News
NBC News talks with Schaffner about why this year’s flu season is different
Dec. 16, 2019—Flu season got off to a fast start and shows no sign of slowing. On Friday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that flu activity continues to rise across the country, with an estimated 2.6 million flu illnesses reported so far this year. Of those patients, 23,000 required hospitalization and 1,300 people died from the...
The Human Rights Rising Advocate Award given to Anderson
Dec. 16, 2019—Frances Anderson, MPH, was honored with the Human Rights Rising Advocate Award during the Tennessee Celebration of International Human Rights Day, a joint initiative of the Tennessee Human Rights Commission, the Metro Human Relations Commission, United Nations Association, UNICEF, Amnesty International, Tennessee United for Human Rights, and others. Frances is TOR’s State Refugee Health Coordinator...
Wiese honored at Vanderbilt Diabetes Day
Dec. 16, 2019—Research in the fields of diabetes, endocrinology and metabolism were highlighted recently during the annual Diabetes Day at the Vanderbilt Student Life Center. More than 200 faculty, postdoctoral researchers, graduate students, fellows, medical students and staff representing Vanderbilt University, Vanderbilt University Medical Center and Meharry Medical College gathered to share their work and establish new...
New online journal for JAMA to be led by Buntin
Dec. 16, 2019—Melinda Buntin, Ph.D., Mike Curb professor of health policy and chair of the Department of Health Policy, has been named the deputy editor for a new online channel published by the Journal of the American Medical Association, or JAMA. The new channel, JAMA Health Forum, will focus on “health policy and health strategy issues affecting medicine...
Creech discusses when to visit the emergency department for cold and flu symptoms
Dec. 13, 2019—Tis the season for colds, flu and upper respiratory illnesses say health care providers at Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt. But physicians caution that going to the emergency department is not always the best remedy. In the past few weeks, there has been a 30% increase in ED patient volumes at Children’s Hospital compared...
NPR discusses prescription drug plan with Dusetzina
Dec. 13, 2019—Right now, there’s no limit for how much seniors and others on Medicare spend on drugs out of pocket — unlike in most insurance plans. This bill would set a limit for Medicare patients at $2,000 a year. Stacie Dusetzina, a health policy professor at Vanderbilt University who has written extensively about Medicare Part D,...
Schaffner discusses why some states restrict where children can get flu shots
Dec. 12, 2019—Currently, 30 states have age restrictions on children being able to get flu shots anywhere but a medical office, and three states don’t allow children to be vaccinated in pharmacies at all. That’s despite the fact the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends everyone who is at least 6 months old get vaccinated every year....
In The Hill, Nikpay comments on latest ACA case before the Supreme Court
Dec. 12, 2019—The Supreme Court on Tuesday will hear oral arguments in the latest ObamaCare case to reach the justices, this time in a $12 billion dispute over payments insurers say they are owed by the federal government. At issue is a financial carrot that Congress dangled before insurers to encourage their participation in the early years...
Schaffner concerned about prolonged influenza season
Dec. 11, 2019—The U.S. is experiencing its earliest start to the winter flu season in more than 15 years, largely due to an influenza strain that has dominated at an unusual time of year. The CDC estimated Friday that there have been at least 1.7 million flu illnesses, 16,000 hospitalizations and 900 flu-related deaths nationally. Dr. William...
Dusetzina comments on trade-offs under new proposed prescription drug bill
Dec. 10, 2019—The House of Representatives is scheduled to vote this week on H.R. 3, Nancy Pelosi’s sweeping new bill looking to lower drug prices. Pelosi says the bill will make prescription drugs cheaper and more accessible. Stacie Dusetzina, an associate professor of health policy at Vanderbilt University, said there will definitely be trade-offs under this law....
MPH’s Haddad tackles socially responsible surgery
Dec. 9, 2019—Social determinants of health (SDOH) such as a patient’s home community and economic status are well recognized in many medical specialties, but the surgical field has been slower to embrace social concerns. Now, an organization of surgical educators and medical students is trying to change that paradigm. Socially Responsible Surgery (SRS) was founded at Boston University Medical...
Neuzil comments on latest research on use of TCV in Nepal
Dec. 9, 2019—An extensive study of the typhoid conjugate vaccine (TCV) has shown a single dose to be 81 percent safe and effective in reducing typhoid in children between the ages of 9 months and less than 16 years. Announced on December 5, 2019, and published in the New England Journal of Medicine, this interim analysis involved 20,019 children...
MPH’s Young to head up clinical trial on the treatment of opioid use disorder during pregnancy
Dec. 6, 2019—The Vanderbilt Maternal Addiction Recovery Program is participating in a 12-site clinical trial that will compare two forms of the medication buprenorphine in treating opioid use disorder during pregnancy, and the results could have a potentially significant impact on clinical practice. The study, funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, will randomize participants to...
MPH’s Nikpay comments on aggressive billing practice at hospitals
Dec. 6, 2019—A Tennessee-based firm that runs emergency rooms around the nation says it will stop suing patients who can’t pay. The company also is pledging to give more discounts for the uninsured. Health economist Sayeh Nikpay at Vanderbilt University says lawsuits over medical bills have become a political liability. “All of these stories are piling up,”...
CBS News talks with Schaffner about latest E.coli outbreak
Dec. 6, 2019—Just ahead of Thanksgiving, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a food safety alert over romaine lettuce. There are at least 67 cases of E. coli across 19 states.
Warmer climate might lead to flu year-round says Schaffner
Dec. 3, 2019—The flu has a paradoxical relationship with the weather. In the United States, the flu thrives in the winter, when the air is cold and crisp, and then ebbs in the spring, when the disease is stymied by hotter temperatures. However, in tropical countries, where it is usually warm, humid and rainy, people get sick with...
Personalized antimicrobial therapy is shortening pediatric treatment time says Creech
Dec. 2, 2019—Physicians historically have relied on arbitrary lengths of antibiotic therapy for a variety of infections in pediatric patients, according to C. Buddy Creech, MD, MPH, associate professor of pediatrics and director of the pediatric infectious disease fellowship program at Vanderbilt University. “Now, with improved diagnostics and with novel study designs, we are able to personalize antimicrobial therapy...
NPR turns to Patrick as the opioid epidemic hits schools and education professions
Dec. 2, 2019—Babies born to mothers who used opioids during pregnancy represent one of the most distressing legacies of an opioid epidemic that has claimed almost 400,000 lives and ravaged communities. Dr. Stephen Patrick, a neonatologist in Nashville, says schools and early childhood programs are on the front lines now. “You hear teachers talking about infants with a development...
Schaffner: E. coli outbreak especially dangerous to young children and the elderly
Dec. 2, 2019—Ahead of Thanksgiving, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued a food safety alert over romaine lettuce contaminated with E. coli. There are now at least 67 cases of E. coli spread across 19 states and at least 39 people have been hospitalized. Infectious disease expert Dr. William Schaffner at Vanderbilt said young...
As Hepatitis A outbreaks continue, Foster emphasizes importance of vaccines
Nov. 25, 2019—What is hepatitis A? How do you get hepatitis A? From transmission to treatment, we look at the current hepatitis outbreak, and ask why gays are at risk and is is curable? The numbers are staggering. Four years ago, 1,390 cases of hepatitis A were reported across the United States. But since 2016, 30 states...
Schaffner Weighs in on Efforts To Move The Needle On Flu Shot Rates
Nov. 25, 2019—It’s free and available everywhere. Yet most Americans skip the annual flu shot ― with the number of dispensed vaccines barely changed in the past decade, despite government removal of cost and access obstacles. “We are kind of spinning our wheels trying to reach a larger portion of the population,” said Dr. William Schaffner, an...
Lecture explores Medicare for All’s potential impacts
Nov. 25, 2019—The concept of a single-payer, government-run health care program — Medicare for All — has sparked national debate, and that proposal was the focus of a spirited discussion on Nov. 19 at the Research into Policy and Practice Lecture sponsored by the Department of Health Policy at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Chip Kahn, president and...
Clayton: Framing the ethics conversation around health care data
Nov. 24, 2019—Ellen Clayton, co-director of the The GetPreCiSe Center, an NIH Center of Excellence in Ethics Research located on Vanderbilt University’s campus, is leading some of those conversations. From confidentiality and patient protections to public perception of genetic screenings, Clayton says the thing to remember is that the tough questions that need to be asked about...
Rosenbloom: NCI ‘Moonshot’ grant to boost hereditary cancer identification
Nov. 18, 2019—Collecting family health histories to identify patients at risk for hereditary cancers may seem a simple task, but it’s a complicated endeavor due to the multitude of ways information is compiled. Some clinics still use paper questionnaires with numerous inquiries about other health data and rarely input family history into a separate record. Even when...
RSV transmission in the Middle East work led by Halasa
Nov. 18, 2019—Human respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is a primary cause of lower respiratory tract infections among young children worldwide, and leads to 60,000 deaths globally each year. A vaccine does not yet exist, although several candidates are in development. Better vaccine and anti-viral drug design requires understanding how RSV is transmitted, including which strains dominate in...
Koonce’s SPI-Hub resource delivers intel on biomedical journals
Nov. 18, 2019—The Scholarly Publishing Information Hub, or SPI-Hub, is a new online knowledge resource that gives biomedical scientists an efficient means to identify journals in which to publish their work and gives users everywhere a way to quickly and easily compare the quality, scholarly importance and editorial policies of some 24,000 journals from across biomedicine. SPI-Hub...
World Pneumonia Day: Schaffner emphasizes safety of pneumococcal vaccines
Nov. 14, 2019—Nearly one million US adults get pneumococcal pneumonia each year, yet a recent survey by the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases (NFID) found that 46 percent of high-risk individuals were unfamiliar with pneumococcal disease. Pneumococcal disease can cause pneumonia, meningitis, and sepsis (bloodstream infection), which can lead to severe complications. Up to 400,000 hospitalizations occur each year...
Student shares her story as a refugee with NPR
Nov. 14, 2019—The administration has been scaling back the U.S. refugee program for years. Now it wants to give states and towns the power to block any refugees from resettling in their backyards. Zero refugees were admitted to the U.S. last month. It’s the first time that’s happened in nearly 30 years, according to the resettlement agency...
In WSJ, Clayton weighs in on Google’s ‘Project Nightingale’
Nov. 14, 2019—Google’s project with the country’s second-largest health system to collect detailed health information on 50 million American patients sparked a federal inquiry and criticism from patients and lawmakers. The data on patients of St. Louis-based Ascension were until recently scattered across 40 data centers in more than a dozen states. Google and the Catholic nonprofit are moving...
Schaffner comments on news of new HIV strain
Nov. 11, 2019—In a study published November 6, 2019, in the Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes, researchers with the healthcare company Abbott Laboratories revealed that they have found three people in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) with a new strain of HIV. The discovery marks the first time that a new subset of HIV has been identified since...
TEDxVanderbiltUniversity to feature Tsosie
Nov. 8, 2019—Vanderbilt will be hosting TEDxVanderbiltUniversity on Nov. 10 at 1:00 p.m. in Sarratt Cinema. Organized independently of the nonprofit TED, the Vanderbilt Student Leadership Development Team operates the event in the style of a TED Conference, where speakers are given just a few minutes to share “ideas worth spreading.” The event will feature seven speakers from...
High-dose flu vaccine shortages are not widespread confirms Schaffner
Nov. 7, 2019—As the flu season begins across the United States, some older adults are having trouble accessing the high-dose flu vaccine designed for those over the age of 65. The high-dose flu vaccine, called Fluzone High-DoseTrusted Source, is made especially for older adults. It contains four times the amount of antigen than the standard flu vaccination. Antigen...
NYT: Measles virus “immune amnesia” studies celebrated by Schaffner
Nov. 4, 2019—Measles is far more dangerous than most people realize, new research shows. The disease itself can cause a severe and sometimes deadly illness, but two new studies published on Thursday found that even when patients recover, the virus can inflict lasting harm on their immune systems. The weakened immunity leaves a child vulnerable for several years to...
Martin to help guide VIGH’s education, training efforts
Oct. 30, 2019—Marie Martin, PhD, MEd, assistant professor of Health Policy, has been named associate director for Education and Training in the Vanderbilt Institute for Global Health (VIGH). Martin stepped into the role at the beginning of the fiscal year, succeeding Douglas Heimburger, MD, MS, who will focus his time on leading projects with grant funding from the Fogarty...
New drug-pricing bill admission earns Dusetzina’s praise
Oct. 29, 2019—emocratic lawmakers in recent weeks have begun to advance an argument long seen as something of a third rail in U.S. politics: that slightly less biomedical innovation might be worth a dramatic reduction in drug prices. The surprising candor has come amid pushback to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s high-profile drug pricing bill, which the trade group...
Schaffner interviewed on managing flu in patients with chronic respiratory illness
Oct. 29, 2019—As flu season approaches, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) continues to recommend influenza vaccination for all patients aged ≥6 months, with rare exceptions such as those with severe allergy to an ingredient in the vaccine.1 Individuals with preexisting respiratory diseases including asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) are among the groups...
Acra and colleagues to study undiagnosed congenital diarrhea in infants
Oct. 28, 2019—Researchers and pediatric gastroenterologists at four institutions, including Vanderbilt University Medical Center, were recently awarded a five-year, $9.4 million federal grant to tackle undiagnosed congenital diarrheas caused by a single gene mutation. The National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) awarded the funding for the Pediatric Congenital Diarrhea and Enteropathy (PediCODE) Consortium...
Health care system’s many mysteries explored in new Nikpay co-hosted podcast
Oct. 28, 2019—Everyone wants to fix the massive and complex U.S. health care system. But the truth is there is no silver bullet that will seamlessly reform the industry that consumes one-fifth the world’s largest economy. And to fix something, you must first understand it. That’s where Sayeh Nikpay, PhD, MPH, associate professor in Vanderbilt University Medical...
Diamond named to NFHS Sports Medicine Advisory Committee
Oct. 24, 2019—Vanderbilt MPH Program alumnus Alex Diamond, DO, MPH, associate professor of Pediatrics and Orthopaedic Surgery and director of the Program for Injury Prevention in Youth Sports (PIPYS), has been named to the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) Sports Medicine Advisory Committee.
On PBS Newshour: Best way to dodge the flu is to get vaccinated, stresses Schaffner
Oct. 23, 2019—The best way to dodge a full-blown case of influenza is to roll up a sleeve and get vaccinated, said William Schaffner, a professor who specializes in infectious disease, preventative medicine and immunization policy at Vanderbilt University’s School of Medicine. The influenza vaccine, which combines four different inactive flu strains, “provides complete protection to some people...
Schaffner: Meningitis Vaccine is an unsung story of public health
Oct. 23, 2019—Spinal meningitis cases in the U.S. are at an all-time low, and doctors think that’s due to the increase in vaccinations for the disease. In 1989, for instance, there were 1.1 cases for every 100,000 people. As of 2017, that rate was only 0.11 cases per 100,000 people, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention....
National Academy of Medicine elects MPH alumna Neuzil
Oct. 23, 2019—Kathleen M. Neuzil, MD, MPH, Professor of Medicine and Pediatrics and Director of the Center for Vaccine Development and Global Health (CVD) at the University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM), has been elected as a member of the National Academy of Medicine (NAM), in recognition of her pivotal research that has informed and shaped...
NPR investigates the flu vaccine and complications with MPH’s Schaffner
Oct. 22, 2019—October marks the start of a new flu season, with a rise in likely cases already showing up in Louisiana and other spots, federal statistics show. The advice from federal health officials remains clear and consistent: Get the flu vaccine as soon as possible, especially if you’re pregnant or have asthma or another underlying condition that...
Common cold vaccine possible says MPH’s Schaffner
Oct. 22, 2019—A vaccine for the cold has eluded scientists for decades, leaving doctors with little prevention advice for patients other than to wash their hands, keep their hands off their faces, and avoid people who are sick. That final piece of advice is particularly difficult to follow during cold weather, when people are spending more time...
Individual genetics is a factor in athletes’ mental health says Diamond
Oct. 22, 2019—A new PSA is attracting lots of attention after comparing the dangers of tackle football to those of smoking, but not all doctors agree with the message. The Concussion Legacy Foundation says it’s all about educating parents about Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, more commonly known as CTE. It’s a neurodegenerative brain disease likely caused by repeated...
Tennessee considers block grant proposal as Buntin seeks answers
Oct. 22, 2019—Concerns are still lingering over Tennessee’s block grant program proposal – a plan to overhaul the state’s healthcare system. On Wednesday, the Tennessee Medical Association said there just aren’t enough specifics in this plan to know if it’s good. Their concern is that the state would reduce TennCare funding, meaning it would have to purge...
Nikpay: despite protections, eligible patients left with big bills
Oct. 17, 2019—Under the Affordable Care Act, nonprofit hospitals like St. Joseph are expected to provide free or discounted care to patients of meager incomes — or risk losing their tax-exempt status. These price breaks can help people avoid financial catastrophe. And yet nearly half (45 percent) of nonprofit hospital organizations are routinely sending medical bills to...
Patrick seeks to enhance opioid care for infants
Oct. 10, 2019—The number of opioid-exposed infants who were connected, along with their families, to outside resources upon discharge from the hospital surged in a recent six-month pilot. The initiative tracked the effect of a checklist designed to streamline and prioritize referrals among an infant’s hospital care team, according to a Vanderbilt University Medical Center study. Infants...
Buntin explains TennCare block grant proposal
Oct. 10, 2019—Tennessee has made an “opening bid” in its negotiations with the federal government about a block grant that could significantly change how TennCare functions for more than 1 million children and low-income individuals, and making sense of the complex proposal can be tricky. In a new article in the New England Journal of Medicine, Melinda Buntin,...
Vaccine study seeks to halt flu’s most severe side effects
Oct. 10, 2019—Vanderbilt University Medical Center is leading a multicenter national study to evaluate the effectiveness of the influenza vaccine for preventing the flu’s most serious side effects — admission to an intensive care unit (ICU), organ failure and death. The Influenza Vaccine Effectiveness in the Critically Ill (IVY) study, funded by the Centers for Disease Control...
NYT: Schaffner explains bacteria causing hospital deaths
Oct. 8, 2019—Three premature babies have died after being infected by bacteria while in a neonatal intensive care unit at a hospital in central Pennsylvania, where five other babies were also sickened, hospital officials said on Monday. While individual patients in intensive care units may occasionally be infected by bacteria, a large number of infections is very...
The Flu Vaccine may not be perfect but partial protection is important says Schaffner
Oct. 7, 2019—Australia Just Had a Bad Flu Season. That May Be a Warning for the U.S. Australia had an unusually early and fairly severe flu season this year. Since that may foretell a serious outbreak on its way in the United States, public health experts now are urging Americans to get their flu shots as soon...
MPH’s Tsoise collaborates with tribal community for genetic research
Oct. 7, 2019—Research to capture snapshots, called genome-wide association studies, can only draw conclusions about the data that’s been collected. Without studies that look at each underrepresented population, genetic tests and therapies can’t be tailored to everyone. Still, projects intended as correctives, like All of Us and the International HapMap Project, face an ethical conundrum: Collecting that data...
AP turns to Schaffner for insight on this year’s flu vaccine
Sep. 27, 2019—The flu forecast is cloudy and it’s too soon to know if the U.S. is in for a third miserable season in a row, but health officials said Thursday not to delay vaccination. For now, people who get vaccinated and still get sick can expect a milder illness — and a lower risk of pneumonia,...
ABC News talks to Schaffner about health implications of climate change
Sep. 27, 2019—Climate change — marked by rising sea levels, ice loss and extreme weather — is accelerating, according to a new report, which found that the five-year period between 2014 and 2019 was the warmest on record. Increasing temperatures, rainfall and humidity create an ideal habitat for disease-carrying mosquitoes, one of the deadliest predators for humans. Malaria, a...
MPH’s Manouchehri: Study identifies targeted therapy’s cardiac risks
Sep. 26, 2019—After a recent study showed that chronic lymphocytic leukemia patients who received ibrutinib as a frontline treatment had a 7% death rate, a new study offers a clearer picture on the reasons for the deaths. A team of researchers used the VigiBase, a global database of drug complications maintained by the World Health Organization, to...
MPH’s Hung shines light on architecture of kidney disease
Sep. 26, 2019—A study of 280,000 U.S. veterans including 56,000 African Americans has identified in greater detail than ever before the “genetic architecture” of kidney function and chronic kidney disease (CKD), according to researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and their colleagues. The report, published recently in the journal Nature Communications, is an important step toward identifying specific genetic...
Satcher’s lecture explores public health highs, lows
Sep. 26, 2019—Violence is perhaps the greatest public health challenge facing American society today, former U.S. Surgeon General David Satcher, MD, PhD, said during a lecture at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine last week. His talk, “Revisiting the Highs and Lows of Public Health Practice,” was sponsored by the Flexner Deans’ Lecture Series in conjunction with the...
MPH’s Spalluto seeks to enhance cancer screening for Hispanic/Latina women
Sep. 26, 2019—Providing access to a culturally appropriate community health worker during breast cancer screenings may impact elements of patient care and satisfaction among Hispanic/Latina women, Vanderbilt University Medical Center researchers report in American Journal of Roentgenology. Lucy Spalluto, MD, MPH, assistant professor of Radiology and Radiological Sciences, and colleagues recruited 100 Hispanic/Latina women previously not engaged in...
JAMA: MPH’s Roumie explores diabetes drug risk for patients with kidney disease
Sep. 26, 2019—Over the years there has been uncertainty over which drugs are best for patients with Type 2 diabetes and one of its common complications, kidney disease. An observational study using medical record information from nearly 50,000 U.S. military veterans sheds new light on this issue. The study by researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center appears in JAMA, the...
Buntin on Tennessee’s Medicaid block grant funding proposal
Sep. 25, 2019—Changes could be on the way for Tennessee’s Medicaid program. Gov. Bill Lee wants the state to get Medicaid funding in a lump sum from the federal government. It’s called a block grant. TennCare changes may be on the way if the federal government approves a proposal from the state. “They’re looking for a way to...
In Infectious Disease News, MPH alumni outline the top vaccine priorities
Sep. 25, 2019—Experts are developing and testing numerous vaccine candidates against norovirus, which causes hundreds of millions of infections each year worldwide and is seen as a top target for vaccine research. Infectious Disease News asked C. Buddy Creech, MD, MPH, and Leigh M. Howard, MD, MPH, of the Vanderbilt Vaccine Research Program and division of pediatric infectious diseases at Vanderbilt University Medical...
MPH alumna Neuzil receives $200 million federal grant to develop universal flu vaccine
Sep. 23, 2019—Aiming to stamp out the flu, the federal government awarded a $200 million federal grant to researchers at the University of Maryland School of Medicine to develop a vaccine for the miserable virus that sickens millions and kills thousands every year. The university announced Friday that the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases would...
NPR talks to Dusetzina about international price index for drug prices
Sep. 20, 2019—In gridlocked Washington, both Democrats and Republicans have signaled there’s potential for a deal when it comes to lowering prescription drug prices. Now, there’s an idea both Congressional Democrats and the White House seem to like: They want to base U.S. prices on something called an international price index. Both plans would use the average...
Guillamondegui comments on TN trauma changes
Sep. 20, 2019—In just over a week, Ballad Health will make some of the most significant changes since its formation. On Oct. 1, Holston Valley Medical Center in Kingsport, Tenn., will become a Level 3 trauma center—downgraded from Level 1 and requiring fewer specialists. Once it’s all said and done, Johnson City Medical Center a half-hour south...
Buntin weighs in on TN’s Medicaid block grant proposal
Sep. 19, 2019—Tennessee’s first-of-a-kind plan to ask the federal government to cap Medicaid funding for some of the 1.4 million Tennesseans covered by the program has hospital leaders hoping it can bring them more money. On the block-granting proposal itself Melinda Buntin, chair and professor of health policy at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, stressed that the capped payments won’t...
Creech urges early flu vaccination
Sep. 18, 2019—Vanderbilt MPH graduate Buddy Creech, M.D., M.P.H., is director of the Vanderbitl Vaccine Research Program and Associate Professor of Pediatric Infectious Diseases. He spoke with WKRN in Nashville about this year’s flu season.
MPH’s Schaffner discusses upcoming flu season
Sep. 18, 2019—Flu seasons are notoriously unpredictable, but there are already clues that the upcoming season may be especially difficult. “There is a concern that some older people may have their immunity wane simply because their immune system is more frail, less robust,” Dr. William Schaffner, a professor of preventive medicine and infectious diseases at Vanderbilt University...
On Sept. 18, Satcher to discuss Highs and Lows of Public Health Practice
Sep. 17, 2019—Dr. David Satcher, founding director and senior adviser of The Satcher Health Leadership Institute at Morehouse University School of Medicine, will give the 10th annual David Satcher Lecture, part of the Flexner Dean’s Lecture Series at Vanderbilt, on Wednesday, Sept. 18. Satcher will discuss “Revisiting the Highs and Lows of Public Health Practice.”
MPH’s Schaffner: U.S. should expect moderate to severe flu season
Sep. 10, 2019—Public health experts say the United States should expect a moderate to severe flu season, noting how the influenza season has played out in Australia. Dr. William Schaffner, professor of preventive medicine and infectious diseases at Vanderbilt University, said the U.S. can expect a moderate to severe flu season because Australia is weathering such an experience, but added that...
Diamond, MPH alumnus, named TNAAP Pediatrician of the Year
Sep. 3, 2019—Alex Diamond, DO, MPH, has many titles and serves in multiple roles — associate professor of Pediatrics and Orthopedic Surgery, director of the Program for Injury Prevention in Youth Sports (PIPYS) and team physician for Vanderbilt University, the Nashville Predators and the Nashville Sounds. But he favors one — advocate. Colleagues throughout the state agree,...
MPH’s Dusetzina: New Hepatitis C screening recommendations
Aug. 29, 2019—An estimated 2.4 million people in the U.S. are living with hepatitis C, according to the CDC, with 41,200 estimated new cases in 2016. The number of new cases increased more than threefold from 2010 to 2016, mostly among young, white people living in rural areas in the wake of the opioid epidemic. Cases have also...
MPH’s Schaffner comments on the U.S. measles outbreak
Aug. 29, 2019—When the World Health Organization declared in 2000 that the United States had eliminated measles, it was hailed as one of the biggest public health achievements in the nation’s history. Losing that elimination status would be a black eye to the United States, public health experts said. “We’re embarrassed. We’re chagrined,” said Dr. William Schaffner, a longtime...
Murry named University Professor of Health Policy
Aug. 26, 2019—Velma McBride Murry, who holds the Lois Autrey Betts Chair in Education and Human Development, has been named University Professor of Human and Organizational Development and University Professor of Health Policy. A University Professor is a faculty member whose work extends beyond traditional academic fields and disciplinary lines and who brings together diverse segments of...
Young: Naltrexone for opioid misuse may be safer for pregnant women
Aug. 22, 2019—A new study finds naltrexone may be safest option for pregnant women trying to stop using opioids. “Retrospective studies such as this one are prone to bias and patient differences that can influence outcomes,” Dr. Jessica Young, MPD, an associate professor in the department of obstetrics and gynecology at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, told Healthline.
Schaffner comments on Hepatitis A outbreak in Tennessee
Aug. 22, 2019—Tennessee’s hepatitis A outbreak has spread to more than 2,200 people and resulted in at least 13 deaths, according to information released by the Tennessee Department of Health Tuesday. William Schaffner, a renown infectious disease specialist at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, said the hepatitis A virus is particularly difficult to contain because infected people can be...
AP: MPH’s Dusetzina discusses brand-name drug price increases
Aug. 22, 2019—Drug companies are still raising prices for brand-name prescription medicines, just not as often or by as much as they used to, according to an Associated Press analysis. Stacie B. Dusetzina, a drug price expert and assistant professor of health policy at Vanderbilt University, thinks drugmakers may be trying to give Trump a political win...
Foster weighs in on in increasing cases of Hepatitis A in the US
Aug. 21, 2019—In the past three years, a series of hepatitis A outbreaks across the U.S. has led to more than 23,000 cases, more than 14,000 hospitalizations, and more than 200 deaths. Overall, the number of cases between 2016 and 2018 increased 300 percent compared with 2013 to 2015, according to the CDC. Only two states, California and Utah,...
Schaffner on Advancing Pneumococcal Vaccine Practice
Aug. 21, 2019—As William Schaffner, MD, previously explained to MD Magazine®: the current pneumococcal vaccine process is complicated. That doesn’t mean it’s without benefit, though. In the second part of an interview with MD Mag, Schaffner, a professor of Preventive Medicine in the Department of Health Policy at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, broke down the current impact of pneumococcal bacteria prevention measures—and...
VUMC Physician Spotlight: MPH’s Belcher
Aug. 14, 2019—Ryan Belcher, MD, has joined Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt’s Pediatric Department of Otolaryngology after completing a yearlong fellowship with the program. He also has a strong interest in global health endeavors, and this fall, he will be starting his Master’s in Public Health with a focus on Global Health at Vanderbilt University....
MPH’s Schaffner comments on the Legionnaires outbreak
Aug. 13, 2019—A widespread outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease has killed one person and sickened possibly dozens of others who were all guests at the Sheraton Atlanta Hotel. The hotel evacuated all its guests on July 15 and remains closed as of press time. Legionnaires’ disease is a severe form of pneumonia. People get sick inhaling microscopic water...
MPH’s Stevenson comments on the oversight of hospice care
Aug. 13, 2019—“Hospice oversight is fairly minimal,” said David Stevenson, director of health policy education at Vanderbilt University‘s School of Public Health Policy. Stevenson said the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services “does not have any immediate sanctions at its disposal — like fines … or installing temporary management.” Hospice agencies have been sued for Medicare billing...
MPH’s Clayton Discusses DNA Data
Aug. 13, 2019—Deals between drugmakers and hospital systems to mine the genetic profiles of hospital patients are triggering concerns over the control of valuable genetic data. “The data about them might not be as readily available for research as it might be otherwise,” said Vanderbilt University Professor Dr. Ellen Wright Clayton, who studies genetic-research ethics. “We have...
MPH’s Tsosie: Working with Indigenous Communities for Genomics Research
Aug. 5, 2019—Many scientists are interested in studying the DNA of Indigenous populations in an effort to reveal the “human migration story” and contribute to our understanding about the genetic basis of disease. But many in the Indigenous community feel these scientific pursuits have a history of being exploitative, achieved without consideration of the needs or interests...
MPH’s Umutesi: Immunogenicity of Fractional-Dose Vaccine during a Outbreak
Aug. 5, 2019—In 2016, the response to a yellow fever outbreak in Angola and the Democratic Republic of Congo led to a global shortage of yellow fever vaccine. As a result, a fractional dose of the 17DD yellow fever vaccine (containing one fifth [0.1 ml] of the standard dose) was offered to 7.6 million children 2 years...
Shu, Zheng receive Vietnam’s top honor for foreign scientists
Aug. 1, 2019—The Vietnamese Ministry of Health has awarded two Vanderbilt epidemiologists the Memorabilia Medal “For the People’s Health” in appreciation for their contributions in helping the nation establish a population-based research program for cancer, diabetes and other non-communicable diseases. The medal is the highest honor that the Vietnam government bestows upon foreign scientists who have made...
MPH’s DeBaun awarded 2019 ASH Mentor Award
Aug. 1, 2019—Michael DeBaun, MD, MPH, director of the Vanderbilt-Meharry Center for Excellence in Sickle Cell Disease, has been awarded the American Society of Hematology’s 2019 ASH Mentor Award for his sustained and outstanding commitment to the training and career development of early career hematologists. The ASH Mentor Award recognizes hematologists who have excelled in mentoring trainees...
On Marketplace, Dusetzina comments on Senate Finance Committee plans to address drug prices
Jul. 26, 2019—On Marketplace, Stacie Dusetzina, Ph.D., associate professor of Health Policy, commented on the Senate Finance Committee’s plans to address increasing drug prices.
Raffanti lands major grant for AIDS education, training in southeast
Jul. 25, 2019—A five-year, nearly $23 million federal grant will allow MPH graduate Stephen Raffanti, M.D,. M.P.H., and colleagues to continue the coordination of AIDS education and training efforts in Tennessee and seven other southeastern states. Raffanti is medical director of the Comprehensive Care Clinic and professor of Medicine in the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. The Southeast AIDS Education...
Diamond and Safe Kids Cumberland Valley receive advocacy impact award
Jul. 25, 2019—Led by Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt, Safe Kids Cumberland Valley received the Impact Award for Advocacy for its work to protect children from preventable injuries. The recognition at the Safe Kids Worldwide International Childhood Injury Prevention Convention highlighted the work of coalition members Purnima Unni, M.P.H., Pediatric Trauma Injury Prevention Program Manager...
Everson’s research finds private practice physicians less likely to maintain electronic records
Jul. 24, 2019—Modernizing health records by making them electronic has gained momentum as technology evolves and policies push health care toward digital solutions. But the same trend has not been evident for physicians who remain in private practice, new research finds. The research led by Jordan Everson, Ph.D., assistant professor in the Department of Health Policy, finds striking differences in...
MPH’s Moore discusses HAV vaccinations
Jul. 23, 2019—In recent years, almost half of all U.S. states have reported outbreaks of person-to-person transmission of hepatitis A virus, especially among people who use drugs, people experiencing homelessness, and men who have sex with men. Infectious Disease News asked Kelly L. Moore, MD, MPH, a preventive medicine physician and adjunct associate professor of health policy...
NPR turns to Dusetzina to better understand drug pricing
Jul. 19, 2019—NPR recently turned to Stacie B. Dusetzina, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Health Policy and Ingram Associate Professor of Cancer Research at Vanderbilt, to clarify drug pricing.
Patrick’s research finds substance use linked to increase in foster care
Jul. 19, 2019—The nation’s opioid crisis is a factor in the recent increase in the number of infants entering the nation’s foster care system, with at least half of all infant placements now a result of parental substance use, according to a new analysis from researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and the RAND Corporation “While Congress...
Kumah-Crystal is rethinking technology in the exam room
Jul. 19, 2019—Yaa Kumah-Crystal, M.D., M.P.H., M.S., self-describes as an early adopter of technology who is seizing on the fast embrace of natural language recognition systems — i.e. Siri and Alexa — to usher in an era of medicine where the tech is just as responsive. Kumah-Crystal, assistant professor of Biomedical Informatics and Pediatric Endocrinology at Vanderbilt...
Sanlorenzo: Benzodiazepines Worsen Opioid Withdrawal for Neonates
Jul. 18, 2019—Neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS) rates have more than quintupled in recent years, in part due to rising opioid use during pregnancy. The postnatal withdrawal syndrome now affects more than 32,000 newborns in the U.S. each year—but severity varies widely. Some newborns experience increased tone and tremors. Others are unable to feed or sleep, and may even require pharmacotherapy...
MPH’s Schaffner discusses Measles vaccine rates
Jul. 17, 2019—UNICEF and the U.N. World Health Organization reported that the coverage of one dose of the measles vaccine since 2010 has hovered at 86%, below the 95% epidemiologists say is needed to achieve “herd immunity” and prevent outbreaks within communities. The U.S. is experiencing its largest measles outbreak since 1992. As of July 11, the...
Stevenson’s research reveals variable staffing at nursing homes
Jul. 3, 2019—David Stevenson, Ph.D., and colleagues analyzed payroll-based staffing data for U.S. nursing homes and discovered large daily staffing fluctuations, low weekend staffing and daily staffing levels that often fall well below the expectations of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), all of which can increase the risk of adverse events for residents.
On CBS News: Schaffner discusses necrotizing fasciitis
Jul. 2, 2019—The family of a Florida woman who say she died after being infected by flesh-eating bacteria at a beach is sounding the alarm. Lynn Fleming, 77, died late last week after walking along a popular Gulf of Mexico beach near her home. It is a rare occurrence, but now some communities in Florida are especially...
MPH’s Schaffner’s Advice to Providers: Communicate, Educate, Vaccinate
Jun. 27, 2019—Measles certainly is a matter of great interest in the United States. In recent weeks, we have seen the true effects of the measles outbreak, which has sparked awareness of the need for the vaccine among the general public. We as health care professionals need to vaccinate as many persons who are susceptible and unvaccinated as...
VUMC forms new Center for Improving the Public’s Health Using Informatics
Jun. 20, 2019—Vanderbilt University Medical Center is forming a new Center for Improving the Public’s Health Using Informatics (CIPHI, pronounced “Sci Fi”) to be co-directed by Michael Matheny, MD, MS, MPH, and Melissa McPheeters, PhD, MPH. CIPHI will coordinate with state and national public health agencies to offer services and expertise in developing key informatics and analytics...
Vanderbilt: When Surgeons Are Abrasive To Co-Workers, Patients’ Health May Suffer
Jun. 19, 2019—A recent study published in JAMA Surgery , which looked at interactions between surgeons and their teams, found that patients of surgeons who behaved unprofessionally around their colleagues tended to have more complications after surgery. Surgeons who model unprofessional behavior can undermine the performance of their teams, the authors write, potentially threatening patients’ safety. Dr. William...
MPH’s Grijalva receives 2019 VUSM Excellence in Teaching award
Jun. 6, 2019—Jeff Balser, MD, PhD, President and CEO of Vanderbilt University Medical Center and Dean of Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, kicked off the Spring Faculty Meeting by providing a short update of VUSM’s academic endeavors. Every year since 2000, the School of Medicine has honored faculty members for Excellence in Teaching and Outstanding Contributions to...
Kainer receives CSTE’s 2019 Pumphandle Award
Jun. 5, 2019—Marion Kainer, M.D., received the 2019 Pumphandle Award from the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists (CSTE) at the CSTE Annual Conference in Raleigh, NC on June 5, 2019. The CSTE Pumphandle Award is awarded annually for outstanding achievement in the field of applied epidemiology. This award honors a state, local, territorial, or federal epidemiologist who...
In the Washington Post, Schaffner comments on historic number of U.S. measles cases
May. 31, 2019—In a recent Washington Post article, William Schaffner, M.D., commented on the record number of U.S. measles cases in the first five months of 2019. Dr. Schaffner is Professor of Preventive Medicine in the Department of Health Policy as well as Professor of Medicine in the Division of Infectious Diseases at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine.
In NYT, Stevenson comments on quality of care in nursing homes with financial difficulties
May. 31, 2019—In a recent New York Times article, David Stevenson, Ph.D., comments on the quality of care in nursing homes facing financial difficulties. Stevenson serves as director of MPH program’s Health Policy track. He is Professor, Vice Chair for Education, and Director of Health Policy Education in the Department of Health Policy.
MPH graduate calls for expanded safety measures for scooters
May. 31, 2019—In a recent opinion piece in the Tennessean, Oscan Guillamondegui, M.D., M.P.H., calls for improved safety measures for scooter use in Nashville. Guillamondequi is Professor of Surgery, Medical Director of the Trauma ICU, Director of the Vanderbilt Multidisciplinary Traumatic Brain Injury Clinic, and Vice Chairman for Surgical Quality, Safety, and Professionalism at Vanderbilt.
Raffanti appointed to Advisory Council To Eliminate HIV/AIDS In Nashville
May. 31, 2019—Mayor David Briley signed an executive order creating the Ending the HIV Epidemic Advisory Council comprised of health care experts and community leaders to oversee the execution of that plan. Vanderbilt MPH graduate Stephen Raffanti, M.D., M.P.H., is among the 14 health care experts and community leaders appointed to the council tasked with overseeing a strategic plan...
Dusetzina research published in JAMA finds Medicare drug costs are rising
May. 30, 2019—Seniors’ out-of-pocket costs for cancer drugs continue to rise steadily, with patients paying thousands of dollars each year despite efforts to close the Medicare Part D “donut hole,” researchers said. Prices for 13 anticancer drugs available through Medicare Part D in 2010 rose an average 8% over inflation every year over the past decade, said...
MPH’s Schaffner: Measles cases continue to rise
May. 24, 2019—In a report on Monday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced that it has confirmed an additional 41 measles cases in the U.S. The new total brings the number of cases up to 880 in 24 states, the largest number of measles cases in this country since 1994. “We’d previously eliminated this disease not...
MPH’s Guillamondegui comments on scooter injuries
May. 24, 2019—In April, the Nashville Fire Department responded to 43 emergency calls related to scooter injuries. Dr. Oscar Guillamondegui estimates Vanderbilt University Medical Center’s trauma center and emergency department see about one major traumatic brain injury a month related to scooters and one-to-two injuries to faces, arms and legs per day. “If you think about the actual number of scooters on the road, it...
McPheeters to rejoin faculty of the Department of Health Policy
May. 20, 2019—NASHVILLE, Tennessee — Melissa McPheeters, PhD, MPH, will return to the permanent faculty of Vanderbilt University’s School of Medicine, beginning July 1, 2019. For the last three years, McPheeters has served the State of Tennessee as Director of Informatics & Analytics in the Tennessee Department of Health, where she built a program in informatics and analytics that...
Dusetzina comments on generic entry drug prices
May. 13, 2019—Congress is mainly squabbling over proposals to reduce prices by boosting competition. And with the exception of some very preliminary talk about the length of patent exclusivity period for biologics, they’re mostly focused on traditional small-molecule generics. But those regulatory tools were designed for a world in which pharmaceutical companies develop relatively simple drugs and...
MPH’s Schaffner comments on the Measles quarantine
May. 10, 2019—The cruise ship with a measles case on board remains under quarantine in its home port of Curacao as health officials wait to see if more people aboard become infected. The quarantine could last up to two more weeks, a public health expert told Forbes, a scenario more likely given that the majority of the ship’s...
Clayton: Gene testing and U.S. laws
May. 10, 2019—While DNA testing upends the practice of medicine, U.S. laws aren’t keeping pace. That’s one message from a nearly finished 3-year, $2 million project called LawSeq, which aims to build a legal foundation to support genomic medicine. Doctors and other health care providers are already facing lawsuits that broach new legal terrain—and sometimes even hold...
In MMWR, MPH graduate Foster reports on increase in Hepatitis A infections
May. 9, 2019—Hepatitis A virus (HAV) is primarily transmitted fecal-orally after close contact with an infected person (1); it is the most common cause of viral hepatitis worldwide, typically causing acute and self-limited symptoms, although rarely liver failure and death can occur (1). Rates of hepatitis A had declined by approximately 95% during 1996–2011; however, during 2016–2018,...
MPH’s Schaffner: Antibiotics and big Pharma
May. 6, 2019—New antibiotics, which often compete with cheap generics, generally don’t cost more than $1,000 a day, or about $10,000 for a course of treatment. That compares with cancer drugs priced at $100,000 a year or more, so pharmaceutical companies focus on the more lucrative medicines. And infectious disease doctors, wary of promoting resistance, are reluctant...
Dusetzina discusses consumers out-of-pocket drug prices
May. 2, 2019—The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is working on a proposed rule that would require drug companies to disclose the list prices of prescription medications when advertising them directly to consumers on television.
MPH’s Schaffner explains the need for a Measles booster
May. 2, 2019—Unvaccinated individuals have been the focus of attention during this year’s measles outbreaks. A record 704 cases of the illness have been confirmed in 22 states so far in 2019, and the CDC says the majority of those diagnoses have been in unvaccinated people. Health officials have repeatedly warned nearly everyone to get the shot if they haven’t...
MPH alumna named 2019-20 Fulbright grantee
May. 2, 2019—Eight Vanderbilt students and alumni have been awarded funding to pursue graduate study, conduct research and teach English around the world through the prestigious Fulbright U.S. Student Program. The Career Center and Graduate School advised them on the application process, providing support and facilitating the internal nomination process for this highly competitive award. The Fulbright U.S. Student Program, founded...
Dusetzina: CAR-T payment challenges
Apr. 30, 2019—Hospitals don’t want to keep losing money over this treatment, and that could affect who gets it. More CAR-T therapies are in the development pipeline, but competition isn’t a sure-fire solution given its personalized nature. Hospitals can lose upwards of $100,000 dollars when they provide CAR-T therapy to a Medicare beneficiary on an inpatient basis. If...
Dusetzina discusses the high cost of insulin
Apr. 30, 2019—According to the American Diabetes Association, about 1.25 million Americans have Type 1 diabetes —less common than Type 2 — and cannot live without insulin. A peer-reviewed study published in December, which looked at people with diabetes being treated at the Yale Diabetes Center in New Haven, Conn. Of 199 participants, 51 people — just over 25%...
MPH’s Schaffner: One vs. two Measles vaccine doses
Apr. 30, 2019—Nearly two decades after measles was declared eliminated in the United States, the country and the globe have seen an upsurge of cases — including adults who thought they were protected by the vaccine. Now, some are questioning whether they are properly vaccinated and whether they are still at risk for getting measles. In research studies, nearly everyone developed signs of...
Schaffner: US measles cases hit highest mark in 25 years
Apr. 26, 2019—Measles in the U.S. has climbed to its highest level in 25 years, closing in on 700 cases this year in a resurgence largely attributed to misinformation that is turning parents against vaccines. “This is alarming,” said Dr. William Schaffner, a Vanderbilt University vaccine expert. Not only is measles dangerous in itself, but its return...
Griffin and Stevenson receive VUMC endowed directorships
Apr. 25, 2019—On April 16, Vanderbilt University Medical Center held its second Directorship Celebration to honor 10 leaders from across the enterprise in clinical care, research, education and administration. The MPH Program holders of VUMC’s new endowed directorships are: Marie Griffin, MD, MPH, holder of the Endowed Directorship in Public Health Research and Education David Stevenson, PhD,...
Moore discusses Measles in Tennessee
Apr. 24, 2019—Even the one case of measles confirmed in East Tennessee last week has triggered a costly emergency response. The state’s Department of Health treats every patient like a ticking time bomb. It usually starts with a call from a local doctor treating someone who just traveled abroad and becomes very ill, then develops the signature...
In NYT, Buntin discusses Medicare For All
Apr. 22, 2019—If Medicare for all abolished private insurance and reduced rates to Medicare levels — at least 40 percent lower, by one estimate — there would most likely be significant changes throughout the health care industry, which makes up 18 percent of the nation’s economy and is one of the nation’s largest employers. Some hospitals, especially...
MPH’s Schaffner: Measles and the spread to vaccinated populations
Apr. 22, 2019—An Israeli flight attendant has slipped into a coma after contracting measles, according to health officials. The 43-year-old woman has encephalitis, or inflammation of the brain, a well-known and potentially deadly complication of the virus. She was otherwise healthy before getting measles. Ongoing measles outbreaks in the United States and Israel started with parents who’ve...
MPH’s Schaffner: Measles outbreak accelerates
Apr. 17, 2019—Measles is surging throughout the world. The World Health Organization is reporting that cases have nearly quadrupled in the first few months of this year. And U.S. public health officials say 555 cases have been confirmed nationwide.
MPH’s Dusetzina: Medicare spending increase
Apr. 15, 2019—The cost for 22 drugs shot up more than 500 percent per dose from 2013 through 2017, according to a Bloomberg Government analysis of Medicare Part D data released by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. “Those very high prices on individual drugs can be barriers to any beneficiary using them at all,” said...
Acute Hepatitis A Virus Infection and HIV Connection
Apr. 12, 2019—Complete immunization against hepatitis A requires 2 doses of a monovalent vaccine or 3 doses of a combined hepatitis A and hepatitis B vaccine; approximately 90% of vaccinated persons achieve protective antibody levels after a single dose of either product (1). However, persons living with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection might not develop the same...
MPH’s Schaffner discusses multistate E. coli outbreak
Apr. 11, 2019—Finding the source of a multistate outbreak of E. coli will be a challenge for health investigators, a Vanderbilt University Medical Center physician said. So far, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports 96 confirmed cases of E. coli O103 in five states in the outbreak, including 26 in Tennessee. The bulk of those — 21, including...
MPH’s Heimburger: American Society of Nutrition Fellow
Apr. 11, 2019—The American Society for Nutrition (ASN) recently selected VIGH Core Faculty Member, Doug Heimburger, M.D., M.S., to be a member of the ASN Class of 2019 Fellows. Being inducted as a fellow of the ASN is the highest honor of the society, Dr. Heimburger has been an active member of the ASN for many years, and he...
MPH’s Schaffner comments on NYC Measles outbreak
Apr. 10, 2019—A growing measles outbreak in New York City has led officials to declare a public health emergency in parts of the city. There have been nearly 300 confirmed measles cases in the city since the outbreak began last October, mainly in Orthodox Jewish communities in parts of Brooklyn, according to the New York City Department...
MPH’s Dusetzina: Transparency in drug pricing
Apr. 10, 2019—The Trump administration is expected to finalize a new rule soon that would require drug makers to include list prices in their TV ads for prescription drugs. The idea is that such transparency will lead to more competition and ultimately to lower cost for consumers. Stacie Dusetzina, professor of health policy at Vanderbilt University, doubts that...
MPH’s Schaffner: Fungal infection and the emerging global threat
Apr. 10, 2019—Candida auris is getting a lot of buzz lately after reports surfaced that the dangerous fungal infection is cropping up around the world—including in the U.S. In fact, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has named it a “global emerging threat,” given that it can cause serious infections and even death. “The average person calls...
Buntin talks to Politico about health care costs
Apr. 5, 2019—Lawmakers are looking at how to start chipping away at high drug prices, or fix “surprise” medical bills that hit insured people who end up with an out-of-network doctor even when they’re at an in-network hospital. Neither effort is insignificant, and both are bipartisan. While those steps would help lower Americans’ medical bills, health economists...
Panel explores tobacco-control legislation efforts
Apr. 4, 2019—Tobacco control legislative initiatives in Tennessee and other states were discussed during the spring Research into Policy and Practice Lecture sponsored by the Department of Health Policy at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and NashvilleHealth. Speakers included State Sen. Shane Reeves, who recently sponsored a Senate bill to raise the smoking age to 21 in Tennessee;...
Student explores health equity in Nashville with Meharry-Vanderbilt Alliance
Apr. 3, 2019—When asked about her goals in the medical field, Meharry-Vanderbilt Alliance (MVA) intern Tamee E. Livermont couldn’t help but chuckle. “Gosh, I have a lot of them,” she said. Indeed, when she lists those goals, they become a broad and lengthy checklist of topical action items. If they could be grouped under a single umbrella,...
MPH student awarded 2019 Native American Congressional Internship
Apr. 1, 2019—The Udall Foundation and Native Nations Institute are pleased to announce that 12 students from 10 Tribes and 10 universities have been selected as 2019 Native American Congressional Interns. They were selected by an independent review committee on the basis of academic achievement and a demonstrated commitment to careers in Tribal public policy. The Udall...
Tennesseans support stricter tobacco rules
Mar. 28, 2019—Tennesseans appear to back stricter regulations on smoking, according to a poll released Tuesday by anti-smoking advocates. The statewide survey asked whether residents support raising the tobacco age and banning smoking in public places. And a sizeable and bipartisan majority said yes. Even a majority of smokers told pollsters that they wouldn’t mind if smoking were...
MPH’s Guillamondegui discusses appendicitis treatment
Mar. 28, 2019—Appendicitis is the inflammation of the appendix, a finger-shaped organ that projects from the colon to the lower right side of the abdomen. The painful condition is common, with about 300,000 cases every year in the US. “The major risk of not having surgery from appendicitis is that it would continue to inflame and then rupture...
MPH’s Schaffner comments on NY Measles outbreak
Mar. 27, 2019—A county just north of New York City declared a state of emergency Tuesday and banned children not vaccinated against measles from public spaces, officials said. The declaration was the most aggressive step taken by New York health officials since the outbreak began in Oct. 2018. “What they’ve done is re-created the old concept of...
MPH’s Carlucci discusses work in Mozambique
Mar. 21, 2019—When James Carlucci, MD, MPH, instructor of Pediatric Infectious Diseases, is in Nashville he treats children at Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt. When he’s on one of the several trips he takes each year to Mozambique, he’s trying to understand when and why HIV-exposed infants fall out of care — and how to...
Vanderbilt’s Ehrenfeld’s testifies on military policy
Mar. 8, 2019—Vanderbilt’s Jesse Ehrenfeld, MD, MPH, right, testified Feb. 27 before the U.S. House Armed Services Committee on military policy affecting transgender service members. “There is no medical reason, including a diagnosis of gender dysphoria, to exclude transgender people from military service,” he explained to the Committee. Ehrenfeld, professor of Anesthesiology, Surgery, Biomedical Informatics and Health...
MPH’s Stevenson comments on nursing home abuse
Mar. 6, 2019—Although laws require abuses to be reported and investigated, these laws may not always be followed by some nursing homes. Then there are concerns that if an incident gets reported, some experts say, investigations should be conducted more aggressively. Many nursing home employees promptly report abusers to authorities, as required by federal law, and assist in the...
MPH’s Schaffner comments on the Shingles Vaccine shortage
Mar. 5, 2019—Because of high demand, Shingrix, the two-dose vaccine approved in 2017 to prevent shingles and its blistery skin rash, continues to be in short supply. In 2018, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), the manufacturer of the vaccine, delivered about 3 million doses in the first half of the year and 5.3 million in the last 6 months of...
MPH’s Patrick: Opioid-dependent newborns in WV
Mar. 5, 2019—Higher rates of newborn drug withdrawal shadowed communities experiencing economic decline. Solving the opioid crisis involves more than health care. Neonatal abstinence syndrome can occur when babies are chronically exposed before birth to opioids, whether their mothers are using illegal drugs or prescribed medicines. Sometimes mothers take an opioid like methadone because it can be...
MPH’s Schaffner comments on new autism and vaccine study
Mar. 5, 2019—A new, large study finds the MMR vaccine does not increase the risk of autism. “The new study, if we needed it, puts to rest once again that there is no association between measles vacccine and autism,” said Dr. William Schaffner of Vanderbilt University Medical Center. The study, published in Annals of Internal Medicine, looked...
MPH’s Dusetzina comments on insulin pricing
Mar. 5, 2019—The drugmaker Eli Lilly will begin selling a cheaper version of its most popular insulin, Humalog, in an effort to head off criticism about the rising costs of prescription drugs, the company said Monday. Offering an authorized generic for an expensive drug is “a really great solution for patients who don’t have health insurance, or...
MPH’s Moore discusses vaccines on U.S. science panel
Mar. 4, 2019—The U.S. antivaccine movement has found a new front for its attacks on scientists and their work: gatherings of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), which recommends which vaccines Americans should receive. Since last summer, increasing numbers of vaccine opponents have come to ACIP meetings, held three times a year here at the campus...
MPH’s Yaa Kumah-Crystal to speak at TEDxNashville
Mar. 1, 2019—TEDxNashville: A World of Change – A World of Hope In 1968, society was breaking down as battles erupted over the Vietnam War, cultural values and race. There was the triumph of orbiting the moon for the first time, but also the tragedies of losing two proponents of peace – the Rev Martin Luther King...
MPH’s Schaffner comments on CJD cases in TN
Feb. 21, 2019—For the second time in less than a month, a Tennessee family is mourning a loved one who they believe died from Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease, something doctors say is a one-in-a-million diagnosis. “When it’s a sporadic disease […] sometimes two cases will occur closer together in time,” Dr. William Schaffner of Vanderbilt University Medical Center explained. According...
MPH’s Gillaspie celebrates a transplant milestone
Feb. 20, 2019—Past and present members of the Vanderbilt Transplant Center, guests and patients attended a celebration of VUMC’s 500th lung transplant at the Student Life Center Feb. 5. Shown here are (back row, from left) Matthew Bacchetta, MD, MBA, MA; Ivan Robbins, MD; Eric Grogan, MD, MPH; and Eric Lambright, MD; (front row, from left) James...
MPH’s Moore: Practices for Use of Hepatitis A Vaccine
Feb. 15, 2019—Hepatitis A (HepA) vaccination is recommended routinely for children at age 12–23 months, for persons who are at increased risk for hepatitis A virus (HAV) infection, and for any person wishing to obtain immunity. Persons at increased risk for HAV infection include international travelers to areas with high or intermediate hepatitis Hepatitis A vaccines are...
MPH’s Schaffner comments on milder flu season
Feb. 15, 2019—This season’s flu vaccine is a good match for the virus strains in circulation, according to new data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, explaining in part the lower severity of the season. This season, nearly 90 percent of the flu cases tested by the CDC are turning out to be H1N1, the...
MPH’s Patrick’s work lauded by Society for Pediatric Research
Feb. 14, 2019—Stephen Patrick, MD, MPH, MS, has been named to receive the Society for Pediatric Research 2019 Young Investigator Award, an honor bestowed upon a young physician who has embarked on a career in investigative pediatrics. Patrick, director of the Vanderbilt Center for Child Health Policy and assistant professor of Pediatrics and Health Policy in the...
Major initiative launched to advance the application of AI to health care
Feb. 13, 2019—IBM Watson Health has announced plans to make a 10-year, $50 million investment in joint research collaborations with Brigham and Women’s Hospital — the teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School — and Vanderbilt University Medical Center to advance the science of artificial intelligence (AI) and its application to major public health issues. The scientific collaborations...
MPH’s Gonzales to speak at Southern LGBTQ Health Symposium
Feb. 13, 2019—The Vanderbilt Program for LGBTQ Health is very excited to announce that we are hosting our Second Annual Southern LGBTQ Health Symposium on Saturday, March 2, 2019. We will engage providers, students, and community members throughout the region on a variety of topics to better serve sexual and gender minority patients and families. 12:45 PM...
MPH’s Buntin looks ahead at health policy in Washington
Feb. 13, 2019—Three months following the 2018 midterm elections, a panel discussion at AcademyHealth National Health Policy Conference, held February 4-5 in Washington, DC, outlined how much healthcare did, or didn’t, play a role in the elections, as well as what healthcare trends to expect in 2019. Looking at results from the midterm elections, they weren’t heavily...
MPH’s Dusetzina comments on prescription buying habits
Feb. 13, 2019—The analysis, by GoodRx, a company that tracks prescription drug prices, looked at how often residents of different neighborhoods filled prescriptions for different categories of drugs. Patients in wealthier neighborhoods were much more likely to pick up prescriptions for lifestyle problems: erectile dysfunction, baldness, anti-wrinkle Botox injections and an eye medicine that thickens eyelashes. This...
VUSM Symposium shines light on research by MPH’s Banerdt
Feb. 13, 2019—The Vanderbilt University School of Medicine Medical Scholars Research Symposium was held February 4 and highlighted the work of eight medical students who spent the 2017-2018 academic year immersed in research experiences under the guidance of faculty mentors. Justin Banerdt, whose mentors were E. Wesley Ely, MD, MPH, professor of Medicine, and Kondwelani Mateyo, MD,...
MPH Student Receives Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Award
Feb. 13, 2019—On Monday, January 21, M.P.H. candidate Sonya Reid-Lawrence, M.D. received the annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Award. This award is given to a faculty or staff member in the School of Medicine, School of Nursing, or Vanderbilt University Medical Center who emulates the principles of King through his or her work. The award was...
New recommended immunization schedule released by MPH alumna on CDC Advisory Committee
Feb. 8, 2019—At its October 2018 meeting, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP)* voted to recommend approval of the Recommended Immunization Schedule for Children and Adolescents Aged 18 Years or Younger, United States, 2019. The 2019 child and adolescent immunization schedule summarizes ACIP recommendations, including several changes from the 2018 immunization schedule,† on the cover page,...
Society of Urologic Oncology honors MPH alumnus contributions
Feb. 4, 2019—Daniel Barocas, MD, MPH, associate professor of Urology, is being recognized with a national award from the Society of Urologic Oncology (SUO) for his efforts to develop urologic cancer quality measures. The SUO’s Distinguished Service Award is given to a urologist whose actions at work or in the community exceed job expectations and reflect values...
MPH’s Heerman: In utero antibiotics and obesity risk
Feb. 4, 2019—Identifying risk factors for childhood obesity is necessary for developing prevention strategies. Previous studies of a potential association between antibiotic use during pregnancy and childhood obesity have had conflicting results. William Heerman, MD, MPH and colleagues in the National Patient Centered Clinical Research Network (PCORnet) have now conducted a large retrospective cohort analysis to evaluate...
MPH’s Patrick: Long-term unemployment linked to increase in babies born with drug withdrawal
Jan. 29, 2019—Babies born after being exposed to opioids before birth are more likely to be delivered in regions of the U.S. with high rates of long-term unemployment and lower levels of mental health services, according to a study from researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and the RAND Corporation. The study, published in the Jan. 29...
Dusetzina comments on new Part D demo
Jan. 25, 2019—CMS revealed a new innovation center model Friday that aims to encourage Part D as well as Medicare Advantage plans to choose drugs with lower list prices by shifting more risk to payers when patients enter the catastrophic phase of the Part D benefit. Stacie Dusetzina, a drug pricing expert at Vanderbilt, said that most...
MLK Lecture focuses on diversity, inclusion, equity and responsibility
Jan. 25, 2019—The 19th annual Martin Luther King Jr. Commemorative Lecture was held on Monday and commenced with the United Voices of Vanderbilt choir’s stirring rendition of “The Battle Hymn of the Republic.” Vanderbilt University Schools of Medicine and Nursing, in conjunction with the 2019 Martin Luther King Jr. Commemorative Series, presented keynote speaker Deborah Deas, MD,...
MPH’s Schaffner discusses vaccines as anti-vaxxers are added to WHO’s list of 10 Global Health
Jan. 23, 2019—From climate change to superbugs, the World Health Organization has laid out 10 big threats to our global health in 2019. One of the most controversial recent health topics in the US is now an international concern. “Vaccine hesitancy — the reluctance or refusal to vaccinate despite the availability of vaccines — threatens to reverse...
MPH’s Schaffner comments on NY measles outbreak
Jan. 18, 2019—The World Health Organization (WHO) just released its annual list of the top 10 global health threats for 2019. The list includes some more obvious health issues like air pollution, Ebola, HIV and dengue, but one in particular stood out: vaccine hesitancy. “I’m surprised and gratified by this,” William Schaffner, MD, an infectious disease specialist...
Deas to deliver Jan. 21 Martin Luther King Jr. lecture
Jan. 17, 2019—Deborah Deas, MD, MPH, the Mark and Pam Rubin Dean of the School of Medicine and chief executive officer for Clinical Affairs at the University of California, Riverside, will speak from noon to 1 p.m. Monday, Jan. 21, in conjunction with the 2019 Martin Luther King Jr. Commemorative Series at Vanderbilt. Deas will speak in...
It’s not too late to get a flu shot says MPH’s Schaffner
Jan. 5, 2019—This time last year, most people with flu were getting sick from H3N2 strain, which was a major factor in the severity of the 2017 to 2018 flu season. This year, a different strain is making most people sick: H1N1, the same strain that caused the flu pandemic in 2009. But because H1N1 has now...
MPH’s Grijalva: Postpartum Opioid Rx May Lead to Persistent Use
Jan. 4, 2019—Researchers from Vanderbilt University in Nashville examined data from more than 102,000 new mothers in Tennessee. None had used opioids in the 180 days before delivery. After delivery, 89 percent who had a cesarean delivery and 53 percent who had a vaginal delivery filled opioid prescriptions. “This study is one of the first to indicate...
Buntin suggests two-pronged approach to help decrease the number of cancer deaths in TN
Dec. 26, 2018—Cancer deaths are dropping nationwide. But not in Tennessee. Cancer deaths have increased 7 percent in Tennessee over the past three decades, showing how the state is falling behind most of the nation, where fewer people are dying of cancer, according to a recent state health ranking study. “We really need a two-pronged approach,” said Melinda Butin, who...
MPH’s Schaffner says the vaccine court has played a crucial role in safeguarding public health
Dec. 23, 2018—Medical experts say the federal vaccine court has played a crucial role in safeguarding public health by compensating litigants for their injuries and keeping these cases out of the civil courts, where they could potentially undermine the public’s faith in vaccines. “The creation of the [VICP] saved the vaccine industry in the U.S.,” said Dr....
Dusetzina comments on bypassing drug shortages solutions
Dec. 21, 2018—The emergence of Civica Rx is encouraging. The nonprofit generic drugmaker, which launched in 2018, will soon begin producing 14 hospital-administered generics. Most of them are too scarce to meet demand. The venture has not disclosed its business model. But “should it choose to do so, Civica Rx could theoretically set the price at or...
Not enough people are getting the flu vaccine says MPH’s Schaffner
Dec. 19, 2018—The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said today that 45 percent of adults and 46 percent of children have received the flu vaccine up from 39 percent for both children and adults at the same time last year. “I would say, very clearly, to the person who hasn’t gotten their flu shot yet:...
MPH’s Penson comments on radical prostate cancer surgery study
Dec. 17, 2018—In men with localized prostate cancer discovered because they had symptoms or noticed during a work-up for another medical problem, radical prostate surgery leads to an average of three extra years of life compared to a “watchful waiting” approach, researchers say. The results, published in The New England Journal of Medicine, don’t apply to prostate...
Ray finds increased risk of unexpected death for children on high-dose antipsychotics
Dec. 14, 2018—Children and young adults without psychosis who are prescribed high-dose antipsychotic medications are at increased risk of unexpected death, despite the availability of other medications to treat their conditions, according to a Vanderbilt University Medical Center study published today in JAMA Psychiatry. The findings reinforce guidelines for cautious use of antipsychotics in younger populations, according...
Buntin: Policies for Action Research Hub at Vanderbilt created
Dec. 14, 2018—Experts from Vanderbilt University School of Medicine’s Department of Health Policy and Vanderbilt University’s Peabody College of Education and Human Development are joining efforts to establish a Policies for Action (P4A) Research Hub at Vanderbilt to better understand and develop recommendations to address the needs of some of Tennessee’s most vulnerable children, including those in...
MPH’s Grijalva: Early postpartum opioids linked with persistent usage
Dec. 14, 2018—Vanderbilt researchers have published findings indicating that regardless of whether a woman delivers a child by cesarean section or by vaginal birth, if they fill prescriptions for opioid pain medications early in the postpartum period, they are at increased risk of developing persistent opioid use. “This study is one of the firsts to indicate that...
Schaffner honored by Infectious Diseases Society of America
Dec. 7, 2018—William Schaffner, MD, professor of Preventive Medicine in the Department of Health Policy and professor of Medicine in the Division of Infectious Diseases, is the recipient of the 2018 D.A. Henderson Award for Outstanding Contributions to Public Health.
MPH Alumnae discover hundreds of new new blood pressure gene variations
Dec. 7, 2018—In one of the largest studies of its kind, an international research team led by 20 Vanderbilt University scientists has discovered more than 200 new genetic variations associated with high blood pressure. The study, published in the current issue of the journal Nature Genetics, also identified specific tissues where blood pressure genes exert their effects...
New state officials weigh in on future of health policy in TN
Nov. 29, 2018—Health care, particularly protection of pre-existing conditions, rallied voters across the country, yet Tennessee campaigns focused on other issues, so Vanderbilt’s Department of Health Policy reached out to the gubernatorial campaigns in the final weeks before election day. They posed both candidates questions about five issues pegged as priorities for Tennessee. “Voters didn’t hear very...
MPH’s Clayton weighs in on gene editing on human embryos
Nov. 29, 2018—A researcher’s claim that two CRISPR-edited baby girls have been born has been met with widespread condemnation from scientists and ethicists alike. “On one level, this isn’t a surprise at all,” says Ellen Clayton, a professor of law and health policy at Vanderbilt University. “On another, this is …” at which point she was at...
MPH’s Schaffner dispels deadly myths about the flu vaccine
Nov. 28, 2018—Every year as flu season emerges, so too do myths and misconceptions about the flu shot. Despite years of consistent messages from health-care providers about the dangers of the flu and the protective power (and safety) of the flu shot, many people still hold false beliefs about both. One reason is that the flu, technically...
MPH Alumna reflects on Multiple Modes of Transmission During a Thanksgiving Day Norovirus Outbreak
Nov. 21, 2018—On November 28, 2017, the manager of restaurant A in Tennessee reported receiving 18 complaints from patrons with gastrointestinal illness who had dined there on Thanksgiving Day, November 23, 2017. Tennessee Department of Health officials conducted an investigation to confirm the outbreak, assess exposures, and recommend measures to prevent continued spread.
Schaffner explains the difference in Bronchitis and pneumonia
Nov. 21, 2018—Bronchitis and pneumonia are both infections that affect your airways. They can have similar symptoms that often blur into each other. There’s not a bright line between bronchitis and pneumonia,” says William Schaffner, MD, an infectious diseases specialist at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville. But there are differences. For starters, there’s location. Pneumonia affects...
Buntin to Study Needs of Vulnerable Children
Nov. 21, 2018—Vanderbilt University is getting a $1.25 million grant to research the needs of some of Tennessee’s most vulnerable children. According to the school, the Policies for Action Research Hub at Vanderbilt will develop recommendations for helping the children of immigrant families and children with prenatal exposure to opioids. Melinda Buntin is chair of the Department...
Buntin to lead Policies for Action Research Hub
Nov. 19, 2018—Experts from Vanderbilt University School of Medicine’s Department of Health Policy and Vanderbilt’s Peabody College of education and human development are joining efforts to establish a Policies for Action Research Hub at Vanderbilt to better understand and develop recommendations to address the needs of some of Tennessee’s most vulnerable children, including children in immigrant families...
MPH Alumnus Patel in new Health IT leadership role
Nov. 7, 2018—Neal Patel, MD, MPH, professor of Clinical Pediatrics, associate professor of Biomedical Informatics and VUMC’s Chief Health Information Officer, will succeed Kevin Johnson, MD, MS, Cornelius Vanderbilt Professor and chair of the Department of Biomedical Informatics (DBMI) and Senior Vice President of Health Information Technology in the role of HealthIT leader while Johnson continues to serve...
MPH’s Stevenson: Nonprofit Versus For-Profit Senior Care
Nov. 2, 2018—When it comes to senior care – whether trying to discern what level of care is needed, or picking a specific nursing home – there’s no shortage of considerations for individuals and their loved ones. So, it could be easy to overlook ownership status: namely, whether a facility is for-profit or nonprofit. “In general, the...
Research team led by MPH Alumnus seeks to identify immune response to influenza
Nov. 2, 2018—Vanderbilt researchers, as part of the International Human Vaccines Project, are searching for the key to lasting protection against influenza by examining naturally protecting cells found in bone marrow. The work is part of a new comprehensive evaluation of the human immune system’s response to influenza led by Buddy Creech, MD, MPH, director of the...
MPH Alumna Reports on Hepatitis A Virus Outbreaks
Nov. 2, 2018—During 2017, CDC received 1,521 reports of acute hepatitis A virus (HAV) infections from California, Kentucky, Michigan, and Utah; the majority of infections were among persons reporting injection or noninjection drug use or homelessness. Investigations conducted by local and state health departments indicated that direct person-to-person transmission of HAV infections was occurring, differing from other...
MPH grad weighs in on Warren’s DNA test results
Oct. 26, 2018—As a geneticist and a member of the Navajo Nation, Krystal Tsosie, M.P.H., Ph.D. candidate, has some thoughts on the senator’s announcement.
MPH’s Starnes: Community-driven health efforts saving lives in Lwala
Oct. 26, 2018—Eleven years after two Vanderbilt University medical students established a health care organization in an impoverished area of Kenya, the death rate for children under 5 years old has been cut in half, according to researchers from Kenya and the Vanderbilt Institute for Global Health (VIGH). Their findings, reported last month in the online science...
NPR: MPH’s Schaffner Stresses the Need for Flu Shots
Oct. 26, 2018—Following a winter in which more than 80,000 people died from flu-related illnesses in the U.S. — the highest death toll in more than 40 years — infectious disease experts are ramping up efforts to get the word out. The U.S. vaccination rate hovers at about 47 percent a year. This is far below the...
World Flu Pandemic Still Possible, MPH’s Schaffner comments
Oct. 26, 2018—One hundred years ago, death came with astonishing speed and horrifying agony. Some influenza patients admitted to a Boston hospital on the morning of October 1918 were dead by the evening, their bodies turning blue from lack of oxygen. Hospitals reported an average 100 deaths a day, overwhelming morgues. Vanderbilt University infectious disease specialist William...
MPH’s Schaffner: No Medicine Against West Nile as Tennessee Continues to Report Cases
Oct. 26, 2018—The Volunteer State has seen 151 human cases since 2010, according to data from the Tennessee Department of Health. That number includes the nine seen so far in 2018, although those numbers are not yet final. At its most serious, it can cause encephalitis, Dr. William Schaffner, an infectious diseases specialist at Vanderbilt University Medical...
MPH’s Shrubsole and team receives Cancer Moonshot Award
Oct. 26, 2018—A trans-institutional team of researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and Vanderbilt University has received an $11 million Cancer Moonshot grant to build a single-cell resolution atlas to map out the routes that benign colonic polyps take to progress to colorectal cancer, the third most common cancer among both men and women in the United...
Mapping Histoplasma capsulatum exposure with MPH team
Oct. 26, 2018—Histoplasmosis is a common lung infection caused by microscopic fungal spores that reside in soil. Most people who inhale the spores don’t get sick, but for those with weakened immune systems, the infection can become severe. About 90 percent of Middle Tennessee residents have had histoplasmosis exposure in their lifetime.
MPH alumni and faculty find that diabetes drug may prevent cancer
Oct. 26, 2018—A drug commonly used to treat type 2 diabetes might help prevent patients from developing liver cancers. In a study published this month in the journal Cancer Causes & Control, Harvey J. Murff, MD, MPH, and colleagues including Christianne Roumie, M.D., M.P.H., Carlos Grijalva, M.D., and Marie R. Griffin, M.D., M.P.H., found that patients taking...
McKernan: More doctor visits mean fewer Fibromyalgia patient suicide attempts
Oct. 26, 2018—Fibromyalgia patients who regularly visit their physicians are much less likely to attempt suicide than those who do not, according to a new Vanderbilt University Medical Center study published in Arthritis Care & Research. Patients who did not attempt suicide were at the doctor an average of 50 hours per year versus less than one...
Quinones’ poster takes top honors at TPHA
Oct. 26, 2018—Nicole Quinones, a student in the Vanderbilt Master of Public Health (MPH) Program, received top honors at the Tennessee Public Health Association (TPHA) Annual Meeting on Thursday, September 13 in Franklin, Tennessee. Out of 48 posters from seasoned public health researchers to students of all levels, Quinones’ work, “Disparities in Health & Access to Care...
Buntin and How Nashville Changed Healthcare
Oct. 25, 2018—It’s not that for-profit hospital chains like HCA, Community Health Systems and LifePoint Health — all Nashville-based giants — are totally to blame for rising costs. Some argue that for-profit hospitals, particularly HCA, have brought more accountability into the market for not-for-profit hospitals and government-run institutions, changing the industry for better in terms of care.
Politico: Buntin explores decline in Medicare per-person expenses
Oct. 25, 2018—In Politico, Melinda Buntin, Ph.D., Professor and Mike Curb Chair of the Department of Health Policy, is researching why Medicare per-person expenses have been going down.
Health policy speaker urges looking beyond data
Oct. 25, 2018—Katherine Swartz, PhD, a nationally known leader in health policy research, encouraged others conducting investigations in the field to move beyond the data and into local communities to gather the stories behind the data during last week’s Research into Policy and Practice Lecture hosted by Vanderbilt University Medical Center’s Department of Health Policy.
MPH’s Fill: Expecting mothers’ opioid use may stunt kids’ learning
Oct. 25, 2018—New study says children whose mothers used opioids while pregnant commonly face learning disabilities and other special education needs. The study involved about 7,200 children aged 3 to 8 enrolled in Tennessee’s Medicaid program. Nearly 2,000 of them were born with what’s called newborn abstinence syndrome. It’s a collection of symptoms caused by withdrawal from...
NYT: Buntin and Nikpay discuss surprising 340B program outcomes
Oct. 25, 2018—A study published in JAMA Internal Medicine found that the early participating hospitals were more likely to be located in poor communities with higher levels of uninsured people, to spend more of their budget on uncompensated care, and to offer more low-profit services than hospitals that started participating later.
Schaffner and what you need to know about vaccines
Aug. 24, 2018—For something that saves countless lives every day, vaccines face a lot of criticism. William Schaffner, MD, the medical director of the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases, and others explain 40 things that the medical community wishes the public knew about vaccines.
Keohane research explores how dual-eligible beneficiaries spend
Aug. 17, 2018—While there has been much effort to control spending for individuals eligible for both Medicaid and Medicare in the United States, for the first time a team of Vanderbilt health policy researchers have analyzed spending trends for this population over a multiyear period in order to gain a much clearer understanding of exactly how much...
Dusetzina to explore how rising medication costs impact elderly
Aug. 9, 2018—As both drug prices and out-of-pocket expense for prescription medications continue to climb, a team of Health Policy experts at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine (VUSM) have received a grant to determine if these factors are causing older Americans enrolled in Medicare Part D for medication coverage to delay or never fill their prescriptions. Stacie...
Roumie and Grijalva land grant to boost patient-centered outcomes research
Aug. 3, 2018—Vanderbilt University Medical Center has been awarded a five-year federal grant to train investigators in Learning Healthcare Systems research, aimed at improving patient outcomes and the community’s overall health. The T32 postdoctoral training grant from the U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality will support establishment of the Vanderbilt Patient, pRactice Outcomes and Research in...
Schaffner sheds light on hand, foot, and mouth disease for CNN
Jul. 25, 2018—Hand, foot and mouth disease is an illness commonly seen in children younger than 5. It spreads through contact and attacks exposed adults with fever, sores and skin rash. Hand, foot and mouth is "due to a virus that lives in the intestines, and it is very contagious," said William Schaffner, an infectious diseases specialist...
Gonzales’ Study Shows Legalizing Same-Sex Marriage Increased Care Access
Jul. 20, 2018—Vanderbilt researchers have documented evidence that legalizing same-sex marriage has improved access to health care for gay men in a study released as a National Bureau of Economic Research working paper this week. This is one of the first studies to examine the effect legal marriage has on the health of lesbian, gay, bisexual and...
MPH Alumna Wilson Receives Award to Bolster Bipolar Disorders Research
Jul. 19, 2018—Two Vanderbilt University researchers have been awarded Blake A. Jenkins Discovery Awards in support of basic and/or translational research into bipolar disorder and related conditions with an emphasis on early detection, intervention and utilizing brain imaging. The $50,000 grants, awarded to Jo Ellen Wilson, MD, MPH, assistant professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, and Brandee...
Patrick Comments on Prescribed Opioid Usage in Children Study
Jul. 19, 2018—More than one in three Americans are prescribed opioids, National Survey on Drug Use and Health data shows. A new study indicates that the trend extended to children, who legally use the drug at as young as 2 years old, to treat pain following minor dental procedures or outpatient surgeries. One in 10 children enrolled in...
Gonzales: Legalization of Same-Sex Marriage Not Associated with Improved Health
Jul. 18, 2018—While the legalization of same-sex marriage improved gay men's chances of having both health insurance and access to health care, it didn't translate into better health, a new study suggests. "We found that lesbian, gay or bisexual adults were more likely to get married after having access to legal same-sex marriage," said study co-author Gilbert...
Humans are an Incidental Host of West Nile says MPH’s Schaffner
Jul. 18, 2018—Transmitted to humans by mosquitoes, West Nile is virtually impossible to track in people: In 80% of cases, the virus causes no symptoms. Symptoms are usually mild in the other 20% and include fever and headache, but in less than 1% of infected people, more serious consequences can occur. West Nile virus is most commonly...
In the Washington Post, Stevenson Weighs in on Inadequate Nursing Home Staffing
Jul. 18, 2018—Most nursing homes had fewer nurses and caretaking staff than they had reported to the government, according to new federal data, bolstering the long-held suspicions of many families that staffing levels were often inadequate. The records for the first time reveal frequent and significant fluctuations in day-to-day staffing, with particularly large shortfalls on weekends. On...
MPH Alumna Hartert’s Team Explores Diabetes Drug’s Ability to Treat RSV Infection
Jul. 13, 2018—A drug used to treat diabetes may point to new therapies for respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) bronchiolitis — inflammation and obstruction of the lungs’ small airways. A multi-disciplinary team of Vanderbilt investigators has demonstrated that liraglutide reduces the inflammatory response to RSV infection in a mouse model of the disease. The findings were reported in...
Patrick: Study Reveals Opioid Patients Face Multiple Barriers to Treatment
Jul. 13, 2018—While the opioid crisis has escalated across the U.S., there has been growing concern that treatment capacity has not kept pace. In 2016, more than 42,000 Americans died of an opioid-related overdose, more than any year on record. Opioid agonist therapies, like buprenorphine and methadone, have been shown to reduce risk of overdose death, and...
Edwards: HPV Vaccine Requires Different Messaging
Jul. 12, 2018—The American Cancer Society is rolling out a public campaign this summer, pledging to eventually eradicate cancers related to HPV, a sexually transmitted disease, through use of the vaccine for adolescents, as well as screenings for adults who came of age before it became available in 2006. Dr. Kathryn Edwards, professor of pediatrics at Vanderbilt...
MPH’s Clayton Discusses Ethical Concerns behind DNA Test Results
Jul. 12, 2018—As the tissue samples and DNA of more and more people are shared with researchers, the question of what information buried in those samples to give back is more pressing than ever. Now, a 335-page report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) urges researchers and regulators to return more biological data...
Shrubsole’s team identifies new gene candidates for breast cancer risk
Jul. 10, 2018—An international coalition led by scientists at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and the QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute in Herston, Australia, has identified 48 candidate susceptibility genes for breast cancer risk, including 14 genes at loci (chromosome regions) not yet reported for breast cancer. Their findings, published June 18 in the journal Nature Genetics, provide new insights into the...
Two MPH Alumnae named 2018-2019 Global Health Corps Fellows
Jul. 9, 2018—Two Vanderbilt MPH Program alumnae have been named 2018-2019 Global Health Corps (GHC) Fellows. Grace Umutesi, M.P.H., and Shellese Shemwell, M.P.H., will both work in Rwanda during the upcoming year. Umutesi will serve as a Monitoring, Evaluation and Research Officer with Health Development Initiative, and Shemwell has been named Integrated NCD Program Quality Improvement Coordinator with...
Dusetzina: Prescription drug ‘gag clauses’ cause consumers to pay more
Jul. 9, 2018—Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are seeking ways to stop a practice that can keep customers from saving money at the drugstore counter. “Gag clauses” buried in the fine print of pharmacy contracts — and imposed by pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) — prevent many pharmacists from telling customers when the cash price for a medicine may...
Stevenson: Nursing Home Staffing is Lower than Previously Reported causing Gaps in Care
Jul. 7, 2018—Most nursing homes had fewer nurses and caretaking staff than they had reported to the government for years, according to new federal data, bolstering the long-held suspicions of many families that staffing levels were often inadequate. The data, analyzed by Kaiser Health News, come from daily payroll records Medicare only recently began gathering and publishing...
IHI National Forum: Buntin discusses Social Determinants of Health
Jul. 3, 2018—Melinda J. Beeuwkes Buntin, Ph.D., Professor and Mike Curb Chair, Department of Health Policy, discusses social determinants of health and innovation and experimentation in times of uncertainty at IHI National Forum. Signal or Noise? Navigating Health Care Policy — Part 1 Signal or Noise? Navigating Health Care Policy — Part 2
Buntin testifies at Senate HELP Committee hearing about health care costs in America
Jul. 2, 2018—Health care cost surges might be shrunk by curbing out-of-network charges and consolidation in hospitals, experts suggested to Congress last week. “Research has consistently shown provider consolidation in the health care industry raises prices,” Vanderbilt University School of Medicine Health Policy Department Chair Melinda Buntin told the Senate Health Committee. Health care cost growth has...
In Science: Aliyu weighs in on Nigeria’s response to the HIV epidemic
Jun. 13, 2018—Mother-to-child transmission is only one part of Nigeria’s HIV epidemic, but that route of transmission epitomizes the country’s faltering response to the crisis. Muktar Aliyu, M.D., M.P.H., Dr.P.H., associate director for research in the Vanderbilt Institute for Global Health, is quoted.
Leveraging Quality Improvement Efforts to Increase HPV Vaccination Rates in TN
May. 31, 2018—Kelsey Minix, a Masters of Public Health (MPH) student funded by the HPV ACTIVE project, conducted an analysis of the relationship between urbanicity and HPV vaccination.
Four MPH faculty awarded grants through VU’s Trans-Institutional Programs initiative
May. 24, 2018—Among the seven interdisciplinary projects awarded grants through Vanderbilt University’s transformational Trans-Institutional Programs initiative in 2018, two are from Vanderbilt MPH Program faculty members and graduates. The grants are meant to seed and expand research and teaching collaborations across disciplines. The awards also support projects and groups that collectively aim to answer big questions and address grand challenges. Vanderbilt...
U.S. Surgeon General Adams addresses the opioid crisis
May. 24, 2018—U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams, M.D., M.P.H., recently visited Vanderbilt University to speak at the spring Health Policy Grand Rounds.
Diamond partners with TN Dept. of Health to launch first youth sports safety rating system in US
May. 24, 2018—MPH alumnus Alex Diamond, D.O., M.P.H., professor of Orthopaedics and Rehabilitation and Pediatrics and director of the Program for Injury Prevention in Youth Sports (PIPYS) at Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt, collaborated with the Tennessee Department of Health to launch a new rating system that allows parents to check if youth sports leagues in Tennessee...
Williams’ study finds sharp rise in suicide risk for children
May. 21, 2018—The number of school-age children and adolescents hospitalized for suicidal thoughts or attempts has more than doubled since 2008, according to a new Vanderbilt-led study published in Pediatrics. MPH graduate Derek Williams, M.D.,M.P.H., assistant professor of Pediatrics, is among the authors on the study.
MPH faculty find early discharge of NAS infants prolongs treatment
May. 21, 2018—Infants who are diagnosed with drug withdrawal after birth who are treated with medication as outpatients at home are treated three times longer than infants treated solely as inpatients, according to a new Vanderbilt study. The findings were published in The Journal of Pediatrics with senior author Stephen Patrick, M.D., M.P.H., director of the Vanderbilt Center for Child...
McKernan uses novel approach in treatment of interstitial cystitis
May. 21, 2018—MPH student Lindsey McKernan, Ph.D., assistant professor of Clinical Psychiatry and Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, uses novel four-pronged approach — medical management, stress management, nutrition and physical therapy — in treatment of interstitial cystitis (IC).
NYT: MPH’s Patrick and the Children of the Opioid Epidemic
May. 11, 2018—In the midst of a national crisis, mothers addicted to drugs struggle to get off them — for their babies’ sake, and their own. The standard of care for a pregnant women addicted to opioids is medication-assisted treatment: a long-acting opioid substitute — traditionally methadone — that binds to the body’s opioid receptors to prevent...
MPH alumni Harris and Talbot: Records point to drug-drug interaction
May. 11, 2018—Daptomycin is an antibiotic used to treat serious bacterial infections. Statins are drugs prescribed on a long-term basis to prevent or reduce cardiovascular disease by lowering LDL-cholesterol. In a retrospective study, researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center found that VUMC patients who continued taking a statin while taking daptomycin had 2.6 times greater risk of...
MPH’s Gillaspie: New robot expands options for thoracic surgery patients
Apr. 26, 2018—The thoracic surgery team at Vanderbilt University Medical Center recently added a new tool to its collection of minimally invasive techniques to provide patients the most advanced robotic-assisted surgical procedures. “The new robot is an expansion of our minimally invasive surgery program,” said Erin Gillaspie, MD, assistant professor of Thoracic Surgery at Vanderbilt and director...
MPH alumnus Diamond’s Safe Stars youth sports kickoff set for May 2
Apr. 26, 2018—Representatives from Vanderbilt Sports Medicine and Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt will take part in the kickoff event for Safe Stars, a new rating system that allows parents to check if youth sports leagues in Tennessee follow state-recommended safety protocols. Safe Stars is the nation’s first statewide rating system for all types of...
Public Health at Vanderbilt: Speakers discuss use of evidence in state health policymaking
Apr. 20, 2018—“State Health Policy: Does Evidence Really Make a Difference” was the title of the spring Research into Policy and Practice Lecture, April 11 in Light Hall. The semi-annual lecture is sponsored by the Department of Health Policy. Speakers included Christopher Koller, president of the Millbank Memorial Fund and former health insurance commissioner for the state...
MPH’s Schaffner: New CDC recommended shingles vaccine schedule
Apr. 17, 2018—Federal officials have recommended a new vaccine that is more effective than an earlier version at protecting older adults against the painful rash called shingles. But persuading many adults to get this and other recommended vaccines continues to be an uphill battle, physicians and vaccine experts say. Vaccine coverage under the Medicare program for people...
MPH’s Schaffner comments on the influenza B strains causing a second wave of flu
Apr. 12, 2018—The Centers for Disease Control's (CDC) weekly influenza report for the week ending Mar. 24 showed an overall decrease in cases of the flu around the U.S. Good news, but it comes with a catch: Though the number of folks with flu is decreasing in general, reports of influenza B viruses have overtaken reports of...
MPH’s Graves: ACA marketplaces functioning in their role as public safety nets
Apr. 12, 2018—The Trump administration released a report on Tuesday saying that 11.8 million Americans enrolled in health coverage for 2018 through the law’s insurance marketplaces, down just a tick from the 12.2 million sign-ups in 2017. “At this point, the marketplaces are really functioning more broadly in their role as an extension of the public safety...
MPH alumna’s study reveals safety signal from genes that mimic drugs
Apr. 12, 2018—Prospective mothers taking a new class of cholesterol-lowering drugs might incur higher risk of spina bifida in their future children, according to a study published in the journal Drug Safety by researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. The first two drugs in the new class, alirocumab and evolocumab, were approved by the Food and Drug...
MPH’s Clayton discusses home genetic test errors and the ethics behind it
Apr. 4, 2018—23andMe, the only direct-to-consumer genetic test authorized by the FDA to offer reports on genetic risk, claims to have more than 2 million customers. Only a fraction of these customers upload their genetic report to Promethease, whose founders said in a past interview that the site generated up to 500 reports a day. And there is...
MPH’s Heerman: Adolescents undergoing bariatric surgery still at risk
Mar. 21, 2018—Weight-loss surgery may help severely obese teens with type 2 diabetes far more than medication and lifestyle changes alone, new research suggests. A small analysis found that bariatric surgery did a "far better" job than drug and lifestyle management in achieving significant weight loss and reversing diabetes, said study lead author Dr. Thomas Inge. All...
Umeukeje explores barriers to kidney disease screening
Mar. 15, 2018—Ebele Umeukeje, M.D., M.P.H., (MPH Class of 2015) assistant professor of Medicine in the Division of Nephrology and Hypertension is the first author on a study highlighting potential barriers that may prevent black Americans from being screened for kidney disease. The findings, published March 15 in the Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology, may help...
Schaffner: Flu shot doesn’t cause influenza epidemic
Mar. 1, 2018—You can’t get the flu from a flu shot. And public health officials aren’t blaming the vaccine for causing this season’s nasty epidemic. “The vaccine itself contains only purified parts of the virus; there is no live virus in the injectable vaccine, so it is impossible for the vaccine to cause the disease,” said Vanderbilt...
NPR: Schaffner talks about why the flu season has been severe this year and Tamiflu
Feb. 27, 2018—NPR's Lulu Garcia-Navarro poses listener questions about the flu to Dr. William Schaffner, infectious disease specialist at Vanderbilt University, and takes a closer look at Tamiflu.
Recent graduate’s global health practicum project with CDC published in NEJM
Feb. 19, 2018—2017 graduate Grace Umutesi, M.P.H., is an author on this NEJM article (N Engl J Med. 2018 Feb 14. doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa1710430), based on her practicum with the CDC's Global Immunization Division. Grace's practicum activities in Summer 2016 included: Providing on-site support for the mass vaccination campaign targeting 10 million people in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo...
Poulose collaborative provides data to improve hernia surgeries
Feb. 15, 2018—In 2013, MPH graduate Benjamin Poulose, M.D., M.P.H., director of the Vanderbilt Hernia Center and associate professor of Surgery at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, formed the Americas Hernia Society Quality Collaborative (AHSQC) to better track the outcomes of these surgeries, standardize the best practices and improve patient care. Today, the AHSQC has been approved as a Centers for...
MPH researchers find opioid use increases risk of serious infections
Feb. 15, 2018—Vanderbilt MPH Program graduates' and faculty members' research finds that opioid users have a significantly increased risk of infections severe enough to require treatment at the hospital, such as pneumonia and meningitis, as compared to people who don’t use opioids. Authors on the study, released on February 11, 2018 in the Annals of Internal Medicine include Carlos Grijalva,...
Pettit study finds AIDS-defining events increase mortality risk
Feb. 9, 2018—The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recognizes 27 ADEs, from pneumonia to tuberculosis to cervical cancer to wasting syndrome. When a death is attributed to AIDS, usually one or more recognized ADEs is involved. The availability of effective antiretroviral drug therapy has rendered HIV/AIDS a chronic disease in much of the world, no longer...
New Partnership enhances eye care for Ebola survivors in Liberia
Feb. 9, 2018—Vanderbilt University School of Medicine (VUSM), the Vanderbilt Institute for Global Health (VIGH) and the Vanderbilt Eye Institute (VEI) have joined forces with partners in Liberia to strengthen medical education and increase access to ophthalmology care in the aftermath of the 2014-2015 West African Ebola epidemic that killed more than 11,000 people. Program principal investigators...
Robinson and CDC colleagues release Recommended Immunization Schedule for Children and Adolescents
Feb. 7, 2018—The CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) approved the Recommended Immunization Schedule for Children and Adolescents Aged 18 Years or Younger — United States, 2018. MPH Vanderbilt's alumna Candice Robinson, M.D., M.P.H., Communications and Education Branch (CEB), Immunization Services Division (ISD), National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases (NCIRD) is the corresponding author.
MPH’s Buntin’s Study Evaluates Community-Based Health Efforts
Feb. 5, 2018—A new study from researchers at Vanderbilt and Harvard universities, published this week in the journal Health Affairs, uses federal health survey data to evaluate community-based efforts to address smoking, obesity and other health conditions such as type 2 diabetes and hypertension. Examining health trends at the community level from 2007 to 2012, the researchers...
MPH’s Schaffner explains adenoviruses to CNN
Feb. 1, 2018—A runny nose, cough, sore throat, breathing problems, fever, headache, diarrhea: If you came down with these symptoms in the middle of winter, you'd probably assume it's the flu and take to your bed immediately. Think again. Another family of viruses, known as adenoviruses, often mimic the common seasonal sickness. Though they are similar, there...
NPR: MPH’s Schaffner stresses that it’s not too late for a flu shot
Jan. 24, 2018—This year's flu shot has a 30 percent effectiveness, and you’re supposed to get it in the fall, but it’s still a good idea to get it even now if you haven't yet. That’s the consensus of experts who discussed the deadly epidemic — at its highest levels in years — on the NPR show On Point Tuesday....
MPH’s Schaffner Comments on the Estimated $9 billion Flu Price Tag
Jan. 23, 2018—With a nasty flu season underway across the country, businesses can expect to see billions of dollars in lost productivity, according to global outplacement consultancy Challenger, Gray & Christmas. "We're predicting about 11 million Americans will fall ill over the flu season and that's going to cost employers over $9 billion in wages being paid...
MPH’s Fill: Legionellosis Outbreak Associated with a Hotel Aquatics Facility
Jan. 22, 2018—On June 26, 2017, the Tennessee Department of Health (TDH) was notified by CDC of two travel-associated cases of legionellosis. The patients resided in Florida and the United Kingdom but had a common hotel exposure in Memphis, Tennessee. On June 27, the Shelby County Health Department identified a third case in a Shelby County resident...
MPH’s Schaffner: This Year’s Flu Severity and the Strain on Hospitals
Jan. 18, 2018—Just weeks into the new year, health officials are grappling with a flu season so severe that there have already been regional shortages of antiviral medication and emergency room wait times have skyrocketed. Dr. William Schaffner, an infectious disease expert at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, said one potential reason the flu season has been intense...
Heerman looks at ideal dose of behavioral interventions for childhood obesity
Jan. 5, 2018—Vanderbilt MPH Program alumnus and faculty member William Heerman, M.D., M.P.H., and colleagues reviewed existing behavioral trials targeting childhood obesity to quantify the relationship between dose and weight-related outcome.
MPH alumna seeks to help people interact with their medical records
Jan. 4, 2018—MPH alumna Yaa Kumah-Crystal, MD, MPH, MA, MS, assistant professor of Biomedical Informatics and Pediatrics, is leading a team at Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) to create voice-controlled virtual assistant software to help people interact with electronic health records (EHR).
MPH grad named Division Chief for Hospital Medicine
Jan. 4, 2018—Vanderbilt MPH Program graduate Derek Williams, M.D., M.P.H., has been named Division Chief of Hospital Medicine in the Department of Pediatrics.
Grant aims to increase participation of under-represented individuals in public health research
Dec. 21, 2017—The grant entitled “Use of Multimodal Strategies for Community-Engaged Dissemination of Research Needs, Priorities, and Recommendations of the Community” will allow researchers to engage the community and improve transparency in the research process through the dissemination of research findings back to communities. “Specifically, we will disseminate research findings from 11 community listening sessions conducted in Nashville...
Gonzales: gender identity plays key role in access to care
Dec. 15, 2017—A new study from MPH faculty member Gilbert Gonzales, Ph.D., M.H.A., examines barriers to healthcare through the lens of gender identity and finds that transgender men and women tend to fare poorly.
Presley honored for research achievement at 2018 Diabetes Day
Dec. 15, 2017—Vanderbilt MPH Program graduate Caroline Presley, M.D., M.P.H., was recently honored for her research achievement at 2018 Diabetes Day, Diabetes Day was sponsored by the Vanderbilt Diabetes Research and Training Center and the Vanderbilt Center for Diabetes Translation Research and supported by the National Institutes of Health.
MPH alumni study seeks to aid diagnosis, management of catatonia
Dec. 11, 2017—Catatonia, a syndrome of motor, emotional and behavioral abnormalities frequently characterized by muscular rigidity and a trance-like mental stupor and at times manifesting with great excitement or agitation, can occur during a critical illness and appear similar to delirium. But the management strategies are vastly different. A Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) study is the...
NIH grant allows Vanderbilt to train global health researchers
Dec. 11, 2017—The Vanderbilt Institute for Global Health (VIGH) has received a five-year, $4.66 million renewal grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to continue a program established in 2012 with Emory, Cornell and Duke universities that is training the next generation of leaders in global health research.
MPH alumni Talbot and Barocas: Protocol reduces antibiotic use prior to cytoscopy
Dec. 11, 2017—A study from Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) by Justin Gregg, MD, and colleagues demonstrates how a clinical protocol can help reduce unnecessary use of outpatient antibiotics. Urologic surgeons and infectious diseases specialists at VUMC wrote and implemented a protocol for the use of prophylactic antibiotics in patients undergoing cystoscopy, an outpatient procedure urologists use...
MPH’s Creech: Proper treatment of S. aureus necessary with changing epidemiology
Dec. 5, 2017—While skin and soft tissue infections such as MRSA are decreasing around 3% annually, rates of methicillin-susceptible Staphylococcus aureus, clindamycin and Bactrim resistance are rising, according to a presentation at the Infectious Diseases in Children Symposium. “Staph does this every 10 to 15 years. It likes to hit the scene and fall back a little...
MPH’s Cooper on the importance of listening to patients
Dec. 1, 2017—Patients apparently are more likely to complain about younger doctors. Case in point: ophthalmologists. A new study of more than 1,300 ophthalmologists at Vanderbilt University in Nashville found that as the age of these doctors increased, patient complaints decreased. "In a time where increasing attention is being paid to aging physicians and mandatory screening for...
MPH alumni collaborate on study to reduce unneeded lab tests
Nov. 30, 2017—Diarrhea has many causes, and when there are prolonged or severe symptoms clinicians sometimes consider lab testing to help guide treatment. But sometimes they stray from published guidelines in the direction of overtesting. Patty Wright, MD, associate professor of Medicine, and colleagues with the Vanderbilt Antimicrobial Stewardship Program examined whether adherence to diarrhea testing guidelines...
MPH’s Schaffner: Post-flu risks a growing concern for the elderly
Nov. 30, 2017—Infectious disease experts are warning that flu can lead to an increased risk of heart attack, stroke and disability in elderly patients for months after they have recovered from their illness. Evidence has been growing over the last several years about post-flu risks that most people and even some physicians don’t know about, according to...
How A Vanderbilt Doctor Became The Nation’s Go-To Flu Expert
Nov. 29, 2017—When flu season comes around each year, a familiar face from Nashville appears in homes around the country: Dr. William Schaffner. The Vanderbilt doctor has become a media darling when it comes to infectious diseases.
MPH alumnus commended for leadership of Vanderbilt’s Level 1 Trauma Center
Nov. 17, 2017—The American College of Surgeons (ACS) Committee on Trauma has recertified the Vanderbilt Trauma Center with its Level 1 ranking. The country’s leading surgical care organization first bestowed its highest stamp of approval on the Trauma Center in 2014, and renewed this designation following a recent site visit. “Maintaining the status of an American College...
Insurance commissioner outlines ACA challenges
Nov. 17, 2017—Since 2014 the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, has assisted lower- and moderate-income people who buy insurance on their own on the individual market, providing premium subsidies and discounts on out-of-pocket expenses. Under the law, people who don’t carry compliant insurance face a penalty, the so-called individual mandate. Large employers who don’t offer...
Kathryn Edwards to receive 2018 National Foundation for Infectious Diseases award
Nov. 13, 2017—The National Foundation for Infectious Diseases (NFID) presents annual awards to outstanding individuals who have made significant and lasting contributions to public health through scientific achievement, philanthropy, and/or legislation. 2018 NFID Award Recipients: Roger I. Glass, MD, PhD, Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter Humanitarian Awards Kathryn M. Edwards, MD, Maxwell Finland Award for Scientific Achievement Anne Schuchat,...
JAMA Pediatrics: MPH’s Williams lead author on pediatric pneumonia study
Nov. 10, 2017—A combination of two antibiotics is often prescribed to treat community-acquired pneumonia in children, but a JAMA Pediatrics study is now showing that using just one of the two has the same benefit to patients in most cases. Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) researchers reported this week that amoxicillin alone, rather than combined with azithromycin,...
Vanderbilt MPH’s Schaffner: Disparities in influenza outcomes
Nov. 10, 2017—Influenza infections kill between 3,000 and 49,000 people each year in the United States. Understanding risk factors for severe influenza outcomes, such as hospitalization, can help guide vaccination programs and reduce disease burden.Rameela Chandrasekhar, Ph.D., and colleagues evaluated whether neighborhood determinants – represented by census tract data – contribute to the risk of influenza hospitalization....
MPH Student selected for ENACT Fellowship
Oct. 31, 2017—Jennifer Cunningham Erves, PhD, MA.Ed, MS, CHES, was recently selected for the Expanding National Capacity in PCOR through Training (ENACT) Fellowship at the University of Pittsburgh for the 2017-18 Academic Year.
MPH’s Schaffner Recommends Booster Dose of Mumps Vaccine in Outbreaks
Oct. 27, 2017—Mumps is bad this year in the U.S. So far, more than 4,600 cases have been reported. So the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) voted to recommend that people at high risk of catching mumps during an outbreak get a booster dose of the vaccine, even if they’ve already been vaccinated twice. “The information...
MPH alumnus Creech leads Vanderbilt’s international effort to develop universal flu vaccine
Oct. 27, 2017—Researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center are leading an international effort to develop a universal influenza vaccine that would protect everyone against all strains of the flu anywhere in the world. The Universal Influenza Vaccine Initiative, which was announced today, will be led by James Crowe Jr., M.D., director of the Vanderbilt Vaccine Center, and C....
Forum highlights strong clinical, translational research efforts
Oct. 19, 2017—The 2017 Vanderbilt Translational Research Forum was co-hosted by the Office of Clinical & Translational Scientist Development, Master of Public Health, and Master of Science in Clinical Investigation on October 13, 2017. The event began with the presentation of awards for Distinguished Service to Translational Scientists to Paul Harris, Ph.D., and for Excellence in Mentoring Translational...
In Scientific American, Schaffner comments on increased vaccination rates and school immunization laws
Oct. 18, 2017—Vaccination rates for kindergartners are increasing because of state laws requiring them to have the full series of inoculations before they can enter the classroom. The laws vary, “but overall they say, ‘We have to protect our children.’ It's terrific,” says William Schaffner, professor of preventive medicine at Vanderbilt University.
MPH’s Buntin elected to National Academy of Medicine
Oct. 17, 2017—Vanderbilt University’s Melinda Buntin, Ph.D., professor of Health Policy and chair of the department, and Joshua Denny, M.D., M.S., professor of Biomedical Informatics and Medicine and Vice President for Personalized Medicine, are among 70 new members elected to the National Academy of Medicine (NAM), the organization announced this week.
In this week’s MMWR, student Mary-Margaret Fill reports multiple cases of Seoul virus infection
Oct. 12, 2017—Mary-Margaret Fill, M.D., is a student in the Epidemiology track of the Vanderbilt MPH Program and a Medical Epidemiologist at the Tennessee Department of Health. Co-authors for this publication include Vanderbilt MPH Program alumna Annabelle de St. Maurice, M.D., M.P.H., Vanderbilt MPH Program founder and faculty member William Schaffner, M.D., and partners from the Tennessee Department...
MPH faculty receive two NIH grants to fight kidney disease and address ‘epilepsy treatment gap’
Oct. 12, 2017—Researchers in the Vanderbilt Institute for Global Health (VIGH) have received two new grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) aimed at reducing the risk of kidney disease in HIV-infected adults and improving the treatment of epilepsy in children in Nigeria.
MPH’s alumnus Guillamondegui: Life-saving techniques in an active shooter situation
Oct. 5, 2017—Vanderbilt University Medical Center doctors and nurses treat about two gunshot wounds a day.That includes wounds from small handgun gunshots, all the way up to high-powered rifles like the ones used in the Las Vegas concert shooting. Dr. Oscar Guillamondegui is the trauma medical director at Vanderbilt. As a trauma surgeon, he regularly treats victims...
MPH’s Schaffner comments on fears of a major health crisis in Puerto Rico
Oct. 4, 2017—Experts fear a major health crisis will unfold in Puerto Rico as the island remains without electricity and clean water. Dr. William Schaffner, an infectious disease expert at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, said without clean water or wastewater facilities, residents in Puerto Rico are at risk for waterborne diseases.
MPH’s Graves comments on Graham-Cassidy healthcare bill
Sep. 26, 2017—Senate Republicans, seemingly short on votes for their last-ditch plan to repeal Obamacare, are desperately tweaking the bill in hopes of winning over both their moderate and conservative wings.The result is a plan from Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Bill Cassidy (R-SC) that would go even further in rolling back Obamacare’s protections for people with...
MPH’s Gonzales: LGBT community faces a variety of serious health problems
Sep. 26, 2017—Experts say stress and lack of healthcare causes more heart disease, high blood pressure, and other ailments for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people. “There is minority stress,” Gilbert Gonzales, assistant professor in the Department of Health Policy at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, told Healthline. “And it’s above the everyday stress. There’s also a...
MPH’s Buntin: Latest ACA repeal bill could hit those with pre-existing conditions
Sep. 20, 2017—The latest Obamacare repeal-and-replace bill in the U.S. Senate raises the possibility that Tennesseans with pre-existing diseases could see increased costs or change in coverage. Under the proposal, states could choose to set new regulations on how much can be charged to people with pre-existing conditions who buy insurance on the market, whether insurers can limit benefits over...
Vanderbilt University climbs ‘U.S. News & World Report’ rankings to reach No. 14
Sep. 14, 2017—U.S. News & World Report today named Vanderbilt University as one of the best universities in the country as part of the publication’s annual rankings of top universities. Vanderbilt rose to 14th place this year, its highest ranking to date, after holding at No. 15 the two previous years.
MPH’s Penson named to editorial post of major cancer journal
Sep. 11, 2017—David Penson, M.D., MPH, Paul V. Hamilton, M.D., and Virginia E. Howd Professor of Urologic Oncology and chair of the Department of Urologic Surgery, has been named an associate editor for The Journal of the National Cancer Institute (JNCI).
New V-STTaR program to be led by MPH alumni Roumie and Talbot
Aug. 31, 2017—Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) has established a new career development program for scientists in implementation research. The goal is to speed the uptake and translation of scientific discoveries into routine clinical practice. The program, called Vanderbilt Scholars in T4 Translational Research, or V-STTaR, is supported by a five-year, $3 million grant awarded this month...
MPH’s Heerman to collaborate on $1 million funding award by PCORI
Aug. 31, 2017—Vanderbilt University Medical Center has been approved for a $1 million funding award by the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) to study more efficient and feasible ways to validate electronic health records (EHR) and incorporate this information into medical studies. Co-principal investigator of the study is Pamela Shaw, Ph.D., associate professor of Biostatistics at the...
MPH’s Schaffner: Hurricane Harvey’s Public Health Impact Extends Beyond Flooding
Aug. 29, 2017—Since Hurricane Harvey hit Texas on Friday, 10 people have died and many others have been injured and trapped in their flooded houses. But beyond the immediate dangers posed by the flooding, experts are worried about the broader threats to public health. Vulnerable populations, like the homeless, the elderly and the chronically ill, are especially at...
MPH’s Etherington is the new Chair of the Metropolitan Board of Health of Nashville and Davidson County
Aug. 17, 2017—Carol Etherington, MSN, RN, FAAN was recently elected as Chair of the Metropolitan Board of Health of Nashville and Davidson County. Etherington established one of the first police-based counseling programs in the U.S. to serve victims of violent crime and has worked multiple disasters across the U.S. including earthquakes, hurricanes, school shootings and New York...
MPH’s Nikpay comments on the 340B drug discount program
Aug. 10, 2017—Federal health officials say a controversial program that allows hospitals to purchase drugs at deep discounts needs some fixing.The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, or CMS, worry hospitals are playing fast and loose with what’s known as the 340B program by buying more expensive drugs than they have to, putting the squeeze on Medicare...
Audet receives $3-million NIMH grant to reduce HIV transmission in Mozambique
Aug. 3, 2017—Carolyn Audet, Ph.D., M.Sc., has been awarded a five-year grant from the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) to study a novel “couples-centered” intervention to reduce mother-to-child transmission of HIV in Mozambique.
MPH’s Schaffner to focus on specific treatment course based on type of infection before recommendation change
Jul. 27, 2017—For the last 75 years, people with a bacterial infection have been told it is essential to finish all of an antibiotic prescription, usually seven to 10 days, to keep from getting sick again. But British researchers are now saying that patients may not need to “complete the course,” that it may actually be contributing...
MPH’s Graves: Hospitals that score better on patient satisfaction scores reduce mortality
Jul. 24, 2017—The relatively recent movements toward transparency and quality in health care have collided to produce dozens of publicly available hospital quality metrics. You might consider studying them in advance of your next hospital visit. But how do you know if the metrics actually mean anything?There is at least a bit of signal within the noise....
Shyr appointed chair of Department of Biostatistics
Jul. 20, 2017—Yu Shyr, Ph.D., Harold L. Moses Professor of Cancer Research and director of the Vanderbilt Center for Quantitative Sciences, has been named chair of Vanderbilt’s Department of Biostatistics. He will assume the post Sept. 1. As the new chair, Shyr will spearhead a department recognized internationally for its research and educational programs, with 33 full-time...
MPH faculty member’s projects among TIPS 2017 recipients
Jul. 18, 2017—The 2017 recipients of Vanderbilt University’s Trans-Institutional Programs (TIPs) initiative bring together more than 140 faculty members with graduate and undergraduate students from all 10 schools and colleges, creating multifaceted teams to approach complex challenges. Three Vanderbilt MPH faculty members' projects have been awarded funding. Click here for the full list of 2017 Trans-Institutional Program...
MPH’s alumni Creech, Self, and Williams: New approach for staph-related skin abscesses explored
Jul. 14, 2017—New multicenter research that includes Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) investigators, could change treatment approaches to simple skin abscesses, infections often caused by Staphylococcus aureus (staph) bacteria. The study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, shows that adults and children who have simple abscesses 5 centimeters or smaller in diameter have higher cure...
MPH’s Graves: Uncovering waste in US healthcare: Evidence from ambulance referral patterns
Jul. 11, 2017—Hospitals that spend more on initial care following patient emergencies have better outcomes than hospitals that spend less at first and rely more on additional forms of long-term care, according to a new study co-authored by MIT economists. The paper, "Uncovering waste in US healthcare: Evidence from ambulance referral patterns," appears in the July issue...
MPH’s Graves explains how new health care bill effects insurance shoppers
Jun. 29, 2017—Many Tennesseans shopping for insurance could pay more money under the Senate's health care reform bill, although the underlying factors driving the costs change over the next decade. The Senate bill would allow plans to cover 58 percent of the actuarial value — or the percentage of the plan that is expected to cover of...
MPH’s Schaffer comments on why the shingles vaccine hasn’t caught on
Jun. 29, 2017—People who live to age 85 have a 50-50 chance of developing the excruciating rash known as shingles, yet the vaccine that cuts the risk remains unpopular. In 2015, only about 34 percent of adults 65 and over had ever gotten the shot, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is reporting Wednesday. The...
MPH’s Jones Honored With National Pumphandle Award
Jun. 27, 2017—Tim Jones, MD, has been named the 2017 recipient of the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists’ Pumphandle Award. Jones serves as Tennessee state epidemiologist and assistant commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Health Communicable and Environmental Disease and Emergency Preparedness, or CEDEP division. The CSTE Pumphandle Award, which recognizes outstanding achievement in the field...
MPH alumnus Diamond: Tennessee first state to set up safety ratings for youth sports leagues
Jun. 26, 2017—A new rating system called Safe Stars will soon allow parents to check and see if youth sports leagues in Tennessee follow state-recommended safety protocols.A collaboration between the Tennessee Department of Health and the Program for Injury Prevention in Youth Sports (PIPYS) at Vanderbilt, Safe Stars is the nation’s first statewide safety rating system for...
Nikpay: Uninsured emergency department visits down after Medicaid expansion
Jun. 20, 2017—Fewer uninsured patients are walking through the doors of Emergency Departments in states that expanded Medicaid coverage under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), even though the total number of visits has increased since 2014, according to an Annals of Emergency Medicine study released Monday. Lead author Sayeh Nikpay, Ph.D., assistant professor of Health Policy at...
MPH’s Schaffner receives UpShot Award in vaccine communication
Jun. 15, 2017—The National Vaccine Program Office (NVPO) in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has selected William Schaffner, M.D., professor of Preventive Medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC), to receive its 2017 NVPO UpShot Award in Vaccine Communication.
Vanderbilt MPH alumna’s study shows cesarean patients are prescribed more narcotic pain medications than needed
Jun. 14, 2017—Most women who undergo a cesarean childbirth are prescribed more opioid (narcotic) pain medications than needed upon release from the hospital, a Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) study shows.The study, published online June 8 in Obstetrics and Gynecology and in print in July, studied 179 cesarean patients from VUMC over an eight-week period to examine...
NYT: MPH’s Graves comments on the individual healthcare market challenge
Jun. 12, 2017—In recent years, millions of middle- and working-class Americans have moved from job to job, some staying with one company for shorter stints or shifting careers midstream.The Affordable Care Act has enabled many of those workers to get transitional coverage that provides a bridge to the next phase of their lives — a stopgap to...
MPH’s Schaffner explains how unsafe delivery of the measles vaccine can kill
Jun. 5, 2017—In a remote village in South Sudan, 15 children died from severe toxicity caused by contaminated measles vaccines, government health investigators said Thursday. The National Adverse Events Following Immunization Committee, supported by the World Health Organization, and UNICEF vaccine safety experts examined the cases and those of 32 other children who suffered fever, vomiting and...
In NEJM, Heimburger’s looks at the benefits of NIH’s Fogarty International Center
May. 30, 2017—A new perspective in The New England Journal of Medicine on the benefits of preserving the NIH's Fogarty International Center for Americans and for the world by former Fogarty Scholar Dr. Paul K. Drain, former Fogarty Fellow Dr. Ramnath Subbaraman, and Fogarty grantee Dr. Douglas C. Heimburger.
MPH alumnus Barocas honored by Society of Urologic Oncology
May. 22, 2017—Daniel Barocas, M.D., MPH, associate professor of Urologic Surgery, recently received the Society of Urologic Oncology’s (SUO) Young Investigator Award at the group’s 2017 annual meeting in Boston. The award is “recognition by the Society of excellence in clinical practice and/or basic research that has contributed to improvement of clinical care and progress in science.”
MPH alumna Hartert: RSV-HRV viral interference
May. 22, 2017—Viral interference – the influence of one virus on infection by another virus – is important in understanding respiratory viral circulation and the impact of vaccines. Tina Hartert, M.D., MPH, visiting student Niek Achten, and colleagues, studied viral interference between respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and human rhinovirus (HRV), the most common viruses associated with acute...
MPH alum Warren: HCV infection among women giving birth in TN from 2009–2014
May. 11, 2017—Hepatitis C virus (HCV) affects an estimated 3.5 million persons in the United States, making it the most common bloodborne infection in the country. Recent surveillance data showed increased rates of HCV infection among adolescents and adults who are predominantly white, live in nonurban areas, and have a history of injection drug use. Michael Warren,...
Current MPH student McGinnis is named as an alternate finalists by the Fulbright U.S. Student Program
May. 11, 2017—Katie McGinnis, M.P.H. candidate in the Global Health track, was named an alternate for the Fulbright U.S. Student Program for 2017-18. Katie is one of fifteen Vanderbilt students and alumni to be selected by the Fulbright program. Of this group, nine were offered grants (“finalists” in Fulbright parlance). Six students have been named alternates, an important designation,...
MPH’s Spalluto receives funding for project in equity, diversity and inclusion
May. 11, 2017—Vanderbilt MPH student Lucy Spalluto's project, A Leadership Intervention to Further the Training of Female Faculty (LIFT-OFF), was recently selected to receive seed grant funding from the Vanderbilt Office for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion.
MPH alumni Halasa and Patel receive VUMC Excellence in Teaching Awards
May. 5, 2017—Since 2000, the VUMC Academic Enterprise has honored faculty members for Excellence in Teaching and Outstanding Contributions to Research. Recipients were nominated by their faculty colleagues and chosen by the 2017 VUMC Academic Enterprise Faculty Awards Selection Committees. Recipient of the JOHN S. SERGENT AWARD Teaching Medical or Graduate Students in the Small Group Setting...
MPH alumna Nicolson discovers clue to recurrent C. diff infection
May. 5, 2017—Diarrhea caused by Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) increasingly afflicts some children and adults. In 20 percent of patients, CDI will recur after therapy. In a study published this month in The Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal, Maribeth Nicholson, M.D., MPH, and colleagues report that children who experience recurrent CDI may have higher fecal inflammatory markers including...
MPH’s Cooper finds male infants at increased risk for NAS
May. 5, 2017—Male infants are more likely at birth than their female counterparts to be diagnosed with drug withdrawal symptoms, also known as neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS), and to require treatment, according to a new Vanderbilt study published in Hospital Pediatrics. The retrospective cohort study used vital statistics and prescription, outpatient and inpatient data for mothers and...
MPH student McWade recognized with national award
Apr. 27, 2017—Conor McWade, a fourth-year M.D./MPH student, received the 2017 Excellence in Public Health Award from the United States Public Health Service Physician Professional Advisory Committee.
MPH’s Graves examines the effect of Medicaid expansion on ER access
Apr. 21, 2017—Under the Affordable Care Act, beginning in 2014 states were to extend Medicaid eligibility to people earning less than 138 percent of the federal poverty level, but 19 states (including Tennessee) have declined. To examine the effect of Medicaid expansion on emergency department access, John Graves, Ph.D., and colleagues used data from 126 for-profit hospitals....
MPH alumnus Warren: Tennessee’s infant mortality rate is among the worst in the country
Apr. 14, 2017—Sleep-related accidents are a leading cause of death of Tennessee children, and infants are the most vulnerable. According to the Tennessee Department of Health, in 2015, 890 children died before their 18th birthday, and 142 of those children were infants who died in unsafe sleep environments. Dr. Michael Warren, the Tennessee Department of Health’s Deputy...
VU School of Medicine moves to 8th in NIH research funding
Apr. 13, 2017—Vanderbilt University School of Medicine (VUSM) now ranks No. 8 in the nation among U.S. medical schools in total grant support provided through the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The new ranking raises VUSM’s standing two spots from the No. 10 position it held last year. Receiving $340,049,796 in total NIH grant support during calendar year...
NYT: MPH’s Penson discusses major change in prostate cancer screening guidelines
Apr. 12, 2017—Older men should talk to their doctors about the pros and cons of prostate cancer screening and make an individual decision that is right for them, an influential national panel of experts has proposed.The panel, the United States Preventive Services Task Force, continues to recommend that men 70 and older forgo screening altogether. But for...
MPH’s Griffin receives Margaret Cuninggim Women’s Center’s 2017 Mary Jane Werthan Award
Apr. 4, 2017—Four women from the Vanderbilt community were recognized for their leadership, mentoring and contributions to the advancement of women during the Margaret Cuninggim Women’s Center’s annual Cuninggim Lecture and awards ceremony March 23 at the Student Life Center. Marie Griffin, director of the Vanderbilt master of public health program and professor of health policy and medicine, is this year’s winner...
MPH faculty to chair urology association’s science, quality council
Mar. 30, 2017—MPH faculty member David Penson, M.D., MPH, Paul V. Hamilton, M.D., and Virginia E. Howd Professor of Urologic Oncology and chair of the Department of Urologic Surgery, has been selected to chair the American Urological Association (AUA) Science & Quality Council, according to an announcement from the AUA Board of Directors.
JAMA: MPH alumnus Barocas shows active surveillance preserves quality of life for prostate cancer patients
Mar. 21, 2017—Faced with the negative quality-of-life effects from surgery and radiation treatments for prostate cancer, low risk patients may instead want to consider active surveillance with their physician, according to a study released Tuesday by the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA). The Vanderbilt University Medical Center study led by Daniel Barocas, M.D., MPH, associate...
Vanderbilt’s Drug Dependency Clinic, run by MPH alumna Young, treats pregnant opiate dependent women
Mar. 13, 2017—The epidemic of opioid abuse, which each day claims the lives of 91 Americans and adds billions annually to the nation’s health care bill, can be stopped—but it’s not going to be easy, say those steering the ship at Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC). Vanderbilt’s Drug Dependency Clinic, run by Jessica Young, M.D. M.P.H., treats...
In the Tennessean, MPH’s Graves provides analysis of draft legislation for American Health Care Act
Mar. 8, 2017—House GOP legislation aimed at revamping the Affordable Care Act would pave the way to an overhaul of Tennessee’s Medicaid system and shrink the credits meant to offset health insurance costs for many Volunteer State residents. John Graves, assistant professor of health policy, is quoted throughout the article.
MPH’s Schaffner: Avian flu unlikely to spread among people despite positive tests in TN chickens
Mar. 7, 2017—An outbreak of avian flu in Tennessee has health officials on alert as the virus has surged across parts of Asia in recent months.The Tennessee Department of Agriculture confirmed yesterday that approximately 74,000 chickens from a commercial farm in Lincoln County were culled after some of the animals tested positive for a strain of the...
NPR: MPH’s Schaffner discusses rise in nationwide flu cases
Mar. 2, 2017—Flu cases are up nationwide. Dr. William Schaffner, professor of preventative medicine in the department of health policy at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, was a guest on the March 1 show of On Point to discuss the steep increase in flu cases this year.
Flu-related doctor visits cut by 48 percent, MPH’s Schaffner comments
Feb. 20, 2017—The current seasonal influenza vaccine has been found to be 48 percent effective in preventing flu-related medical visits, according to a preliminary report in the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. "We know that influenza vaccine is a good but not perfect vaccine," said Dr. William Schaffner, an infectious...
MPH’s Cooper: Patient complaints helps identify surgeons with higher rates of bad surgical outcomes
Feb. 17, 2017—Recording and analyzing patient and family reports about rude and disrespectful behavior can identify surgeons with higher rates of surgical site infections and other avoidable adverse outcomes, according to a study led by Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) investigators in collaboration with six other major academic health systems. The study, published online Feb. 15 in...
MPH alumni works to uncovers cellular responses to bird flu vaccine
Feb. 17, 2017—Vanderbilt MPH Program alumna Leigh Howard, M.D., M.P.H., assistant professor of Pediatrics and alumnus Buddy Creech, M.D. collaborated with other members of the team to study a vaccine for bird flu subtype H5N1, which is far more lethal in humans than seasonal flu. Reported in the journal PLOS One, the study exposes cellular responses associated...
MPH’s Buntin weighs in on Chattanooga’s latest health ranking
Feb. 16, 2017—Chattanooga ranked 132nd, behind Nashville and Knoxville in Tennessee, although well ahead of Memphis, which ranked third from the bottom — a dishonor awarded to Detroit.As with any such survey, the results depended on the criteria used for the ranking. The "health care" category, for example, was based on the cost of a medical or...
As Mumps hit a 10-year-high, MMR’s lifelong protection may be false says MPH’s Schaffner
Feb. 13, 2017—Mumps is on the rise in some parts of the U.S., and some public health professionals are wondering whether the current vaccine may be not quite up to the task. Our long-held assumption that the MMR's protection is lifelong may not be entirely true. After 10 to 15 years, effectiveness against the mumps may diminish,...
MPH alumnus receives grant to bolster Trauma program’s research initiatives
Feb. 9, 2017—The National Institutes of Health (NIH) and National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) awarded Mayur Patel, M.D., M.P.H., assistant professor of Surgery, Neurosurgery and Hearing and Speech Sciences, a $3 million, five-year grant to advance his study on cognitive impairment after trauma and critical illness (Grant No. R01 GM120484). Patel’s INSIGHT-ICU Study: Illuminating Neuropsychological...
MPH’s Buntin: Social risk factors influence outcomes, Medicare payment
Feb. 9, 2017—Social risk factors including income, education and ethnic background influence health outcomes and should be taken into account in Medicare payment models, according to a New England Journal of Medicine “Perspective” published today titled “Social Risk Factors and Equity in Medicare Payment.” Co-authored by Melinda Buntin, Ph.D., chair of Health Policy in the Vanderbilt University...
MPH student David Isaacs leads effort to better serve patients with Tourette syndrome
Feb. 9, 2017—Heather Riordan, M.D., and David Isaacs, M.D., are working to establish a multidisciplinary medical home at Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) for children and adults with Tourette syndrome.
MPH alumna Robinson: New 2017 Immunization Schedule for Children and Adolescents
Feb. 9, 2017—In October 2016, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) approved the Recommended Immunization Schedule for Children and Adolescents Aged 18 Years or Younger—United States, 2017. Changes in the 2017 immunization schedules for children and adolescents aged 18 years or younger include new or revised ACIP recommendations for influenza; human papillomavirus; hepatitis B; Haemophilus influenzae...
MPH graduate Patel serves as a VUMC site investigator for US DOD award
Feb. 9, 2017—MPH graduate Mayur Patel is one of the VUMC site investigators for the US DOD award to create a nationwide network of trauma systems and centers capable of conducting detailed research to improve military care. In its initial project, the LITES Network is expected to provide epidemiological data on moderate and severe injuries in the...
MPH’s Grijalva selected as 2017 Chancellor Faculty Fellow
Feb. 6, 2017—Twelve outstanding faculty members from across the university have been named to the 2017 class of Chancellor Faculty Fellows. The class comprises highly accomplished, recently tenured faculty from the social sciences, life and physical sciences, clinical sciences and humanities, as well as law, mathematics and engineering. The 2017 Chancellor Faculty Fellows are as follows: Julia...
NEJM: MPH’s Graves’ finds smaller insurers earning profits in new market
Feb. 2, 2017—“Success and Failure in the Insurance Exchanges,” a New England Journal of Medicine “Perspectives” article released this week, examines whether the financial struggles of some major insurers under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) reflect a policy failure that should be addressed via repeal or reform, or a mismatch of these firms’ capabilities and strategies to...
MPH’s Nikpay looks to the past to suggest how future Medicaid reforms may work
Feb. 2, 2017—The United States’ early experience with federally financed health care during the 1950s and early ‘60s can provide insight into the possible outcome of proposed Medicaid reforms, write Andrew Goodman-Bacon, assistant professor of economics at Vanderbilt University, and Sayeh Nikpay, assistant professor of health policy at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine
NYT: Guidelines part of failed response to Zika says Schaffner
Jan. 18, 2017—Almost a year ago, the World Health Organization declared the Zika epidemic a global health emergency, calling for an epic campaign against a virus that few had ever heard of. As it spread to almost every country in the Western Hemisphere, scientists and health officials at every level of government swung into action, trying to...
MPH alumnus to head University of Chicago Medicine’s adult trauma center amid gun violence crisis
Jan. 13, 2017—Dr. Selwyn O. Rogers Jr., a top surgeon and public health expert with 16 years of trauma care experience, will lead the University of Chicago Medicine's development of the South Side's only Level 1 adult trauma center, scheduled to open in 2018. As chief of the Section for Trauma & Acute Care Surgery and founding...
MPH’s Schaffner offers advice for flying with a cold
Jan. 6, 2017—The sniffles, the sneezing, the cough you try to muffle, the dirty looks from fellow passengers: The last think you want to do is board a plane with a cold. If you can't postpone your trip and your symptoms are under control, know that flying with a cold can hurt. "If you have allergies or...
MPH’s Graves: ACA insurance expansion tied to faster emergency care
Jan. 3, 2017—Some low-income U.S. patients may have an easier time choosing a hospital for emergency care thanks to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), a new study suggests. The study only looked at for-profit hospitals. Previous research suggests that poor and uninsured patients sometimes travel longer distances in an emergency to avoid for-profit hospitals...
MPH’s Gonzales awarded RWJF grant to study health and economic effects of LGBT-related laws
Dec. 20, 2016—Gilbert Gonzales, Ph.D., is co-investigator on a research team funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) to study the health impacts of recent laws and public policies affecting lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people, as well as on local economic and business outcomes.
MPH’s Shrubsole and Smalley link lifestyle factors to formation of high-risk polyps
Dec. 12, 2016—Lifestyle factors like cigarette smoking and red meat consumption are known to be associated with an increased risk of colon polyps that can lead to colorectal cancer. Polyps are small growths on the lining of the colon, and while some polyps are harmless others can progress to cancer. Martha Shrubsole, Ph.D., research associate professor of...
MPH’s Creech: Mumps outbreak trigger and how to protect yourself
Dec. 12, 2016—Mumps is spreading across the nation at a rate not seen in a decade. Vanderbilt University Medical Center Vaccine Research Program Associate Director Dr. Buddy Creech explains what triggered the outbreak and how to protect yourself from the infectious disease.
MPH alums Williams and Creech test shorter antibiotic course in children
Dec. 7, 2016—Researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) are leading a multicenter clinical trial to evaluate whether a shorter course of antibiotics — five days instead of 10 — is effective at treating community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) in children who show improvement after the first few days of taking antibiotics. Buddy Creech, M.D., MPH, associate professor of...
MPH faculty member, Yu Shyr, elected as AAAS fellow
Nov. 28, 2016—Nine Vanderbilt University faculty members have been elected fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science this year. Yu Shyr, Ph.D., Harold L. Moses Professor of Cancer Research, and professor of biostatistics, biomedical informatics, cancer biology and health policy, for distinguished contributions in integrative methods development for biostatistics and bioinformatics and high impact applications of...
MPH’s Schaffner: Universities on alert as mumps cases surge in US
Nov. 22, 2016—Mumps outbreaks across the U.S. have sickened nearly 3,000 people, close to three times as many as in 2015, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. At the University of Missouri, for example, a current outbreak has so far led to 31 confirmed cases of the disease and 27 other suspected cases....
MPH’s Gonzales weighs in on domestic partner health care options
Nov. 14, 2016—Unmarried couples looking for domestic partner health care benefits may encounter some unwelcome changes this open-enrollment season. After the June 2015 landmark Supreme Court decision that declared bans against same-sex marriage unconstitutional, many Fortune 500 companies started to rethink their health care coverage for unmarried partners. Now that same-sex partners can get married, the thinking...
Vanderbilt MPH Program celebrates 20th anniversary
Nov. 10, 2016—The Vanderbilt University School of Medicine Master of Public Health (MPH) Program marked its 20th anniversary during Reunion Weekend in October 2016.
In MMWR, MPH graduate reports on the first confirmed cases of Rift Valley Fever in Uganda since 1968
Nov. 3, 2016—Vanderbilt MPH Program graduate Annabelle de St. Maurice, M.D., M.P.H., reports on the first confirmed cases of Rift Valley fever in Uganda since 1968 in the November 4, 2016 issue of Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR). De St. Maurice is an Epidemic Intelligence Service Officer at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
MPH’s Moon awarded NIH grant to strengthen research capacity in Ebola-affected countries
Oct. 27, 2016—Troy Moon, M.D., M.P.H., assistant professor of Pediatrics in the Division of Infectious Diseases and VIGH, has been awarded a research training grant from the NIH to evaluate and build a research capacity program in implementation science and clinical trial management to address Ebola, Lassa fever and other viral hemorrhagic fevers in Sierra Leone. This...
MPH faculty member lands humanitarian award from national anesthesiology group
Oct. 27, 2016—Mark Newton, M.D., professor of Clinical Anesthesiology and director of the Vanderbilt International Anesthesia program, has been awarded the 2016 Nicholas M. Greene, M.D., Outstanding Humanitarian Contribution Award by the Global Humanitarian Outreach (GHO) Committee of the American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA), the primary specialty society for anesthesiology.
Schaffner: New HPV vaccine schedule eases burden for parents
Oct. 26, 2016—The CDC has adopted a recommendation that preteens get two shots instead of three and space them further apart of the cervical cancer vaccine. Health officials hope that will boost the number of girls and boys who get vaccinated. The vaccine protects against human papillomavirus – or HPV – which can cause cervical cancer, certain...
MPH’s Warren honored with THA 2016 President’s Award
Oct. 26, 2016—Michael Warren, M.D., who serves as deputy commissioner for population health at the Tennessee Department of Health (TDH), has received the Tennessee Hospital Association’s (THA) President’s Award in recognition of his leadership in several OB and newborn health initiatives in collaboration with the Association’s Tennessee Center for Patient Safety (TCPS).
Forum celebrates VUMC translational research expertise
Oct. 20, 2016—Vanderbilt University Medical Center’s vibrant culture of clinical and translational research was celebrated at the 2016 Vanderbilt Translational Research Forum, sponsored by the Elliot Newman Society, Translational Bridge, the Master of Public Health (MPH) Program and the Master of Science in Clinical Investigation (MSCI) Program.
NPR: Schaffner on why parents don’t get their children vaccinated for the flu
Oct. 10, 2016—William Schaffner, M.D., joined Morning Edition host Renee Montagne to discuss why parents don't get their children vaccinated for the flu.
Dittus named to AHRQ’s National Advisory Council
Oct. 7, 2016—Robert Dittus, M.D., MPH, Executive Vice President, Public Health and Health Care for Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC), has been named to the National Advisory Council of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ).
MPH’s Schaffner: Amish community measles outbreak case study for comprehensive vaccination
Oct. 7, 2016—With measles remaining endemic in most of the world and global travel a part of everyday life, unvaccinated communities in the U.S. remain at risk from the highly infectious and sometimes deadly illness, a recent analysis suggested. The report, appearing in the New England Journal of Medicine, focused on the 2014 measles outbreak affecting Amish...
MPH graduate to lead NIH initiative at VU to study ECHO
Oct. 6, 2016—The National Institutes of Health (NIH) recently announced it will provide $157 million in awards to launch a multi-center, seven-year initiative that will investigate how exposure to environmental factors in early development — from conception through early childhood — influences the health of children and adolescents. Vanderbilt is among a consortium of study centers involved...
MPH faculty report on recent measles outbreak in Memphis area
Oct. 6, 2016—On April 15, 2016, local public health officials in Shelby County, Tennessee, were notified of a positive measles immunoglobulin M (IgM) test for a male aged 18 months (patient A). On April 18, 2016, a second positive measles IgM test was reported for a man aged 50 years (patient B). Both patients had rash onset...
MPH alumnus Vasilevskis co-principal investigator on $2.9 million federal ‘Shed-Meds’ grant
Sep. 29, 2016—A clinical trial of the intervention, known as “Shed-Meds,” will be conducted at VUMC and 14 area skilled nursing facilities, with plans calling for enrolling approximately 1,300 participants over five years. MPH alumnus Eduard Vasilevskis, M.D.,assistant professor of Medicine is a co-principal investigator on the grant.
Schaffner: Probability of developing a side effect to the 2016 flu shot is low
Sep. 28, 2016—An influenza vaccine is considered the best way to reduce your chances of getting the bug, and the Centers for Disease Control recommends that everyone 6 months of age and older receive one every year. During the upcoming months, it's projected that between 157 million and 168 million doses of the injectable flu vaccine will...
New prostate cancer therapy investigated at VUMC co-led by MPH’s Penson
Sep. 26, 2016—Vanderbilt University Medical Center is the world’s first site to treat a patient in the TULSA-PRO Ablation Clinical Trial (TACT), which employs an emerging therapy that uses MRI guidance and robotically driven therapeutic ultrasound to obtain precise prostate cancer tissue ablation. Investigators, David Penson, M.D., MPH, professor and chair of Urologic Surgery, and Sandeep Arora,...
MPH’s Cooper leads sickle cell patient prescribed medication effort for Vanderbilt
Sep. 26, 2016—Vanderbilt University Medical Center is part of a 6-year, $4.4 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to improve the use of prescribed medication by sickle cell patients. Funded by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (Grant No. 1U01HL133996-01), the new Sickle Cell Disease Implementation Program includes researchers from St. Jude Children’s Research...
MPH’s Cherry: Fogarty training helps build mHealth research capacity
Sep. 26, 2016—MPH alumna Charlotte Buehler Cherry MS, MPH, was selected to participate in a training event at the NIH to learn more about best practices of mobile technologies to improve health in LMICs. The training event was hosted by Fogarty to encourage collaborative efforts in mHealth research activities
In NEJM, Griffin and Neuzil: Prevention of shingles should be a public health priority
Sep. 16, 2016—In the United States each year, herpes zoster, or shingles, develops in half a million people 60 years of age or older. MPH Program Director, Marie Griffin, M.D., M.P.H., and Vanderbilt MPH alumna Kathleen M. Neuzil, M.D., M.P.H., write that the prevention of herpes zoster, or shingles, and its complications in older persons should be...
Schaffner joins U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy on NPR to discuss the impact of the Zika virus and prospects for a vaccine
Sep. 1, 2016—William Schaffner, M.D., professor of Preventive Medicine, appeared on the national NPR broadcast "On Point." Host John Harwood interviewed Schaffner and other guests about the impact of the Zika virus, the prospects for a vaccine.
Gonzales receives first Chancellor’s Award for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
Aug. 30, 2016—Chancellor Nicholas S. Zeppos presented seven faculty research awards, including two new awards for efforts that advance understanding of diversity, at the Fall Faculty Assembly on Aug. 25. The newly established Chancellor’s Research Awards for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion went to Gilbert Gonzalez, assistant professor of health policy, for his research documenting that LGBT couples...
Schaffner makes the case for quality measures for vaccines
Aug. 25, 2016—William Schaffner, professor of preventive medicine and health policy, and Michael Hodin, CEO of the Global Coalition on Aging, write that the United States has made incredible strides on childhood vaccinations over the past century—immunization rates for most vaccine-preventable diseases among children are well over 90 percent—but we’re far behind when it comes to adults.
Tennessee Medicaid expansion discussed by lawmakers and MPH’s Buntin
Aug. 18, 2016—A group of lawmakers and health care officials working on a health care expansion plan gathered in Nashville once again on Wednesday, this time to further delve into the details of a proposal that will need approval from the federal and state government.During a meeting at Vanderbilt University, four lawmakers serving on the 3-Star Healthy Task Force met with TennCare chief Dr....
MPH’s Diamond: Late afternoon, early evening best time of day to break Olympic records
Aug. 11, 2016—Multiple studies have found that circadian rhythm—a kind of biological clock that governs mood, appetite and sleepiness—can affect athletic performance. As a result, at certain points of the day, athletes will biologically be at their peak for competition. Alex Diamond, assistant professor of orthopedic surgery and rehabilitation at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, said there is...
Schaffner: NIH clinical trial of Zika vaccine could prevent future outbreaks globally
Aug. 9, 2016—As health officials work to contain the country's first Zika outbreak, centered in a Miami neighborhood, scientists at the National Institutes of Health announced the launch Wednesday of a clinical trial of an experimental Zika vaccine. Even if the Zika vaccine isn't ready in time to prevent many infections in Brazil, the country hardest hit by the virus,...
MPH’s Schaffner optimistic about Zika Vaccine as First Local Outbreak Hits Florida
Aug. 3, 2016—Researchers are one step closer to creating an approved Zika vaccine, with the first round of safety trials already underway. Drug companies have shown success in preclinical trials, in which they have induced immunity in mice and monkeys, indicating a greater likelihood that the vaccine could prevent infection in humans. “In the last couple decades...
MPH graduate Vasilevskis receives Faculty Fellowship to Advance Medical Education
Jul. 28, 2016—Vanderbilt MPH Program graduate Ed Vasilevskis, M.D., M.P.H.,assistant professor of Medicine, is a recipient of the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine's inaugural Faculty Fellowship to Advance Medical Education (FAME). He will work with Tyson Heller, M.D., assistant professor of Clinical Medicine, Section of Hospital Medicine and Public Health, to develop a rotation focusing on bedside procedures for medical students, residents...
As part of NIH-StoryCorps partnership, Raffanti discusses his work with HIV/AIDS patients
Jul. 28, 2016—A new collaboration between StoryCorps, the NIH, and Vanderbilt is a first-of-its-kind partnership for an academic medical center, recognizing persons who enable health care work while capturing and preserving the stories of those connected with the extensive and diverse NIH community. Stephen Raffanti, M.D., M.P.H., professor of Medicine, and Beverly Byram, M.D.N., A.D.N., assistant in...
MPH grad Creech one of six selected to share his story for NIH-StoryCorps collaboration
Jul. 28, 2016—A new collaboration between StoryCorps, the NIH and Vanderbilt is a first-of-its-kind partnership for an academic medical center, recognizing persons who enable health care work while capturing and preserving the stories of those connected with the extensive and diverse NIH community. Buddy Creech, M.D.,M.P.H., associate professor of Pediatrics, and patient Cole Christopher. Cole was born...
Schaffner: New Zika modeling provides evidence about who is most at risk
Jul. 26, 2016—Just weeks before the Olympics are slated to start in the nation at the center of the Zika virus outbreak, researchers have found new evidence about who is likely to contract the disease. Of the hundreds of thousands of visitors expected to visit Brazil for the Olympics, researchers found that just three to 37 attendees...
MPH’s Hartert to lead Project 1 Team to study RSV’s role in asthma formation
Jul. 22, 2016—Investigators in the Division of Allergy, Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine recently received a $4.5 million Asthma and Allergic Diseases Cooperative Research Center (AADCRC) grant from the National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID). The award will be used for research at Vanderbilt and Emory University to investigate how respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is...
MPH’s Young featured in Next Nashville Storytellers Series
Jul. 21, 2016—The next Nashville Storytellers event, “Through hell and back," will focus on our storytellers’ personal anecdotes about addiction and recovery. This live storytelling night, to be held Aug. 15 at Blair School of Music, will blend the authentic discipline of storytelling with the truthful, community-building power at the heart of great journalism. Our featured storytellers will include: Trina Frierson,...
Washington Post: MPH’s Schaffner agrees prisons around the world are reservoirs of infectious disease
Jul. 21, 2016—Prisoners around the world and people who were formerly incarcerated have a higher burden of HIV and other infectious diseases than the general population, worsening the spread of diseases inside and outside of prison, according to new research. William Schaffner, professor of preventive medicine and health policy, who was not involved in the study, is...
MPH’s Buntin: Uninsured Tennesseans struggle after state doesn’t expand Medicaid coverage
Jul. 13, 2016—Kentucky and Tennessee are similar in many ways: geography, demographics, income. But in 2013, the governor of Kentucky embraced the Affordable Care Act, expanding Medicaid coverage to tens of thousands of low-income families. Tennessee did not. As one of many results, uninsured Tennesseans have a particularly hard time getting treatment for mental health and substance...
MPH’s Schaffner: Zika Virus study at Rio Olympics will address basic scientific questions
Jul. 7, 2016—In an upcoming study announced on Tuesday, the U.S. Olympic Committee, in partnership with the National Institutes of Health, is hoping to volunteer its own staffers and U.S. Olympic athletes for a study that will help researchers answer some basic questions about the Zika virus.The participants themselves, however, present a limiting factor for the study, because they will provide...
JAMA: Gonzales Finds Higher Rates of Severe Psychological Distress and Impaired Physical Health among LGBT Populations
Jun. 28, 2016—In one of the largest, most representative health surveys conducted to date, lesbian, gay and bisexual adults reported substantially higher rates of severe psychological distress, heavy drinking and smoking, and impaired physical health than did heterosexuals. This study adds to the previous research on LGBT health disparities and has important implications for policy and practice,”...