News
MPH faculty member lands humanitarian award from national anesthesiology group
Oct. 27, 2016—Mark Newton, M.D., professor of Clinical Anesthesiology and director of the Vanderbilt International Anesthesia program, has been awarded the 2016 Nicholas M. Greene, M.D., Outstanding Humanitarian Contribution Award by the Global Humanitarian Outreach (GHO) Committee of the American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA), the primary specialty society for anesthesiology.
Schaffner: New HPV vaccine schedule eases burden for parents
Oct. 26, 2016—The CDC has adopted a recommendation that preteens get two shots instead of three and space them further apart of the cervical cancer vaccine. Health officials hope that will boost the number of girls and boys who get vaccinated. The vaccine protects against human papillomavirus – or HPV – which can cause cervical cancer, certain...
MPH’s Warren honored with THA 2016 President’s Award
Oct. 26, 2016—Michael Warren, M.D., who serves as deputy commissioner for population health at the Tennessee Department of Health (TDH), has received the Tennessee Hospital Association’s (THA) President’s Award in recognition of his leadership in several OB and newborn health initiatives in collaboration with the Association’s Tennessee Center for Patient Safety (TCPS).
Forum celebrates VUMC translational research expertise
Oct. 20, 2016—Vanderbilt University Medical Center’s vibrant culture of clinical and translational research was celebrated at the 2016 Vanderbilt Translational Research Forum, sponsored by the Elliot Newman Society, Translational Bridge, the Master of Public Health (MPH) Program and the Master of Science in Clinical Investigation (MSCI) Program.
NPR: Schaffner on why parents don’t get their children vaccinated for the flu
Oct. 10, 2016—William Schaffner, M.D., joined Morning Edition host Renee Montagne to discuss why parents don't get their children vaccinated for the flu.
Dittus named to AHRQ’s National Advisory Council
Oct. 7, 2016—Robert Dittus, M.D., MPH, Executive Vice President, Public Health and Health Care for Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC), has been named to the National Advisory Council of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ).
MPH’s Schaffner: Amish community measles outbreak case study for comprehensive vaccination
Oct. 7, 2016—With measles remaining endemic in most of the world and global travel a part of everyday life, unvaccinated communities in the U.S. remain at risk from the highly infectious and sometimes deadly illness, a recent analysis suggested. The report, appearing in the New England Journal of Medicine, focused on the 2014 measles outbreak affecting Amish...
MPH graduate to lead NIH initiative at VU to study ECHO
Oct. 6, 2016—The National Institutes of Health (NIH) recently announced it will provide $157 million in awards to launch a multi-center, seven-year initiative that will investigate how exposure to environmental factors in early development — from conception through early childhood — influences the health of children and adolescents. Vanderbilt is among a consortium of study centers involved...
MPH faculty report on recent measles outbreak in Memphis area
Oct. 6, 2016—On April 15, 2016, local public health officials in Shelby County, Tennessee, were notified of a positive measles immunoglobulin M (IgM) test for a male aged 18 months (patient A). On April 18, 2016, a second positive measles IgM test was reported for a man aged 50 years (patient B). Both patients had rash onset...
MPH alumnus Vasilevskis co-principal investigator on $2.9 million federal ‘Shed-Meds’ grant
Sep. 29, 2016—A clinical trial of the intervention, known as “Shed-Meds,” will be conducted at VUMC and 14 area skilled nursing facilities, with plans calling for enrolling approximately 1,300 participants over five years. MPH alumnus Eduard Vasilevskis, M.D.,assistant professor of Medicine is a co-principal investigator on the grant.
Schaffner: Probability of developing a side effect to the 2016 flu shot is low
Sep. 28, 2016—An influenza vaccine is considered the best way to reduce your chances of getting the bug, and the Centers for Disease Control recommends that everyone 6 months of age and older receive one every year. During the upcoming months, it's projected that between 157 million and 168 million doses of the injectable flu vaccine will...
New prostate cancer therapy investigated at VUMC co-led by MPH’s Penson
Sep. 26, 2016—Vanderbilt University Medical Center is the world’s first site to treat a patient in the TULSA-PRO Ablation Clinical Trial (TACT), which employs an emerging therapy that uses MRI guidance and robotically driven therapeutic ultrasound to obtain precise prostate cancer tissue ablation. Investigators, David Penson, M.D., MPH, professor and chair of Urologic Surgery, and Sandeep Arora,...
MPH’s Cooper leads sickle cell patient prescribed medication effort for Vanderbilt
Sep. 26, 2016—Vanderbilt University Medical Center is part of a 6-year, $4.4 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to improve the use of prescribed medication by sickle cell patients. Funded by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (Grant No. 1U01HL133996-01), the new Sickle Cell Disease Implementation Program includes researchers from St. Jude Children’s Research...
MPH’s Cherry: Fogarty training helps build mHealth research capacity
Sep. 26, 2016—MPH alumna Charlotte Buehler Cherry MS, MPH, was selected to participate in a training event at the NIH to learn more about best practices of mobile technologies to improve health in LMICs. The training event was hosted by Fogarty to encourage collaborative efforts in mHealth research activities
In NEJM, Griffin and Neuzil: Prevention of shingles should be a public health priority
Sep. 16, 2016—In the United States each year, herpes zoster, or shingles, develops in half a million people 60 years of age or older. MPH Program Director, Marie Griffin, M.D., M.P.H., and Vanderbilt MPH alumna Kathleen M. Neuzil, M.D., M.P.H., write that the prevention of herpes zoster, or shingles, and its complications in older persons should be...