Reporter Jan. 6 2012

Vanderbilt University Medical Center usually performs about 15 heart transplants a year. Since August, however, the program has experienced a surge in the number of procedures. In five months there have been 19 transplantations, bringing the total number in 2011 to 25 adult heart transplants, with a 100 percent survival… Read More

A new study in the American Journal of Human Genetics, led by Vanderbilt researchers Josh Denny, M.D., M.S., and Dana Crawford, Ph.D., takes random volumes of human genotypes and matches them with data siphoned from de-identified medical records and sheds new light on the genetic basis of the common… Read More

Vanderbilt researchers are studying how the supplement melatonin can ease the sleep difficulties that often afflict children with autism spectrum disorders. (iStock) A new Vanderbilt study shows that the over-the-counter supplement melatonin is promising in helping children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD), and their families, sleep better. Read More

Human rhinovirus (HRV), also known as the common cold, can be uncommonly serious for certain children, a study led by a Vanderbilt University Medical Center pediatrician shows. The study, published in the Dec. 28, 2011 online issue of the journal Pediatrics, shows that not only can HRV lead to hospitalization… Read More

The Medical Center-wide Vanderbilt University Medical Center Faculty Meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, Feb. 1, at 4 p.m. in 208 Light Hall. Jeff Balser, M.D., Ph.D., vice chancellor for Health Affairs and dean of the School of Medicine Jeff Balser, M.D., Ph.D., vice chancellor for Health Affairs… Read More

Research participant Loren Kirkpatrick, right, has worked with Janie Lipps, MSN, and Vanderbilt’s Diabetes Control and Complications Trial since its inception in 1983. (Daniel Dubois / Vanderbilt) Loren Kirkpatrick has been enrolled in the Diabetes Control and Complications Trial (DCCT) at Vanderbilt’s Diabetes Center for nearly half… Read More

The halls of VUMC are a little quieter today. John M. Flexner, M.D., professor of Medicine, emeritus, whose booming voice and outgoing personality were a part of the Medical Center since his arrival here in 1954, died surrounded by family at Vanderbilt University Hospital on Dec. 27. He was 85. Read More

Jeanne Yeatman, MBA, BSN, EMT Jeanne Yeatman, MBA, BSN, EMT, director of Vanderbilt LifeFlight, has been named by HealthLeaders magazine as one of its top 20 people across the nation who is “changing health care for the better.” The annual HealthLeaders 20 list profiles people who are… Read More

Debra Toney, Ph.D., R.N. Debra Toney, Ph.D., R.N., president and founder of TLC Health Care Services of Las Vegas and the immediate past president of the National Black Nurses’ Association, will deliver the Martin Luther King Jr. Lecture at Vanderbilt University Medical Center on Monday, Jan. 16. Read More

Paul Sternberg Jr., M.D. Paul Sternberg Jr., M.D., chair of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences at Vanderbilt and director of the Vanderbilt Eye Institute, was recently elected president-elect of the American Academy of Ophthalmology. He assumed the post Jan. 1. The one-year term will prepare Sternberg, also assistant… Read More

Vanderbilt Heart and Vascular Institute (VHVI) is relocating its cardiac practice in Williamson County and announcing the addition of five cardiologists. Formerly located at 2105 Edward Curd Lane in Franklin, Tenn., the practice will relocate to 4323 Carothers Pkwy., Suite 405, within the Williamson Tower, the medical office building attached… Read More

The Vanderbilt Kennedy Center (Vanderbilt University) The Association of University Centers on Disabilities (AUCD) recognized the Vanderbilt Kennedy Center with three awards at their annual conference in November. The VKC University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities (UCEDD) received the association’s 2011 Council on Community Advocacy Award (COCA), nominated by… Read More

Kurt Spindler, M.D., Kenneth D. Schermerhorn Professor and vice chairman of Orthopaedic Surgery and Rehabilitation, and the Multicenter Orthopaedic Outcomes Network (MOON) are recipients of the 2012 Ann Doner Vaughan Kappa Delta Award. Kurt Spindler, M.D. Given by the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS) Research Development… Read More

Thomas Südhof, M.D., the Avram Goldstein Professor of Molecular and Cellular Physiology at Stanford University School of Medicine, will deliver the first Discovery Lecture of 2012 on Thursday, Jan. 12. Thomas Südhof, M.D. His talk, “Neurexins: from synapse formation to synapse function,” will begin… Read More

Jeffrey Sosman, M.D., professor of Medicine at Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center (VICC), has been named to a melanoma research Dream Team of cancer investigators supported by Stand Up To Cancer (SU2C) and the Melanoma Research Alliance (MRA). Sosman is among the Dream Team’s principal investigators who will work closely with the… Read More

(photo by Anne Rayner) From left, School of Nursing Dean Colleen Conway-Welch, Ph.D., CNM, Nurse-Midwifery student Samantha Stearns and Nurse-Midwifery Program Director Mavis Schorn, Ph.D., CNM, pose for a photo at the school’s December Pinning Ceremony at Benton Chapel. Read More

(photo by Susan Urmy) Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center patients, families and staff members recently placed messages of hope and requests for cancer research funds on a “Wall of Hope” at the Cancer Center. The American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network sponsored the “Wall of Hope” initiative and will… Read More

Keith Meador, M.D., MPH, has been named director of the Center for Biomedical Ethics and Society at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Keith Meador, M.D., MPH Meador succeeds Ellen Wright Clayton, M.D., J.D., Craig-Weaver Professor of Pediatrics, who is stepping down after 12 years as director to devote… Read More

The American Nurses Credentialing Center appraisers will be at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and clinics Feb. 20-24. With just seven weeks to go, VUMC nursing leaders are encouraging everyone to re-familiarize themselves with Vanderbilt’s Nursing Professional Practice Model that illustrates how nurses practice, collaborate, communicate and develop… Read More

Managing myocardial infarction – and the resulting heart failure – remains a clinical challenge. To search for chemicals that can stimulate cardiac muscle cell production, Vanderbilt Institute of Chemical Biology investigators led by Tao Zhong, Ph.D., Terri Ni, Ph.D., and Eric Rellinger, M.D., turned to a novel drug discovery tool:… Read More