News
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...