News
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.