MPH News

Bill Heerman, MD, MPH, associate professor of Pediatrics, has been named chief of the Division of General Pediatrics, effective May 1. Heerman, who has spent his entire career at Vanderbilt, was selected following a national search led by Kathryn Edwards, MD, who retired at the end of 2022, and S. Read More

The microbes that live in our upper respiratory tract (URT microbiota) play a role in respiratory health. Disturbances of the URT microbiota during respiratory infections can impact disease severity, immune response, and even development of chronic lung diseases such as asthma.  Justin Turner, MD, PhD, Suman Das, PhD, and colleagues used… Read More

Cecelia Theobald, MD, MPH, associate professor of Medicine and executive vice chair for Clinical Affairs in the Department of Medicine, has been appointed as Vanderbilt University Medical Center’s Chief of Staff for Corporate Clinical Affairs and Senior Vice President for Clinical Affairs. Theobald’s appointment is effective July 1. Theobald will… Read More

The first study to examine evaluation scores for professionalism and interpersonal communication skills among physicians-in-training and what happens afterward as these doctors begin their practice was reported April 11 in JAMA Network Open. The study tracked 9,340 early-career physicians from across the country. The study finds a strong association between lower ratings for… Read More

Severe respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infection has long been associated with the onset of childhood wheezing diseases, but the relationship between RSV infection during infancy and the development of childhood asthma has remained unclear. A new observational study by Vanderbilt University Medical Center researchers has found that RSV infection in… Read More

Indeterminate pulmonary nodules (IPNs) are a common finding on CT imaging of the lungs and often require costly and invasive testing to diagnose. IPN diagnosis is especially difficult in regions like Middle Tennessee where fungal diseases such as histoplasmosis are endemic.  Hannah Marmor, MD, MPH, and colleagues combined imaging and… Read More

A common feature associated with an overactive bladder is elevated anxiety. While this link has been demonstrated in animal studies, no human studies have been conducted to evaluate the link between hypersensitivity symptoms in women with overactive bladder and anxiety. W. Stuart Reynolds, MD, MPH, and colleagues assessed 120 women… Read More

A patient recently looked around a conference room full of other patients and their health care providers and shared how this group had helped her open up and feel supported about her health concerns: “Y’all know us. It’s kind of like family here.” The Vanderbilt Interdisciplinary Care Program (VICP) at… Read More

Layan Ibrahim, Master of Public Health Class of 2023, was named to the 2023–24 class of Luce Scholars. The Luce Scholars Program is a nationally competitive fellowship program launched by the Henry Luce Foundation to enhance the understanding of Asia among potential leaders in American society. The Luce… Read More

In a multisite randomized trial reported in the Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association, completeness of the patient problem list, a pivotal section of the electronic health record (EHR), was improved with automated disease surveillance and suggestions for clinicians to consider adding specific problems that appeared to be missing from the list. Read More