Reporter Nov 1 2013

Country music group Rascal Flatts visited the Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt Wednesday for a special Halloween performance for patients and their families, and afterward visited with patients in their rooms. Read More

Knowing who your doctor is — and a couple of facts about that person — may go a long way toward improving patient satisfaction, according to a Vanderbilt study in the Journal of Orthopaedic Trauma. Read More

Ken Lau, Ph.D., a new assistant professor in Cell and Developmental Biology, is out to determine the rules that lead to cells converting from one type to another, for example, when a healthy cell becomes a cancer cell. Read More

Vanderbilt researchers have characterized the chemical structures of a series of DNA-protein “crosslinks” that may lead to better ways to avoid the cancer-causing potential of environmental chemicals and prevent some drug toxicities. Read More

Vanderbilt University Medical Center valet parking attendant Derege Degene was on a normal run to the garage when he spotted an envelope on the Medical Center Drive sidewalk. He could tell there was something inside and took a peek. Read More

Fisk University and Vanderbilt University have begun planning for a novel academic bridge program comprising a three-year accelerated Fisk undergraduate degree, weighted toward courses in natural science, mathematics or computer science, followed by a computer science master’s degree from Fisk, bridging to a Biomedical Informatics Ph.D. from Vanderbilt. Read More

John Penn, Ph.D., vice chair of the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences at Vanderbilt, has been named to the Research to Prevent Blindness (RPB) Scientific Advisory Panel. Read More

Two of Nashville biggest industries — music and health care — come together in the Nashville Opera’s upcoming production of “The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat,” based on a medical case study from the book of the same name by the popular author and neurologist Oliver Sacks. Read More

Daily multidisciplinary patient transition huddles are now in effect for all but four units of Vanderbilt University Hospital. Read More

Michael Klein, Ph.D., dean of the College of Science and Technology at Temple University, discusses his use of computer simulation to explore ion channels and other complex molecular structures in the cell, during his Flexner Discovery Lecture last week. Read More

Lorri Lee, M.D., has been named chief of the newly formed Division of Neurosurgical Anesthesiology. Read More

Natalie Ortiz is a typical six-year-old first grader — happy, active and fidgety — the kind of patient often sedated for a lengthy Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scan. Read More

A joint effort between Vanderbilt and Metro Nashville Parks and Recreation to prevent childhood obesity and enhance literacy promotion for preschoolers has reached an important milestone — the halfway mark. Read More

Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center leaders formally dedicated the space for the new Center for Cancer Targeted Therapies (CCTT), located in the Infusion Center on the second floor of The Vanderbilt Clinic, at a special ribbon-cutting held during last week’s fall meeting of the Cancer Center’s Board of Overseers. Read More

Vanderbilt University Medical Center will participate in a national trial to see if outcomes for critically injured patients with uncontrolled bleeding can be improved by administering plasma to these patients while in flight to the hospital. Read More

The Down Syndrome Association of Middle Tennessee has honored Will McMillan, a 2013 graduate of Next Steps at Vanderbilt, with the 2013 Self-Advocate Award. Read More