Vanderbilt Kennedy Center
VKC Hobbs Discovery and Strategic Priorities grants announced
Mar. 7, 2019—A Nicholas Hobbs Discovery Grant and a Director’s Strategic Priorities Grant have been awarded to Vanderbilt Kennedy Center investigators for 2019-20. The grants aim to further understanding of how social information is processed within the reward circuit and explore the creation of an objective measure of social information processing.
SENSE Theatre to perform ‘The Makeover’ March 8-9
Feb. 19, 2019—Vanderbilt Kennedy Center investigator Blythe Corbett and her winter 2019 participants of the SENSE Theatre program will bring the original musical The Makeover to life March 8 and 9 at Belmont University’s Troutt Black Box Theater. The performances are the culmination of practice and hard work put in by research participants on the autism spectrum as well as trained typically developing peer actors who will join them on stage.
Study finds children with autism more likely to face maltreatment
Feb. 15, 2019—Middle Tennessee children with autism spectrum disorder are 2.5 times more likely than children without ASD to be reported to the Child Abuse Hotline by age 8.
Vanderbilt Kennedy Center’s ‘Educate to Advocate’ event Feb. 4
Jan. 30, 2019—Educate to Advocate is held each year to prepare disability self-advocates, family members, and allies of individuals with disabilities to speak with their elected representatives on Disability Day on the Hill, which will take place on Tuesday, Feb. 12.
Robert Fox, early leader in Vanderbilt’s vision research, dies
Jan. 8, 2019—A memorial service for the late Robert Fox, an emeritus Vanderbilt professor who was renowned internationally for his landmark studies of human and animal vision, is being planned for early spring.
Vanderbilt Kennedy Center MLK lecture: Lance Robertson, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Jan. 2, 2019—The Vanderbilt Kennedy Center will welcome Asst. Sec. Lance Robertson, administrator and assistant secretary for aging, Administration for Community Living (ACL), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, as its 2019 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Commemorative Lecture Series keynote speaker.
Rett Syndrome Education Day marked launch of comprehensive VKC Rett Syndrome Program
Dec. 20, 2018—On Oct. 27, families, clinicians, researchers, community professionals and service providers gathered for a daylong conference in partnership with Rettsydrome.org highlighting the Vanderbilt Kennedy Center Rett Syndrome Program.
What’s On My Mind: Embracing neurodiversity in research and practice
Dec. 3, 2018—Exploring neurodiversity is important for educational development, and it is also driving new research with the potential to fuel innovation in a variety of fields, writes Chancellor Nicholas S. Zeppos in this week's column.
Cutting honored with NIH Merit Award and Leadership Award of Women in Cognitive Science
Nov. 29, 2018—Vanderbilt educational neuroscientist and Vanderbilt Kennedy Center investigator Laurie Cutting has received a rare $3 million National Institutes of Health Merit Award from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. She also has been selected to receive the Leadership Award of Women in Cognitive Science.
Grandin, advocate on autism, to give conference keynote, Chancellor’s Lecture Nov. 29
Nov. 12, 2018—Temple Grandin, a world-renowned author, inventor and spokesperson about the autism spectrum, will participate in a daylong conference in Nashville on Nov. 29, capped off with a keynote and conversation with Vanderbilt University Chancellor Nicholas S. Zeppos as part of the Chancellor’s Lecture Series.
Vanderbilt University launches the Frist Center for Autism and Innovation
Nov. 8, 2018—A $10 million gift from alumna Jennifer R. Frist, BS’93, and husband William R. “Billy” Frist will endow a new center focused on supporting and developing the neurodiverse talents of individuals with autism at Vanderbilt University’s School of Engineering.
Grant to help explore critical issues in Down syndrome
Oct. 26, 2018—The grant will allow Kennedy Center researchers to analyze data from VUMC's Synthetic Derivative and BioVU databanks to study biomarkers associated with Down Syndrome.