News
NPR Morning Edition: Health insurers control costs with narrow networks states MPH Program’s Van Horn
Nov. 6, 2015—When open enrollment began on the nation's healthcare exchanges on November 1, many people who bought insurance for 2015 found that the 2016 plans they had to choose from have narrower networks of hospitals. Insurers are trying to control costs by funneling more patients to fewer hospitals. Larry Van Horn, associate professor of management and...
MPH Program graduate receives Excellence in Mentoring Translational Scientists Award
Nov. 5, 2015—Tina Hartert, M.D., MPH, assistant vice chancellor for Translational Science and director of the Vanderbilt Center for Asthma and Environmental Health Research, was honored on Oct. 30 during the annual Vanderbilt Translational Research Forum, a celebration and showcase of research that brings the fruits of lab bench science to the patient’s bedside. Dr. Hartert s...
MPH Program graduate finds prenatal folic acid and asthma correlation
Nov. 5, 2015—In a study published in the November issue of Epidemiology, Kecia N. Carroll, M.D., MPH, and colleagues report that the timing of folic acid-containing prescription filling during pregnancy was associated with childhood asthma.
The Washington Post: MPH’s Schaffner advises adults to get vaccinated
Nov. 4, 2015—Some adult vaccines are boosters, building your immunity against those illnesses. Others protect against diseases that are more common in adulthood. All adults should have these key vaccines, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: an annual flu shot; a Td booster every 10 years to ward off tetanus and diphtheria; a zoster...
In The Atlantic: MPH student advocates making indigenous peoples equal partners in gene reserach
Oct. 27, 2015—Speaking at the 2015 meeting of the American Society for Human Genetics (ASHG), Krystal Tsosie from Vanderbilt University said the case of The Akimel O’odham (Pima), a group of Native Americans from Arizona, withdrawing their partnership with the NIH in 2003, and signing a $5 million agreement with a non-profit organization called the Translational Genomics...
NashvilleHealth gets help from MPH Program’s Buntin
Oct. 26, 2015—Former Senator Bill Frist wants to improve the overall health of the entire city by putting healthy living in the public consciousness and helping Nashville’s sickest and most disadvantaged citizens. Working with MPH Program's Melinda Buntin on the data and research behind the initiatives, Frist wants NashvilleHealth to focus, at first, on hypertension, smoking cessation and...
MPH Program student testing new treatment for Alzheimer’s
Oct. 23, 2015—Researchers say a new drug, T-817, is on the horizon to slow the progression of Alzheimer's disease, and Vanderbilt is one of 50 clinical trial sites across the country testing the drug. "It's basically a drug that is shown to have neuro-protective effects to prevent the early death of those brain cells that we're trying to...
MPH Program graduate: One standard needed to track concussions
Oct. 22, 2015—Data in sports concussion studies will continue to be disputed as long as the injuries are diagnosed by differing standards instead of universal guidelines. That’s the conclusion of Oscar D. Guillamondegui, M.D., MPH, associate professor of Neurological Surgery at Vanderbilt, in a review of a study on concussion incidence among peewee, youth and college football...
NBC talks to MPH’s Schaffner about $1.6 billion effort to prevent the flu this season
Oct. 21, 2015—The process of putting the flu vaccine together begins in February, when the World Health Organization determines which strains of the virus should be included, based on what's circulating around the globe. Dr. William Schaffner, medical director of the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases, explains that "flu is fickle. Last season was unusual because not...
IDWeek: MPH Program graduate learned from last year’s “not perfect” flu vax
Oct. 16, 2015—The flu vaccine last season was almost completely ineffective at preventing the disease, but it might have helped some people stay out of hospital, researchers reported here."The flu vaccine is not perfect and it varies in efficacy from year to year," commented H. Keipp Talbot, MD, MPH, of Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in Nashville....
Halloween treat Listeria connection low states MPH Program’s Schaffner
Oct. 14, 2015—A deadly 2014 Listeria outbreak linked to caramel apples has puzzled researchers attempting to understand how the favorite Halloween treat could be the source of the deadly bacteria. The 2014 outbreak left at least seven dead and 35 infected, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Dr. William Schaffner, an infectious disease...
ABC News talks to MPH graduate about risk of MRSA infection among athletes
Oct. 13, 2015—Buddy Creech, M.D., M.P.H., Vanderbilt MPH graduate and pediatric infectious disease expert at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, has worked with professional teams on how to clean up after a MRSA outbreak and has studied how both contact and non-contact athletes can develop the bacteria.
MPH Program alum awarded major federal grant to boost AIDS education, training efforts
Oct. 12, 2015—Vanderbilt University has been awarded a major federal grant — $16 million over four years — to coordinate AIDS education and training efforts in Tennessee and seven other southeastern states.The grant will provide training in HIV care and prevention skills to physicians, nurses, pharmacists and other allied health professionals, said Stephen Raffanti, M.D., MPH, professor...
MPH Program faculty and alumni led study: Flu vaccine helps reduce hospitalizations due to influenza pneumonia
Oct. 8, 2015—More than half of hospitalizations due to influenza pneumonia could be prevented by influenza vaccination, according to a study led by MPH Program faculty, published this week in the Journal of the American Medical Association.The Vanderbilt team included Carlos Grijalva, M.D., MPH; Yuwei Zhu, M.D., M.S.; Derek Williams, M.D., MPH; Wesley Self, M.D., MPH; Marie Griffin,...
H3N2 strain is included in 2015 flu shot says MPH Program’s Schaffner
Oct. 7, 2015—This year's flu shot is expected to be more effective than last season's vaccine. Last year was a pretty bad flu season because the H3N2 strain was the predominant strain, according to Dr. William Schaffner, a professor of preventive medicine who works at Vanderbilt University's Department of Medicine. Last year, when the virus mutated, the...