Publications

There is a list, famous among astronomers, of 110 faint objects in the night sky, first cataloged by French astronomer Charles Messier in the 18th century. A “Messier marathon” is when astronomers begin at dusk and work until dawn, hoping to locate every single one, searching amid the field of… Read More

For five weeks, Ashleigh Hammer lay tethered to machines and bound in a web of wires and intravenous lines. On a day in early September, she gazed up at the blinking heart monitor beside her hospital bed. Faster, faster, faster the monitor flashed. 120 beats – 200 beats – 250… Read More

Every songwriter has his or her own process of writing. Beth Nielsen Chapman, for example, almost always starts with the melody. Then, she discovers the lyrics in what she describes as a surreal, intuitive way. “I start with a sound, and I follow the sound,” she explained. “I use my… Read More

A celebrity had entered the concourse at Vanderbilt Health One Hundred Oaks, causing quite a sensation. Eyes wide and mouths gaping open, onlookers young and old stopped in their tracks to gawk at the visitor, and many whipped out cell phones to snap a photo. But then they started asking… Read More

When the United States declared a “War on Cancer” 40 years ago, the endeavor was envisioned as a strategic battle, with doctors and researchers employing overwhelming force and lethal technology in a straightforward march to victory against a disease that claimed millions of lives. Scientists have made progress in the… Read More

Last April, 13-year-old Luke Mitchell had a routine well-child checkup at his pediatrician’s office in Nashville. The visit ended up being anything but routine. Instead of hearing that everything was OK and being sent on his way, he was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes.    … Read More

What if a fifth grader could learn college-level physics concepts? What if the platform used to teach those concepts could be accessed very simply online through a Web browser? What if that new methodology allowed students to write computer programs, progress at their own pace and provide the teacher immediate… Read More

Vanderbilt researchers have discovered that parathyroid glands have a natural fluorescence that can be used during surgery to identify these tiny organs, which are hard to find with the naked eye. Read More

Good teaching and basic science breakthroughs would not be possible without institutions such as Vanderbilt, says Patrick Abbot, associate professor of biological sciences. Professors, in turn, understand the critical need to “participate in the maintenance and improvement of these institutions.” That’s where service, such as editing journals, jurying research or… Read More

Market impact. It is part of the very fiber of the Owen Graduate School of Management’s finance department. Members of the school’s finance faculty are not only contributing to the industry’s intellectual underpinnings and analytical tools but also training students who, as Vanderbilt alumni, are putting theory into practice worldwide. Read More

On a chilly Friday night last November, the area underneath the wide expanse of the Jefferson Street Bridge in downtown Nashville became a scene of rare opportunity for the city’s homeless. The Salvation Army Soup Wagon was there, as could be expected, but some friends had joined them. A foldout… Read More

Graduates Shannon Hoffman, Nehal Mehta and Karen White come from different backgrounds and have different interests, but each will use their significant talents and valuable lessons learned at Vanderbilt to affect change in the world. Read More

Vanderbilt researchers working at the smallest scale celebrate a huge milestone this year. The Vanderbilt Institute of Nanoscale Science and Engineering (VINSE), seeded from a university-funded $16 million venture capital fund initiative, celebrates its 10th anniversary in December. Read More

Vanderbilt cardiothoracic anesthesiologists and surgeons are pioneering the use of a tool that many in the cardiac field are calling the “new stethoscope” when it comes to monitoring critically ill patients. Read More

Retail therapy is how many shoppers justify their bulging closets, but that new purse or coat purchased in the Friends Shop at the Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt is truly part of the healing process — the source of the toy or balloon that brightens a patient’s stay,… Read More

Cheryl Major, R.N., may have saved more babies than anyone in the state of Tennessee. Some of them she has saved in person as a neonatal nurse. Many more she has saved by providing lifesaving skills to others who care for fragile newborns. If you spend any time at all… Read More

Kristen Keely-Dinger, BS’98, remembers March snow falling on the streets of New York, the sounds of babies crying and people screaming, and the stench of urine in the housing projects as she carried hot meals up flight after flight of stairs. As a Vanderbilt sophomore who had signed up for… Read More

By Bonnie Arant Ertelt As university traditions go, music has charms to do more than soothe the savage breast. In fact, music has the ability to invoke nostalgia for the old “alma mater,” pump up school spirit at athletic events, and stitch together collegiate memories in ways that override the… Read More

If you hear a booming voice singing Beethoven’s Ninth or Verdi’s Requiem in Wesley Place Garage one morning, it’s probably Carl Johnson practicing his repertoire for the Nashville Symphony Chorus. Read More

For 10 years Janice Dalton worked as a renal transplant/dialysis nurse at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. In 2003, at the age of 54, she was diagnosed with renal failure, placed on dialysis and told she would need a kidney transplant. The tables had turned. Despite years taking care of patients,… Read More