Spring 2022
Recommended Reading
May. 17, 2022—The sources in our “Time for Action” article recommend the following books and sources for a closer examination of climate change. Climate Change and Health Atwoli, Lukoye, Abdullah H. Baqui, Thomas Benfield, Raffaella Bosurgi, Fiona Godlee, Stephen Hancocks, Richard Horton, et al. “Call for Emergency Action to Limit Global Temperature Increases, Restore Biodiversity, and...
Finding strength, passion and leadership in the Vanderbilt mosaic
May. 16, 2022— Ever lose sight of why you wanted to be in health care? Life sometimes gets in the way. Or the storminess of the day to day obscures what fueled your journey and blurs the path forward. After two years of COVID-19, there is plenty of burnout and cynicism to go around. Though we are...
Marnett stepping down as dean of VUSM Basic Sciences
May. 16, 2022—Lawrence Marnett, PhD, who has served as dean of Vanderbilt University’s School of Medicine Basic Sciences since its creation in 2016 and has led its dramatic ascension as one of the nation’s top biomedical research and doctoral programs, will step down as dean, effective June 30. Marnett, Mary Geddes Stahlman Professor of Cancer Research, University...
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...
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...
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...
Slovis lauded by academic emergency medicine peers
May. 16, 2022—Corey Slovis, MD, recently received the Lifetime Service Award from the Association of Academic Chairs of Emergency Medicine (AACEM). The award, created in 2016, is given to an AACEM member who has contributed to the advancement of academic chairs and made outstanding, nationally recognized contributions to the AACEM over the course of his or her...
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...
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...
Excessive screen time impacting health of children
May. 16, 2022—
“What are you most excited about?”
May. 16, 2022—A recent “Lab-to-Table Conversation” sponsored by School of Medicine Basic Sciences featured three Vanderbilt faculty members who discussed aging research and the latest findings from their groups. Here, we share their responses to the question, “What are you most excited about in your own research program?” (Responses edited for length and clarity.) Rafael...
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...
Food for Thought
May. 16, 2022—It has been nearly 100 years since scientists first reported that caloric restriction could slow aging and extend life span in rodents. The same holds true for other research model species, including yeast, worms, flies and fish. “There’s an evolutionarily ancient link between nutrients, the conditions in the environment, and the aging process,” says Kristopher...
Two VUSM alumni, ages 101 and 99, remembered
May. 16, 2022—People with strong social connections may live longer and healthier lives, according to numerous studies. Two Vanderbilt University School of Medicine alumni, both engaged throughout their long lives and careers, died days apart in January. Gordon Petty, MD’50, and Henry Nelson, MD’45, both lived long, fulfilling lives with remarkable dedication to improving the lives of...
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....
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...
Time for Action
May. 16, 2022—“Either we’re all going to rise, or we’re all going to sink together.” When she says that, Carol Ziegler, DNP, NP-C, RD, is getting real about how the intensifying changes in climate are going to intersect with health — for each and every one of us, but especially for her low-income patients who often live...
Giving in Action: Creating Hope From Heartbreak
May. 16, 2022—When talking with James Buescher about the newly created Margaret McCullough Buescher Scholarship at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, he emphasizes the qualities of his late wife, Margaret, who was always motivated to help others. He hopes to extend that part of her spirit through the students who benefit from the scholarship and are...
Alumni Profile: Mary Laird Warner, MD’90
May. 16, 2022— Clinician Leader In 1993, Mary Laird Warner, MD’90, president-elect of the Vanderbilt Medical Alumni Association, moved to Denver for a fellowship in pulmonary and critical care medicine following her internship and residency in internal medicine at Johns Hopkins. A lover of the outdoors and the mountains, the move to Colorado was one she was...
Alumni Profile: Bronwyn Uber Harris, MD’10
May. 16, 2022— Digital Doctor When Bronwyn Uber Harris, MD, enrolled at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in 2006, she knew she wouldn’t be following a conventional path. Instead, she would use her degree for her true passion — innovating how medical care is provided, which at the time she thought was new medical devices. Harris, who...
Faces and Places
May. 16, 2022—
When Words Fail
May. 16, 2022—In the 2010 film, “The King’s Speech,” a speech therapist helps the king of England overcome a significant stutter so that he can address the nation at the outbreak of World War II. If only it were that straightforward. For those who stutter, and there are millions of people of all races and cultures, the...
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,...
Sound On
May. 16, 2022—How did it feel to be a medical student during the pandemic, when for safety’s sake and to preserve PPE, providing direct patient care was no longer a possibility? What went through a Community Service Officer’s mind as she informed every person entering the hospital that temperature screening and wearing a mask were mandatory? And...
The Science of Longevity
May. 16, 2022—When someone asks her age, Abrie Pillow says that she’s 10. “I’m 82, but I put the eight and two together as a joke,” she laughs. Pillow is energetic and busy, with gardening and other projects at home, church and community volunteer work, family gatherings and great grandchildren sleepovers. She and her husband, Joe Nickerson,...
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...