caused by hemorrhaging in the brain is a perfect job for a robot. That is the basic premise of a new image-guided surgical system under development at Vanderbilt University. Read More

    Aug 8, 2013

  • Vanderbilt University

    Baby’s life-changing surgery, before birth

    Vanderbilt’s Junior League Fetal Center is offering ground-breaking treatments and surgeries in the hopes of providing unborn babies the best start to life. Vanderbilt’s Barb Cramer has the amazing story– and surgical video– of fetal surgery to repair an unborn baby’s spinal cord defect. For more about Vanderbilt’s Fetal Center,… Read More

    Jul 18, 2013

  • Vanderbilt University

    Learning in MOOC Years

    "Eight weeks and 30,000 students gave me a crash course in the future of digital learning technologies," writes engineering professor Doug Schmidt in this Vanderbilt Magazine column on his experience teaching one of Vanderbilt University's first massive open online courses, or MOOCs. Read More

    May 8, 2013

  • Vanderbilt University

    Wearable robot helps man walk again

      Amazing Vanderbilt research has designed a “wearable robot” that can be used by paraplegics to walk again. Vanderbilt’s Barb Cramer takes us on one man’s emotional journey to use the device, designed by Vanderbilt mechanical engineers, to take his first steps since a tragic accident. Read more here… Read More

    Nov 1, 2012

  • Vanderbilt University

    Concussion testing for young athletes

    The Vanderbilt Sports Concussion Center is now offering pre-concussion baseline testing to all community recreational athletes, in advance of many high-impact seasonal sports resuming this fall. Read More

    Jul 30, 2012

  • Vanderbilt University

    How Cool Cap saved this baby’s life

    Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt has treated more than 200 babies with Cool Cap since 2006. Researchers are looking at ways to extend the therapy to premature infants. Read More

    Feb 20, 2012

  • Vanderbilt University

    Inside a Pred’s Coach’s Deep Brain Stimulation Surgery

    When the Nashville Predators take the ice—it’s all about strength, precision and teamwork. But when a beloved former coach with the Preds started feeling the harsh symptoms of Parkinson’s Disease—he turned to a team here at Vanderbilt. Coach Brent Peterson allowed VUCast’s Carole Bartoo and Mike Todd inside the operating… Read More

    Jan 30, 2012