News
Protecting Emergency Department providers during COVID-19 with Rosenbloom
Apr. 16, 2020—Policy changes related to telemedicine that were quickly implemented during the novel coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) have created opportunities for technology-based clinical evaluation, which serves to protect patients and providers alike, while conserving personal protective equipment (PPE). What does this shift in policy mean for Emergency Department (ED) medical providers who are governed by the Emergency...
Livermont working front lines of COVID-19 for Native Americans
Apr. 15, 2020—Tamee Livermont, a master of public health student and citizen of the Oglala Lakota Nation in South Dakota, started a job as a public health liaison even before completing her studies at Vanderbilt. She was eager to impact policy to improve Native American health care. But just a week into her position with the Great Plains Tribal...
Self launches study to test new treatments for COVID-19
Apr. 15, 2020—Faced with a global pandemic of a virus previously unknown to humans, Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) is leading a clinical trial to understand if hydroxychloroquine, a well-known drug used for malaria and rheumatologic conditions, is safe and effective in treating hospitalized adults with COVID-19. The ORCHID trial (Outcomes Related to COVID-19 treated with Hydroxychloroquine...
COVID-19 predictive model for Tennessee developed by Vanderbilt team
Apr. 15, 2020—A team including health economists, epidemiologists and a biostatistician at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and Vanderbilt University are amassing and processing data to develop a complex predictive model of the spread of COVID-19 within Tennessee, with region-specific projections, as well as a model of projected resource use during response to the pandemic. “We’ve got a...
Katz awarded LEAP Fellowship to improve antibiotic use in Tennessee
Apr. 14, 2020—Sophie Katz, M.D., M.P.H., assistant professor of Pediatric Infectious Diseases, has been awarded a Leadership in Epidemiology, Antimicrobial Stewardship, and Public Health (LEAP) Fellowship. She is one of four early career infectious diseases physicians in the United States to receive the award, which provides $100,000 of funding support from the Centers for Disease Control and...
Engineers team up with MPH alumna to create open-source ventilator design
Apr. 14, 2020—As COVID-19 continues to push unprecedented challenges on medical communities, one of the most pressing threats for hospital staff across the country is a dwindling supply of ventilators. Now, an interdisciplinary team of Vanderbilt University and Vanderbilt University Medical Center faculty is taking on the challenge by way of a fabricated, open-source ventilator design. Led...
COVID-19 patients on ventilators longer than others says Schaffner
Apr. 13, 2020—As health officials around the world push to get more ventilators to treat coronavirus patients, some doctors are moving away from using the breathing machines when they can. The reason: Some hospitals have reported unusually high death rates for coronavirus patients on ventilators, and some doctors worry that the machines could be harming certain patients....
Edwards comments on the COVID-19 vaccine race with over 40 candidates
Apr. 13, 2020—As COVID-19 continues to spread across the nation, the race for a vaccine is underway. “There are over 40 different vaccine candidates that are on the books that are beginning to be studied,” said Dr. Kathryn Edwards, who is a professor of infectious diseases at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. “What we want to do, if...
ABC News talks to Schaffner about why it’s smart to wear a mask
Apr. 7, 2020—Following the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s new recommendation that Americans wear cloth face masks in public, especially in areas with significant COVID-19 spread, many are asking which materials offer the best protection against the virus. Americans can use “cloth face coverings fashioned from household items or made at home from common materials at low cost,” the CDC...
Neuzil discusses the COVID-19 vaccine race
Apr. 7, 2020—As Americans retreat under orders to stay-at-home and stay socially distant, it’s hard to think too far in the future. But there’s one group of medical experts who are firmly focused on what is to come: Vaccine researchers. Most public officials have made clear not to expect a vaccine in the next few months. Even...
MPH alumna works to implement screening for gastric cancer
Apr. 5, 2020—A Vanderbilt gastroenterologist is helping lead an effort to establish screening guidelines for gastric cancer in the United States, where the number of people at risk for the cancer is increasing as the nation’s population becomes more diverse. Worldwide, gastric cancer is the fifth most common cancer and third leading cause of cancer-related death. In...
Schaffner comments on the effectiveness of ‘fever tracking’
Apr. 1, 2020—The concept is simple, yet elegant: Use fever readings from thermometers to create a database that can show public health officials whether social distancing is curbing the spread of coronavirus. “I’m very impressed by this,” said Dr. William Schaffner, a preventive medicine expert at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenn. “It looks like a way to...
Neuzil: COVID-19 vaccine timelines are unprecedented
Mar. 31, 2020—Dr. Kathleen Neuzil, University of Maryland School of Medicine, discusses the clinical trials of a coronavirus vaccine and why frequent testing is needed. She speaks with Bloomberg’s David Westin on “Bloomberg: Balance of Power.”
COVID-19 management can improve with widespread testing says Schaffner
Mar. 31, 2020—Widespread testing serves both the broader public as well as patient care, said William Schaffner, an infectious disease expert at Vanderbilt University. Early testing can improve monitoring, especially for those at risk such as older people or those with compromised immune systems, he said. “When people present themselves for health care, it’s good to know...
Dupont’s study reveals an inherited origin of prostate cancer in families
Mar. 26, 2020—Vanderbilt researchers have identified haplotypes, ancestral fragments of DNA, that are associated with hereditary prostate cancer (HPC) in a first-of-its-kind genomic study made possible by the study of prostate cancer patients with family histories of the disease. The study, published March 23 in Nature Communications, explains roughly 9% of prostate cancer heritability. One mutation increased risk...