Author
Research Roundup
Mar. 27, 2024—Pasteurization reduces bioactive component of breast milk Providing human breast milk to preterm infants is a strategy for preventing complications including necrotizing enterocolitis. Because a mother’s own milk (considered the gold standard) is not always available, it is important to determine whether alternate breast milk products confer equal nutritional and bioactive value. Danyvid Olivares-Villagómez, PhD,...
6 tips for balancing a two- physician family
Mar. 27, 2024—1. Accept help — it’ll save you time and energy. 2. Create a schedule for yourselves and the kids. 3. Stay organized. 4. Evaluate leadership roles in your household (note: this may require embracing changes in your careers). 5. Make time for each other, especially as your careers change. 6. Make time for yourself.
Class Notes
Mar. 27, 2024—1950s Gerald E. Stone, BA’54, MD’57, HO’58, celebrated his 67th wedding anniversary to author/poet Lois Greene Stone. They have 15 grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren. Their son and their oldest grandchild are physicians, and another grandchild is a fourth-year medical student. Their family also includes a nurse and a CPA. Stone studied under the inventor of...
Losses
Mar. 27, 2024—Richard Clarke Agnew, MD’75, HO’75,’78, died June 2, 2023. He was 75. Dr. Agnew was preceded in death by his wife, Stephanie, and is survived by his children Jonathan, Jason and Spenser, and three grandchildren. Oren Wyatt Babb, MD’67, HO’71, died Nov. 18, 2023. Dr. Babb is survived by his wife, Pat; sons Robert and...
Alumni Profile: Healing the Mind and Body
Mar. 27, 2024—Cardiologist Sarah Samaan, MD, may have specialized in affairs of the heart, but she has always been interested in the whole patient — mind, body and well-being. Thus, it makes perfect sense that when she retired from her 30-year cardiology practice in 2022, she shifted her focus to providing compassionate and actionable coaching for physicians....
Giving in Action: Continuing innovations in reconstructive surgery
Mar. 27, 2024—It is no surprise that G. Patrick Maxwell, BA’68, MD’72, and Galen Perdikis, MD, have crossed paths at several points throughout their distinguished careers in plastic surgery. Not only do they both have ties to Vanderbilt and a shared dedication to advancing the practice of breast reconstruction surgery for patients who have undergone mastectomies, but...
Giving in Action: The Class of 1968, and the Power of the Collective
Mar. 27, 2024—When members of the Class of 1968 got together in fall 2023 for their 55th reunion, there were many memories to share and reasons to celebrate. For one, their 1968 School of Medicine Class Scholarship fund, to which 26 class members have contributed as of November 2023, has a value of approximately $1.8 million. More...
Alumni Profile: Good Trouble
Mar. 27, 2024—When John Sergent was 5 years old, he developed measles pneumonia. The physician in his West Virginia hometown made house calls and not only influenced Sergent’s recovery, but he made a lasting impression on him that led to his choosing medicine as a profession. “How comforting it was to hear his voice at the door....
Lessons in Love
Mar. 27, 2024— Nearly 40% of doctors have married other doctors or health care professionals, according to the American Medical Association. For many physician couples, medical school is where they met and fell in love. This is certainly the case for several Vanderbilt University School of Medicine (VUSM) alumni, some of whom met their partners within the...
Seth Christman, MD, HS’21
Mar. 27, 2024—Founder of East Nashville Wellness Center, a nonprofit mental health and substance use clinic for the underserved. Earned his MD from East Tennessee State University Quillen College of Medicine. Completed his psychiatry residency at Vanderbilt and won the research award for studying accelerated aging in late-life depression. “I chose psychiatry after seeing firsthand how seriously...
Letter from Sarah Creekmore Woodall
Mar. 26, 2024—Greetings, Vandy Med alumni! The Vanderbilt Medical Alumni Association board of directors gathered on campus last fall for its annual meeting where we discussed and approved our current strategic plan. Our future goals will focus on the following areas: Communications, Experiences, Operations and Volunteer Opportunities. Board committees have been established to help guide and advise...
Research Roundup
Jul. 19, 2023—Diabetes drug may improve asthma Type 2 diabetes mellitus and obesity are associated with many comorbidities, including asthma. Glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonist (GLP-1RA) drugs, which have been approved for the treatment of Type 2 diabetes, also may reduce asthma risk, although the mechanisms remain undefined. New research conducted by Katherine Cahill, MD, and colleagues at...
Q + A: Lourdes Estrada, PhD
Jul. 18, 2023—Lourdes Estrada, PhD, is the newly named assistant dean of Health Equity Education in the School of Medicine. Estrada is also a professor of Biochemistry, associate director of Academic Programs & Operations for the Medical Scientist Training Program and director of Vanderbilt Academy for Excellence in Education. Q. What does ‘health equity education’ mean? A....
Champion of Change
Jul. 18, 2023—Change has been a constant in Bonnie Miller’s 36-year career at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. Her presence on campus has been reliable, steady and impactful since completing her surgery residency in 1987 while her roles have been ever evolving: general surgery attending physician, associate dean for Medical Students, associate dean for Undergraduate Medical Education,...
Letter from Sarah Creekmore Woodall
Jul. 18, 2023—Greetings, Vandy Med alumni! The Vanderbilt Medical Alumni Association continues our “on the road again” tour, with stops at the Radiology Society of North America in Chicago with the Vanderbilt Radiology Society; American College of Cardiology in New Orleans with the Friesinger Society; regional event in Los Angeles; American Association of Neurological Surgeons in Los...
Aspirnaut: 15 Years of Success
Jul. 18, 2023—
Losses
Jul. 18, 2023—Alan N. Arnson, MD, HS’61, died Jan. 24. He was 87. Dr. Arnson is survived by his wife, Sue, and children David, Diane, Leslie and Josh. Daniel Beauchamp, MD, FE’77, FAC, died Nov. 27, 2022. He was 66. Dr. Beauchamp is survived by his wife, Shannon, and daughter, Bryn. Dr. Beauchamp was the former chair...
Class Notes
Jul. 18, 2023—1950s Oscar C. Beasley, MD’52, resides in a retirement home in Coralville, Iowa. Kenneth Jacobs, MD, HS’54, spoke during the H. William Scott Jr. Society’s 50th Anniversary dinner on March 4, recalling working with Scott during his training. 1960s William H. Goodson Jr., BA’57, MD’60, HS’61, and his wife, Elise, are enjoying retirement in a...
Giving in Action: Dean’s Scholarship Challenge Exceeds its Goal at $26 Million
Jul. 18, 2023—We all know the impact a scholarship can have on a student: It’s life changing. At the beginning of 2022, the School of Medicine launched a $5 million Dean’s Scholarship Challenge to help ensure that tomorrow’s leaders in medicine are educated at Vanderbilt. The yearlong matching gift effort, which ended Dec. 31, 2022, aimed to...
Alumni Profile: Listen, lead and execute
Jul. 18, 2023—Written by Danny Bonvissuto When John J. Warner, MD, MBA, arrived at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in 1988, he planned to go into sports medicine. By the time he graduated in 1992, he’d fallen in love with cardiology. Seventeen years later, he was a busy interventional cardiologist at University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center...
Giving in Action: A Gift That Keeps On Giving
Jul. 18, 2023—From the time she was 8 years old, Annie Marie Garraway, PhD, and her family lived in the South, first in Alabama, then in Tennessee, and finally in Alabama again. Early on, she was aware of the Vanderbilt name and of Vanderbilt University specifically. “My late brother, Levi Watkins Jr., made the university real for...
Alumni Profile: The science of cancer and the importance of giving back
Jul. 18, 2023—Written by Danny Bonvissuto As the Vice President of Oncology Biometrics, Oncology Research and Development at AstraZeneca, Renee Iacona, PhD, MPH, drives strategy and investment decisions and leads more than 550 statisticians and programmers across the fields of early and late oncology. Her team works to design, deliver and report clinical trials that lead to...
Shade Tree opens pediatric clinic
Jul. 18, 2023—Shade Tree Clinic, which since 2005 has provided primary care to underserved and uninsured adults in Nashville, opened a pediatric clinic in January, the result of nearly a yearlong effort on the part of medical and nursing students and their faculty mentors. The new monthly clinic serves adolescents ages 13-17 who are predominantly underserved and...
Letter from Sarah Creekmore Woodall
Jan. 3, 2023— Dear Vanderbilt Medical Alumni: This year’s Reunion weekend — held in October — became a “double” Reunion when we combined the twice-postponed Reunion 2020 with our regularly scheduled Reunion 2022. This combined 2020/2022 VUSM Reunion weekend welcomed back 40 individual special anniversary Doctor of Medicine graduating classes to Nashville, offering us the opportunity to...
Machine learning in the cloud
Jan. 3, 2023—A new age of human data research has arrived, says computer scientist Paul Harris, PhD, professor of Biomedical Informatics and director of the Office of Research Informatics. “Just about every health center will by now have collected 10 to 20 years of EHR data, and we have figured out policies and procedures allowing sharing for...
Levels of supervision
Jan. 3, 2023—In supervised learning, an ML algorithm infers a function based on labeled examples. For example, given records labeled as normal birth and those labeled as preterm birth, the algorithm learns to predict premature births from routine longitudinal EHR data. A common version of semi-supervised learning involves an ML algorithm that has learned to assign labels...
Research Roundup
Jan. 3, 2023—Ginseng intake and mortality The herbal supplement ginseng has been used in Asian countries to promote longevity and health for more than 2,000 years, but the impact of ginseng consumption on mortality is still unclear. Wei Zheng, MD, PhD, MPH, and colleagues analyzed ginseng consumption and death in 56,138 female participants with nearly 15 years...
A Helping Hand
Jan. 3, 2023—Approximately 60 Vanderbilt orthopaedics volunteers provided surgical treatment to 15 patients at the sixth annual Vanderbilt Orthopaedics Outreach Day in August. This year’s outreach day was held at the Vanderbilt Surgery Center in Franklin, Tennessee. Founded in 2017, Vanderbilt Orthopaedics Outreach Day provides orthopaedic surgical treatment for uninsured and underinsured patients in the Middle Tennessee...
Antibiotic Resistance: The Global Threat
Jan. 3, 2023—Antibiotic resistance — when bacteria change and cause antibiotics to fail — is happening across the world. There is no system in place to track antibiotic resistance globally. According to the CDC, without urgent action, many modern medicines could become obsolete, turning even common infections into deadly threats.
Bruce Silverstein, MD’75
Jan. 3, 2023—Bruce Silverstein, MD’75 Postgraduate training in medicine and gastroenterology at the University of Utah and University of Washington. Full-time faculty professor at the University of Washington where he helps run the medical school curriculum. Started photography in college and medical school, often shooting for national magazines and NBC; assignments paid his medical school tuition. Ran...
Alumni Profile: A shoulder to lean on
Jan. 3, 2023—The romance of Samer Hasan, MD’94, PhD’94, and Mariana Belvedere, PhD, BA’91 began when she agreed to be a test subject for his dissertation research project. Talk about chemistry! “It was kind of a workplace romance that blossomed,” Hasan said. “I didn’t dare ask her out until after I had collected all the data and...
Alumni Profile: Focused on financial support for students
Jan. 3, 2023—When Traci Granston, MD, was contemplating where to attend medical school in 1991, she knew it made financial sense to attend her state university in Washington, but her heart belonged to Vanderbilt. So, she took out student loans and headed south to Nashville and became a member of the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine Class...
Giving in Action: A Shared Purpose…Then and Now
Jan. 3, 2023—When Vanderbilt University School of Medicine Class of 1997 alumni Matt and Carol Kikkawa Hook connected with Vanderbilt to discuss charitable support, they had no intention of serving as class chairs for their 25th Reunion. They simply focused on exploring how their giving could make a difference. As discussions continued, they learned that the 1997...
Giving in Action: Katie Cox Johnson Memorial Scholarship
Jan. 3, 2023—Compassionate, humble, hardworking, inspiring. Ask the members of the Class of 2007 how they remember Katie Cox Johnson, MD’07, and these are some of the many warm words you will hear. After Johnson died in 2019 at age 38 following a battle with multiple sclerosis and cervical cancer, her close friend, Jessica Sparks Lilley, MD’07,...
Class Notes
Jan. 3, 2023—1950s Gerald E. Stone, BA’54, MD’57, HS’58, celebrated 66 years of marriage on June 10 with wife, Lois. They have 15 grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren. One grandchild is a physician who earned his undergraduate degree at Vanderbilt in 2009, and another is a third-year medical student elsewhere. 1960s John Burr Bassel, BA’66, MD’69, HS’72,...
Losses
Jan. 3, 2023—Robert H. Alford, BA’58, MD’61, HS’67, died May 30. He was 86. Dr. Alford is survived by his wife, Marceleen; children Stephen, Andrew and Daniel; three grandchildren; and one great-grandchild. Edward E. Anderson, BA’58, MD’61, HS’63, died March 18. He was 85. Dr. Anderson is survived by his wife, Kay; children Laura, Sheryl, Christopher and...
Faces and Places
Jan. 3, 2023—
Q + A: Rev. Cordell Simpson
May. 16, 2022—The Rev. Cordell Simpson was ordained a pastor in Alabama in 1982 and joined VUMC’s chaplaincy service in 2008 on a part-time basis before becoming full time in 2012. How much of your time is devoted to being a hospital chaplain? I work 40 hours per week, Monday through Friday, visiting patients and families, caring...
Research Roundup
May. 16, 2022—White matter and psychosis Thalamocortical white matter connectivity in the brain is disrupted during psychosis, which can contribute to cognitive impairment, but little is known about its association with cognition during adolescence. In a study characterizing the effects of age, sex, psychosis symptomology and cognition in thalamocortical networks in a large sample of 316 typically developing...
SEMSS honors MD/PhD student Zach Jones
May. 16, 2022— The Southeastern Medical Scientists Symposium (SEMSS) was held in January and honored Zach Jones, a third-year Medical Scientist Training Program (MSTP) student at Vanderbilt and one of the co-chairs for the event. Jones, 25, died unexpectedly in September 2021. Started eight years ago, the SEMSS is an American Physician Scientists Association (APSA) regional meeting...
Evan Mercer, MD’22
May. 16, 2022—Grew up in Marietta, Georgia Diagnosed at age 4 with sensorineural hearing loss Attended Vanderbilt University as an undergraduate and served as Mr. Commodore on the VU spirit team Served as a Student Affiliate Adviser, working to foster a sense of support for each member of VUSM’s Chapman College “There’s a perception that doctors have...
Giving in Action: Creating Opportunities for Future Leaders in Medicine
May. 16, 2022—John Cobb, MD’78, remembers vividly what it was like working summer jobs as a student to help pay for his tuition and living expenses. The summer before his senior year at Emory University, he was a scrub tech at Children’s Egleston Hospital in Atlanta, an experience that solidified his desire to pursue medicine as a...
Losses
May. 16, 2022—Fred H. Allen Jr., MD, HS’61,’62, died Feb. 3. He was 87. Dr. Allen is survived by his wife, Gretchen; children Fred, Will and Lucy; and four grandchildren. Stacey M. Anderson, MD’92 BS’88, died Sept. 26, 2021. She was 55. Dr. Anderson is survived by her husband, Henry; and children Rachel, Henry, Max and Thomas....
Faces and Places
May. 16, 2022—
Internal medicine residency handbook expands reach
May. 16, 2022— Residency training is an important time in the education of postgraduate medical students, when future doctors are able to step into the role of physician for the first time. The transition from medical student to resident brings unique challenges, which are often best understood by other residents. These challenges are something Michael Neuss, MD,...
Class Notes
May. 16, 2022—1950s Robert Sanders, MD’55, HS’56 &’58, BA’52, who died in 2006, was one of five to be inducted into the Tennessee Health Care Hall of Fame at Belmont University on Oct. 19, 2021. 1960s Richard B. Johnston Jr., MD’61, HS’63, BA’57, was the honoree at the IX International Symposium, Advances in Neonatal Medicine, Wurzburg,...
Letter from Sarah Creekmore Woodall
May. 16, 2022— Dear Vanderbilt Medical Alumni: Ever guided by our VMAA mission, we are thinking about the future, specifically tied to the priorities stated in our mission: To involve as many medical alumni as possible in the life of Vanderbilt and to foster mutually beneficial relationships between Vanderbilt and its medical alumni through: Serving as a...
Indebted
May. 13, 2022—Vanderbilt University School of Medicine launched the Dean’s Scholarship Challenge in January 2022 with the goal of adding $10 million to available scholarship support for medical school students. The yearlong matching gift effort aims to expand scholarship support through a combination of donor gifts and a University match for students in the MD program, Medical...
Dixie Place renamed in honor of Vanderbilt surgical pioneer Vivien Thomas
Oct. 18, 2021— Through a Vanderbilt University School of Medicine student-led effort, Dixie Place, the city street that runs between the Medical Center’s Central Garage and the Oxford House building on 21st Avenue South, has been renamed Vivien Thomas Way. The process to change the name of Dixie Place was borne of discussions that second-year medical students...
Research Roundup
Oct. 18, 2021—Dexmedetomidine and delirium In new findings that are exclusively with regard to cardiac surgery patients, intraoperative dexmedetomidine — that is, the drug administered during heart surgery — is associated with 85% greater risk of postoperative delirium and 29% greater risk of postoperative intubation and reintubation. Meanwhile, dexmedetomidine administered to cardiac surgery patients postoperatively in the...