Summer 2017
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...
Alumni Profile: Preston Russell, M.D.
Sep. 22, 2017—Southern Scenes Cobblestone streets, live oaks draped with Spanish moss and the slow pace of a historic Southern city serve as inspiration for Savannah, Georgia, painter, historian and writer Preston Russell, M.D. He lives in a house that was built in 1860 and uses its adjacent carriage house as an art studio to create...
Alumni Profile: John Dormois, M.D.
Sep. 22, 2017—Branching Out John Dormois, M.D., knows that life is about the journey. Seven years ago, at age 65, when many career-long physicians are ready to trade their stethoscopes for golf clubs, Dormois chose a different path; he went back to school. “I had always threatened to go back to school; I had been a...
Letter From Ann Price, M.D.
Sep. 22, 2017—Dear Vanderbilt University Medical Alumni, Congratulations VUSM Class of 2017 The Vanderbilt Medical Alumni Association (VMAA) proudly welcomed the newest members of our medical alumni family, the VUSM Class of 2017, at a faculty appreciation/”almost alumni” luncheon on May 10. I know each of you join me in celebrating their present achievements as we...
Giving in Action: Family First for Distinguished Alum
Sep. 22, 2017—Although Richard B. Johnston Jr., M.D., ‘61, BA’57, is a renowned immunologist and pediatrician, it’s his family that makes him most grateful and proud. Johnston — who has dedicated his life’s work to improving the health of children — received the Vanderbilt University Alumni Association Distinguished Alumni Award this spring. The honor is the highest...
Giving in Action: A Vision for Change
Sep. 22, 2017—Steve Kutner, M.D.,’65, restored sight to thousands of refugees during his life, while also helping patients in his Georgia Eye Clinic to preserve their sight. Kutner died in 2016, but his spirit of giving continues. Although Kutner founded an international nonprofit, Project Vision, Jeanney Kutner says her late husband saw himself as a humanitarian, not...
Losses
Sep. 22, 2017— Charles Bentz, M.D., ‘70, died Dec. 8, 2016. He was 71. Dr. Bentz is survived by his wife, Lynn; children Kim, Ann, Eduardo, David, Daniel, Charles, Julie, Wayne and Eugene; and many grandchildren, nieces and nephews. Wyatt Blake III, M.D., ‘54, died Dec. 14, 2016. He was 88. Dr. Blake is survived by his...
Alumni News
Sep. 22, 2017—1950s Anderson Spickard Jr., M.D., ‘57, HS ‘59 ‘63, BA ‘53, emeritus faculty, is the author of “The Craving Brain,” which was selected as a finalist for the Foreword INDIEFAB for adult nonfiction. 1960s Antonio Gotto, M.D., ‘65, BA ‘57, is serving as corporate secretary and treasurer of the board of directors for the...
Healing Minds
Sep. 22, 2017— Schizophrenia not only affects the person struggling with hallucinations, delusions and disorganized thoughts. It wreaks havoc through the entire family. Charlotte Test, of Dallas, Texas, knows that all too well. Test and her late husband Donald Test Jr., who died in 2016, have a very personal connection to the devastating effects of schizophrenia. Donald...
Hidden figure
Sep. 22, 2017— Harold Jordan, M.D., has had a distinguished medical career that includes many highlights, including being chair of Psychiatry at Meharry Medical College, his medical alma mater, and serving as acting dean of the School of Medicine at Meharry as well. Besides his academic career, Jordan was devoted to improving mental health care for the...
Progress Report
Sep. 22, 2017—Formed in 2008, the Minority Housestaff for Academic and Medical Advancement (MHAMA) is an organization comprised of Vanderbilt house staff and advisers who are committed to creating opportunities for the advancement of underrepresented house staff by providing opportunities for mentorship, networking and professional development. MHAMA is also committed to increasing the presence of underrepresented faculty...
The Sanford Project
Sep. 22, 2017—Sanford Health, in collaboration with Caladrius Biosciences, Inc., is investigating whether a child’s own cells can fight type 1 diabetes. This clinical trial, known as The Sanford Project: T-Rex Study, studies an innovative investigational therapy in children newly diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. Vanderbilt is one of 15 sites participating in the trial. Researchers focus...
Next-Generation Vaccines
Sep. 22, 2017—The Human Immunome Program is one of two initiatives currently being pursued by the Human Vaccines Project (the Project). The other initiative, called the Rules of Immunogenicity Program, aims to elucidate the key principles of human immunology to understand how to generate life-long protective immunity. The ultimate mission is to accelerate development of “next-generation” vaccines...
Cracking the Code of the Immune System
Sep. 22, 2017— Of all the threats that face humankind, microbial invaders are among the most frightening. They can overwhelm the body’s immune defenses in a matter of hours. Modern medicine is often powerless against them. And new emerging infections are raising their ugly heads all the time. At Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC), an elite unit...
Immunity, Infection, Inflammation focus of New Research Institute
Sep. 22, 2017—Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) is launching a new institute to coordinate initiatives among the rapidly evolving disciplines of infection biology, immunology and inflammatory diseases. The Vanderbilt Institute for Infection, Immunology and Inflammation — VI4 for short — will be headquartered in facilities at the Medical Center and will serve the entire Vanderbilt community. The...
Childhood Illness Inspires Sisters’ Pursuit of Medicine
Sep. 22, 2017— Identical twins Shelby and Sydney Payne, VUSM 2019 and 2020, respectively, use the word “adventure” and its derivatives a lot in conversation. It’s fitting because their lives have been full of it. The twins grew up with “adventurous and entrepreneurial” parents and moved quite often. They were born near Fort Lauderdale, Florida, moved to...
Gut Reaction
Sep. 22, 2017— Jennifer Fleming was 22 years old, just beginning a career in a new city, when she started having some troubling symptoms. A persistently upset stomach, diarrhea and a small amount of rectal bleeding launched a barrage of tests that ultimately ended in a diagnosis of ulcerative colitis, an inflammatory disease that damages the lining...
Magnets: The future of endoscopy
Sep. 22, 2017—You’ve turned 50. Happy birthday; it’s time to start screening for colorectal cancer. For some people, the colonoscopy—a procedure in which an endoscopist uses a long, flexible tube with a camera at the tip to examine the inside of the colon—brings feelings of dread. “Patients may fear colonoscopy, or not be able to take a...
Alex Chern
Sep. 22, 2017—Fourth-year student at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine; recipient of the 1982 School of Medicine Class Scholarship Graduated from Yale University with a B.S. in Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry Successfully recovered and continuing his studies after being hit by a car at a crosswalk near campus in April 2016 “I received great support from VUSM...
Study uses child’s own immune system against type 1 diabetes
Sep. 21, 2017—Eighteen-year-old Grace Long had just been accepted at the renowned United States Naval Academy, with plans to become a nuclear engineering officer. Then, she learned she had type 1 diabetes, an immediate disqualifier for military service. Rather than allow the news to derail her, Long immediately began to investigate how she could spin her disappointment...
Q+A: Arna Banerjee, MBBS
Sep. 21, 2017—Physician-educator Arna Banerjee, MBBS, associate professor of Anesthesiology, Surgery, and Medical Education and Administration, is a national leader in medical simulation training. She is director of Vanderbilt’s Center for Experiential Learning and Assessment (CELA) and assistant dean for Simulation in Medical Education for Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. She also provides perioperative care for adult...
Vanderbilt-led Study Disputes Link Between Uterine Fibroids and Miscarriage Risk
Sep. 21, 2017—A 10-year study, led by Vanderbilt University Medical Center professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology Katherine Hartmann, M.D., Ph.D., disrupts conventional wisdom that uterine fibroids cause miscarriages. The results of study appeared June 7 in the American Journal of Epidemiology. “Women with fibroids had identical risk of miscarriage as women without fibroids when taking into account...
VUSM joins initiative to transform medical education
Sep. 21, 2017—Vanderbilt University School of Medicine (VUSM) has been chosen to be a part of the newly formed Robert D. and Patricia E. Kern Institute for the Transformation of Medical Education (Kern Institute), a national initiative to transform medical education across the continuum from pre-medical school to physician practice. The National Transformation Network, a collaborative of...
Research Round-up
Sep. 21, 2017—Studies find tonsillectomies offer only modest benefits Removing tonsils modestly reduced throat infections in the short term in children with moderate obstructive sleep-disordered breathing or recurrent throat infections, according to a systematic review conducted by the Vanderbilt Evidence-based Practice Center for the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). Four papers derived from the larger...
How six cups of ground coffee can improve nose, throat surgery
Sep. 21, 2017—Imagine plopping six cups of coffee grounds on the heads of patients just before they are wheeled into the operating room to have nose or throat surgery. In essence, that is what a team of Vanderbilt University engineers are proposing in an effort to improve the reliability of the sophisticated “GPS” system that surgeons use...
Sense and Sensitivity
Sep. 21, 2017—The cover story for this issue of Vanderbilt Medicine, The Science of Our Senses, offers glimpses into the kaleidoscope of advances related to the five senses, taking place across our campus. For example, Mark Wallace, Ph.D., dean of the Graduate School at Vanderbilt University and Louise B. McGavock Professor of Speech and Hearing Sciences, is...