News
Schaffner discusses omicron variant covid booster shots for fall season
Jul. 5, 2022—Advisers to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday recommended a change in the design of COVID-19 booster shots this fall in order to combat more recently circulating variants of the coronavirus. The FDA’s Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee voted 19-2 that the next wave of COVID booster shots should include a...
Talbot discusses safety of Moderna Covid-19 vaccines for children and adolescents after CDC approval
Jul. 4, 2022—US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky signed off on a recommendation of Moderna’s Covid-19 vaccine for people ages 6 to 17, the agency announced Friday. The move clears the way for the vaccine to be administered to this age group. The recommendation comes after the CDC’s vaccine advisers, the Advisory...
Children with chronic medical conditions may benefit from hospital and community based interventions, says Fritz
Jul. 1, 2022—Children with medical complexity (CMC) — children with one or more complex chronic conditions — who live in low opportunity areas utilize more acute care than those who live in higher opportunity areas, according to a new study in the Journal of Hospital Medicine. Cristin Fritz, MD, MPH, and colleagues used the Pediatric Health Information Systems database to...
Aliyu named Director of Vanderbilt Institute for Global Health
Jun. 30, 2022—Renowned physician-epidemiologist Muktar Aliyu, MBBS, MPH, DrPH, who is the associate director for Research with the Vanderbilt Institute for Global Health (VIGH), has been named the new director of the institute, beginning July 1. Aliyu, who joined the Vanderbilt faculty in 2009, is professor of Health Policy and Medicine at Vanderbilt and professor of Family and...
Clayton unpacks effects Roe v. Wade overturn will have on communities in Tennessee
Jun. 29, 2022—The U.S. Supreme Court issued its decision on Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health this morning, overturning Roe v. Wade and ending the constitutional right to abortion. In Tennessee, this means a nearly total ban on abortion will likely go into effect in 30 days as a result of a so-called “trigger law,” designed to ban abortion if Roe v. Wade is overturned. More...
Fiske leads fellowship program in Joint Infectious Diseases and Epidemic Intelligence Service at VUMC
Jun. 28, 2022—Vanderbilt University Medical Center is among 11 centers that will pilot a new federally sponsored training program, the Joint Infectious Diseases/Epidemic Intelligence Service (ID/EIS) Fellowship. Established in 1951 and housed in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the EIS is a two-year hands-on training program with a focus on epidemiological field work. Post-doctoral trainees, called EIS officers,...
Food allergy linked to lower risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection, says Hartert
Jun. 27, 2022—People with food allergies are surprisingly less likely to become infected with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, than people without them, a study funded by the National Institutes of Health and co-led by Vanderbilt University Medical Center’s Tina Hartert, MD, MPH, has found. In addition, the Human Epidemiology and Response to SARS-CoV-2 (HEROS) study...
Novavax protein vaccine may prove reliable as alternative to traditional mRNA covid vaccines, says Neuzil
Jun. 27, 2022—Novavax hitched its wagon to the global coronavirus pandemic. Before most Americans truly grasped the scope of the danger, the small Maryland biotech startup had secured $1.6 billion in U.S. funding for its covid vaccine. Its moonshot goal: delivering 2 billion shots to the world by mid-2021. Although the U.S. commitment eventually expanded to $1.8 billion,...
Horst honored with Physician Builder Award
Jun. 23, 2022—In recognition of significant hands-on contributions to health information technology at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Sara Horst, MD, MPH, associate professor of Medicine, and Barron Patterson, MD, associate professor of Pediatrics, have received 2022 Physician Builder Awards. The eStar Physician Builder Program supports VUMC physicians and other employees in devising and implementing new content and tools for...
Young leads clinical recovery program to assist postpartum women facing substance abuse
Jun. 21, 2022—Ninety-eight Tennessee women died in 2020 during or shortly after pregnancy. More than a quarter of those deaths were tied to substance abuse. Numbers like that are why Firefly — a rigorous program at Vanderbilt University Medical Center — is helping mothers in recovery have a healthy pregnancy and postpartum experience. Firefly launched in September...
Gillaspie discusses life as a female surgeon alongside sister
Jun. 20, 2022—Erin Gillaspie, MD, MPH, has a number stuck in her head that she’s not likely to ever forget: 289. That’s because the Vanderbilt University Medical Center thoracic surgeon is only the 289th female surgeon in her specialty in the United States. “There aren’t a lot of women in my field in particular – so few, that...
Peetz and Patel run clinical trial to investigate resuscitation techniques for trauma patients
Jun. 17, 2022—Emergency Medicine and Trauma Surgery researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center are joining Vanderbilt LifeFlight in a Department of Defense (DOD)-funded clinical trial aimed at improving survival with resuscitation techniques used to keep patients alive after a traumatic injury. Emergency medicine services (EMS) personnel currently use one of two common strategies to treat a trauma patient who...
Aliyu helps train Nigerian biostatisticians for HIV research in West Africa
Jun. 16, 2022—The Vanderbilt Institute for Global Health, Vanderbilt Department of Biostatistics, and Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital (AKTH) have partnered on a new program to train a cohort of highly skilled Nigerian biostatisticians to lead and supervise high-level biostatistics activities for HIV research studies in West Africa. Biomedical HIV research is growing in West Africa, but biostatistics...
Tilden honored with Oscar B. Crofford Scholar Award for Diabetes Research
Jun. 14, 2022—Vanderbilt Diabetes Day, an annual event that showcases the work of outstanding scientists and researchers in the fields of diabetes, obesity and metabolism was held this month, and it marked the first time many investigators working under the auspices of the Vanderbilt Diabetes Research and Training Center (DRTC) had gathered in one space since the...
González Peña receives Excellence in Public Health award from VUSM; March receives the Geoffrey David Chazen Award
May. 19, 2022—Each spring, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine recognizes members of the graduating MD class for outstanding academic achievement, service, research, and leadership. VUSM faculty and fellow students celebrated the following recipients of school and departmental awards at the MD Class Day ceremony on Thursday, May 12, 2022: Excellence in Public Health The Excellence in Public...