News

Infants younger than 6 months were better protected from COVID-19 complications when mothers received two doses of the vaccine while pregnant, according to researchers. Mothers who received COVID-19 vaccinations during pregnancy reduced the risk of hospitalization for this age group by 80% during the delta wave and nearly 40% during… Read More

On June 29 Stephen Raffanti, MD, MPH, hung up his scrubs at the Vanderbilt Comprehensive Care Clinic for the last time. It was a bittersweet moment for the man who helped lead Nashville out of the darkest days of the AIDS epidemic 30 years ago. “I’ll miss you,” Raffanti told… Read More

In a new study led by Vanderbilt University Medical Center researchers, women who filled two or more prescriptions for opioids after childbirth faced a 46% greater risk of death than women who did not. The study, led by the late Arlyn Horn, PharmD, MPH and Margaret Adgent, MSPH, PhD, research… Read More

Children with medical complexity (CMC) — children with one or more complex chronic conditions — who live in low opportunity areas utilize more acute care than those who live in higher opportunity areas, according to a new study in the Journal of Hospital Medicine.  Cristin Fritz, MD, MPH, and colleagues used the Pediatric… Read More

Renowned physician-epidemiologist Muktar Aliyu, MBBS, MPH, DrPH, who is the associate director for Research with the Vanderbilt Institute for Global Health (VIGH), has been named the new director of the institute, beginning July 1. Aliyu, who joined the Vanderbilt faculty in 2009, is professor of Health Policy and Medicine at Vanderbilt… Read More

In recognition of significant hands-on contributions to health information technology at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Sara Horst, MD, MPH, associate professor of Medicine, and Barron Patterson, MD, associate professor of Pediatrics, have received 2022 Physician Builder Awards. The eStar Physician Builder Program supports VUMC physicians and other employees in devising and implementing… Read More

Ninety-eight Tennessee women died in 2020 during or shortly after pregnancy. More than a quarter of those deaths were tied to substance abuse. Numbers like that are why Firefly — a rigorous program at Vanderbilt University Medical Center — is helping mothers in recovery have a healthy pregnancy and postpartum… Read More

Erin Gillaspie, MD, MPH, has a number stuck in her head that she’s not likely to ever forget: 289. That’s because the Vanderbilt University Medical Center thoracic surgeon is only the 289th female surgeon in her specialty in the United States. “There aren’t a lot of women in my field in… Read More

Emergency Medicine and Trauma Surgery researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center are joining Vanderbilt LifeFlight in a Department of Defense (DOD)-funded clinical trial aimed at improving survival with resuscitation techniques used to keep patients alive after a traumatic injury. Emergency medicine services (EMS) personnel currently use one of two common strategies… Read More

The Vanderbilt Institute for Global Health, Vanderbilt Department of Biostatistics, and Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital (AKTH) have partnered on a new program to train a cohort of highly skilled Nigerian biostatisticians to lead and supervise high-level biostatistics activities for HIV research studies in West Africa. Biomedical HIV research is growing… Read More