Vanderbilt Magazine

Why do some bone cells knit together neatly following a fracture or amputation, while others grow wildly into soft tissue that can limit range of motion and cause problems with prosthetics? Dr. Erika Mitchell, assistant professor of orthopaedic trauma, has won a $1.3 million, three-year grant from the U.S. Read More

  © MCT/TIM LEE Each year some 10 million American households borrow money through payday loans. Payday lenders now have more storefronts than McDonald’s and Starbucks combined. But a recent study shows that payday-loan applicants who received the quick cash after their first application were significantly more likely to file… Read More

Children born four months before the peak of cold and flu season have a greater risk of developing childhood asthma than those born at other times of year, according to new research from Vanderbilt. In the Tennessee Asthma Bronchiolitis Study, which involved an analysis of the birth and medical… Read More

Earth is protected from the onslaught of solar wind by the magnetosphere, an invisible shield of magnetic fields and electrically charged particles that surrounds our planet. The northern and southern polar lights—the aurora borealis and aurora australis, respectively—are the only visible parts of the magnetosphere, but it is a critical… Read More

High-profile role models are one driver of improved academic performance for African Americans. The presidential run of Barack Obama has made a strong positive impact on the test-taking achievement of African Americans, according to research by Vanderbilt Owen Graduate School of Management Professor Ray Friedman. Documenting what Friedman and his… Read More

Fortune Magazine’s annual ranking of the 100 best places to work in the United States includes Vanderbilt this year, marking the first time a university has made the list. The No. 98 ranking represents approximately 21,000 employees at Vanderbilt University and Vanderbilt University Medical Center. The rankings are determined… Read More

Vanderbilt researchers now have access to 15 times more bandwidth, thanks to a new 10-gigabit-per-second circuit that began routing new traffic in December. The previous circuit allowed 662 megabits of data to be transferred per second. “The new 10-gigabit-per-second circuit connects to Southern Crossing in Atlanta,” says Matthew Hall,… Read More

Eddie Adcock demonstrates the improvement in his essential tremor after deep brain stimulation surgery. It was a Nashville moment if there ever was one—a patient playing banjo while undergoing brain surgery at Vanderbilt. Legendary bluegrass performer Eddie Adcock had been shaving left-handed, writing like a doctor, and hitting some sour… Read More

“You can do anything with fishing line, a needle, a knife and ketamine.” ~ Dr. Bill Frist during a talk titled “Health Care as a Currency for Peace,” delivered as part of the Nursing Centennial Lecture Series last October. The former U.S. Senate majority leader has created a class at… Read More

Dr. James Berry and Dr. Leland Lancaster have developed a recycling system that collects and reuses anesthesiology gases.  More than 500,000 gallons of anesthetic are released into the atmosphere in the United States each year at a huge cost both financially and environmentally. What if you could collect the air… Read More

 A Vanderbilt research team provides strong evidence that new, or atypical, antipsychotic drugs carry the same cardiovascular risk as older, or typical, antipsychotic drugs. Their findings appeared in the Jan. 15 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine. The atypical antipsychotics have one important advantage over their older counterpart:… Read More

New research from Vanderbilt reveals that children learn the solution to a problem best when they explain it to their mom. “We knew that children learn well with their moms or with a peer, but we did not know if that was because they were getting feedback and help,” says… Read More

Natalie Gossum, R.N., attends to Silas Roberson, 24 days old, in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. Without mechanical ventilation, many premature infants would die—but its use can damage tiny, immature lungs. A study published in Pediatrics suggests that early Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) might be a… Read More

Students with intellectual disabilities have few options when it comes to postsecondary education opportunities. Nationwide, approximately 121 postsecondary programs are available for individuals with intellectual disabilities. The Vanderbilt Kennedy Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities (UCEDD) is launching the first such postsecondary program in the state of Tennessee, aided… Read More

    Now in its seventh year, the Vanderbilt Dance Marathon is the biggest student-run philanthropy on campus. This year’s 14-hour event, held Feb. 13–14, raised more than $146,000 for Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital. Read More

Click to Build Your Brick  Honor your family, a classmate or a favorite athlete with a personalized brick in the new walkway at Vanderbilt Stadium. The area will be completed by the beginning of the 2009 football season, and the price of each brick ($200 until June… Read More

Sarah (“Sally”) Des Prez was a 19-year-old Vanderbilt freshman when she was found suffocated in her off-campus apartment in February 1975. Nearly 34 years later, a jury has found Jerome Barrett guilty of first-degree murder in her death. A repeat sex criminal, Barrett has spent most of the intervening years… Read More

Vanderbilt has seen a number of high-profile appointments during the past few months, including two deans, both promoted from within their schools; two vice chancellors; and several senior posts in the Division of Development and Alumni Relations. New Deans for Arts and Science, Medicine Carolyn Dever In the College… Read More

Paul Manners, BA’42, and Joy Manners One teacher’s interest made all the difference in the life of Paul Manners. A native of Dover, Tenn., Manners grew up during the Great Depression and was the top student in his high school class. A high school English teacher, Lillian Bayer, encouraged… Read More

Welcome to “The President’s Corner,” a new column that will appear in each issue of Vanderbilt Magazine, along with the latest news from the Vanderbilt Alumni Association. As your association president I am committed to strengthening the university’s outreach to the global community of 120,000 Vanderbilt alumni. With… Read More