News
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...