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Ukrainian doctors again visit VUMC to observe organ transplants and protocols
Mar. 27, 2024—For the second year, a delegation of doctors from Ukraine recently visited Vanderbilt University Medical Center to observe organ transplants and protocols in November 2023. With the help of Vanderbilt and other transplant centers, Ukraine has developed a growing transplant program in the country in the last three years, said Borys Todurov, MD, a Ukrainian...
A Vanderbilt first
Mar. 27, 2024—Vanderbilt University Medical Center recently performed its first combined lung and liver transplant. Connie Rankin of Memphis, Tennessee, received the transplant, which involved dozens of specialists, including transplant teams for both organs. Her lung transplant was performed by Matthew Bacchetta, MD, MBA, professor of Cardiac Surgery and Biomedical Engineering; and her liver transplant was performed...
Saved Twice
Jan. 3, 2023— The first time Janet Darnell saw her clinicians at Vanderbilt, she was sitting in a wheelchair, on oxygen 24 hours a day, and her lungs were near failure. She couldn’t walk from her chair to her front door. In a series of events she considers miraculous, Darnell’s life would be saved twice in one...
Project aims to create at-home artificial lung system
May. 16, 2022—Vanderbilt University Medical Center will share in an $8.7 million federal grant to create an artificial lung system that patients with incurable lung disease can use at home. The Department of Defense Congressionally Directed Medical Research Program grant will fund research to create and test the device, which is intended for patients who may not...
Down syndrome patient celebrates anniversary of novel transplant
May. 16, 2022— Joe Eitl, 38, was among the first patients in the country with Down syndrome to undergo a heart and liver transplant, and his story is featured in the documentary TV series “Last Chance Transplant” on the streaming service Discovery+. To mark the one-year anniversary of the lifesaving transplant, Eitl and his family traveled from...
COVID recovery included long stay on ECMO, double-lung transplant
Oct. 18, 2021— Zach Lloyd was only 37 years old with no preexisting health conditions, but COVID-19 brought him within an inch of his life. Beginning in October 2020, he lay immobile in a bed at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, hooked up to a life-sustaining mechanical system called ECMO, or extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, which can temporarily take...
Vanderbilt Transplant Center the focus of national TV series
Oct. 18, 2021—A new documentary television series follows the life-saving stories of organ transplant patients at the Vanderbilt Transplant Center. The series, “Last Chance Transplant,” is produced by Robin Roberts, anchor of ABC’s “Good Morning America.” Roberts is a double stem-cell transplant patient passionate about the topic, and her production company, Rock’n Robin Productions, is a partner...
Vanderbilt Transplant Center sets monthly record
Oct. 5, 2020—The Vanderbilt Transplant Center performed 73 transplants in May, setting a Medical Center record for the most transplants in a month. Sixteen of those were heart transplants — also a monthly record — cementing VUMC’s status as the busiest heart transplant center in the country. “In any month this would be an extraordinary achievement, but...
Biology and the Beat
Sep. 13, 2018—Kate Margulis has been passionate about music all her life. But it wasn’t until she came to Vanderbilt to earn a master’s degree in speech and language pathology that she realized she could marry that passion to her undergraduate research in developmental psychology and language and, as a result, help children learn language skills. Margulis...
The Program for Music, Mind and Society
Sep. 13, 2018—The Music Cognition Lab is a part of the Program for Music, Mind, and Society at Vanderbilt, a collaborative network of researchers, scientists, artists and students, working together to accelerate the understanding and impact of music on individuals and society. This network harnesses the teaching and research resources of the Vanderbilt School of Medicine, Peabody...
The Science of Our Senses
Sep. 23, 2017— Mark Wallace, Ph.D., drops his glasses on his desk and they land with a metallic clang. He is making a point about autism. “There’s sound energy and light energy that come from the same place in space,” said Wallace, dean of the Graduate School at Vanderbilt University and Louise B. McGavock Professor of Hearing...
Giving in Action: Vickie and Tom Flood
Aug. 21, 2015—Donors such as Vickie and Thomas Flood are supporting the Vanderbilt Bill Wilkerson Center’s world-class teaching, research and clinical care. The Center specializes in communication disorders such as hearing, speech, language, and voice problems. For many years, the Floods have supported faculty needs, research, graduate students and other expenses related to childhood hearing loss. Their...
Study Fine-Tunes Hearing
Aug. 21, 2015—When Vanderbilt audiologist Allyson Sisler-Dinwiddie, Au.D., received her own cochlear implant, she experienced what many such patients do – her hearing was restored, but understanding speech could be difficult, especially in noisy situations. “There’s a wide range on how people do,” said David Haynes, M.D., professor of Otolaryngology, Neurosurgery and Hearing and Speech Sciences and...
Journey Out of Silence
Aug. 21, 2015—Allyson Sisler-Dinwiddie, Au.D., will never forget the day her hearing went away. She was just waking up, home alone on a Saturday morning, when her dog, Maddie, leapt off the bed and darted to the bedroom door. “I could tell she was barking, but I couldn’t hear her. I picked up the phone to see...