Winter 2018

Mar. 2, 2018— It was like a switch flipped. One month, Ryan Bayley, MD’08, was practicing emergency medicine with the energy and joy he had experienced for years. The next month, his shifts had become drudgery. It was the final year of his emergency medicine and EMS fellowship training in New York City. It was the last...

Home away from home

Mar. 1, 2018—Eric Quintana, MD, comes from a close and large extended Hispanic family in New Mexico – his paternal great-grandparents had 17 children; and he has three siblings and 30 first cousins. Quintana is the only member of his family to become a doctor, or to graduate from college. In June 2017, when he became a...

Digital Detective

Mar. 1, 2018—Not so long ago, when patients’ laboratory reports came back to Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) indicating the possible presence of serious infections, Infection Prevention team members would print out the reports and divvy them up so they could visit the Medical Center’s clinical floors to investigate each case. “We were printing off hundreds of...

HAIs at a Glance

Mar. 1, 2018—Although significant progress has been made in preventing some infection types, there is much more work to be done. On any given day, about one in 25 hospital patients in the United States has at least one healthcare-associated infection (HAI). The CDC’s annual National and State Healthcare-Associated Infections Progress Report (HAI Progress Report) describes national...

Invisible Threat

Mar. 1, 2018— Every day, a team of epidemiologists, infection preventionists and data analysts report to work at Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) with a mission: to track invisible trails of microscopic clues, dissect data, analyze lab results, pore over patient medical records and ferret out possible hiding places of disease-causing microbes that could lead to dangerous...

By the Numbers

Mar. 1, 2018—Over the years the Vanderbilt Transplant Center (VTC) has seen tremendous growth in all of its programs. In 1962, the first cadaveric kidney transplant was performed. As one of the largest and oldest kidney transplant programs in the country, VTC has performed more than 5,600 kidney transplantations since the program’s creation. In 1985, the center...

Building the team beyond surgeons

Mar. 1, 2018—The infrastructure of the Vanderbilt Transplant Center (VTC) allows for an interdisciplinary environment that creates a culture of teamwork and enhanced communication among all members of the transplant service, said Ed Zavala, administrator for VTC. The complex nature of transplantation requires significant attention to all aspects of transplantation, including business and administrative issues. Vanderbilt’s focus...

Life Goes On

Mar. 1, 2018— Ahmya Calloway, 13, had end-stage renal failure that impacted her heart function. The Chattanooga, Tennessee, native had been cared for at Monroe Carell Jr. Hospital at Vanderbilt since she was 2 years old. Medication was the first thing Calloway’s doctors tried, but over time her health declined to the point that she needed hemodialysis....

Up Close and Personal

Mar. 1, 2018— Recent advances in imaging technology are enabling scientists to “see” how molecules, cells and tissues are put together — and work together. These unprecedented views of life down to the minutest level are yielding radical new insights into the causes, treatment and prevention of disease. At Vanderbilt University and Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC),...

Student wellness a priority for VUSM

Mar. 1, 2018—Brian Drolet, MD’09, has come full circle with the Student Wellness Program at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine (VUSM). He helped start the program in 2006 during his time as a student, and he is now a participating faculty member. “The wellness program grew out of the concept that in order to be a good...

Support for physicians

Mar. 1, 2018—At Vanderbilt, physicians can turn to the Faculty and Physician Wellness Program, which was established nearly 20 years ago, for confidential psychological support. About 6 percent of the faculty and physicians seek help annually for problems that are impacting their personal and professional lives, says Mary Yarbrough, MD, executive director of Faculty and Staff Health...

Call to Action

Mar. 1, 2018—The National Academy of Medicine (NAM) announced in January that more than 130 organizations across the U.S. — including associations, hospital and medical systems, universities, and professional societies — have joined NAM in declaring their commitment to reducing burnout and promoting well-being among clinicians. To provide an opportunity for organizations around the country to discuss...

Alumni News

Feb. 28, 2018—1950s Wike Scamman, MD’57, and his wife, Diana, were honored at a reception celebrating his retirement. The 85-year-old pathologist served for many years as laboratory and medical director of several northeast Kansas community hospitals and at one time served as the Shawnee County coroner. 1960s Gordon Gill, MD’63, HS’64, BA’60, chairs the San Diego...

Losses

Feb. 28, 2018—Charles Albright, MD’61, BA’57, died Aug. 6, 2017. He was 81. Dr. Albright is survived by his children, Elizabeth and Cynthia; and two grandchildren. Allen Anderson, MD, HS’83, died Nov. 12, 2017. He was 67. Dr. Anderson is survived by his wife, Candy; children, Brian, David and Chris; and five grandchildren. Burton Bancroft...

Letter From Ann Price, M.D.

Feb. 28, 2018—Dear Vanderbilt University Medical Alumni, Vanderbilt Medical Alumni Reunion 2018 Our next biennial Vanderbilt University School of Medicine (VUSM) Reunion 2018 will be held Oct. 11-13 with Vanderbilt University’s Reunion and Homecoming celebration. All VUSM medical alumni are cordially invited to attend. VUSM special anniversary classes (see chart below) will celebrate with class parties on...

Alumni Profile: Mary Austin, MD

Feb. 28, 2018—Surgeon’s career shaped by childhood diagnosis As a pediatric surgeon, Mary Austin, MD’00, MPH’05, performs 300-500 wide-ranging cases per year. She is also part of a large team that does about 10-15 in utero repairs of myelomeningocele, the most common form of spina bifida, which is, coincidentally, the same problem she was born with. “My...

Alumni Profile: Prentice Steffen, MD

Feb. 28, 2018—Coasting to the finish line Prentice Steffen, MD’86, grew up in Enid, Oklahoma, the son of a general surgeon and a homemaker. As a college student at the University of Oklahoma he took up cycling, a sport that would allow him to travel the world, cross paths with Lance Armstrong and put him at the...

Giving in Action: Tragedy begets generosity

Feb. 28, 2018—Keith Nolop, MD’79, was a brilliant physician and researcher whose life was cut short in 2016 due to trauma from a bicycle accident. To create something positive out of this tragedy and to commemorate his life as a physician-researcher, his brothers, Neil and Bruce, endowed the Keith Nolop, M.D. Scholarship at the School of Medicine...

Giving in Action: Finding heart in a lung transplant

Feb. 28, 2018—Barbara Rosser Merz and Glenn Merz both lost spouses to a rare lung disease, but found each other and a renewed sense of gratitude. When her husband, Vernon, received his lung transplant at Vanderbilt in 1997, Barbara Rosser started a support group for lung transplant families. The group met frequently, helped one another during difficult...

Nicole McCoin, MD’03, HS’06

Feb. 28, 2018—Vice chair of education and residency program director in the Department of Emergency Medicine, Harvard Macy Scholar, former VUSM course director and member of the Faculty Senate A native Nashvillian, she graduated from Vanderbilt University in 1999 with a degree in Biology and Math. “I believe that there is no such thing as a perfect...

Dolly’s Children’s Hospital visit highlights strong ties

Feb. 28, 2018—To celebrate the release of her first children’s album, “I Believe in You,” legendary country music singer-songwriter Dolly Parton visited Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt in October 2017 and performed songs from the album for patients, their families and hospital staff. Parton specifically wrote the song “Chemo Hero” to honor one of her...

Q+A: Lawrence Marnett, PhD

Feb. 28, 2018—Lawrence Marnett, PhD, University Professor of Biochemistry, Chemistry and Pharmacology and Mary Geddes Stahlman Professor of Cancer Research, is Vanderbilt’s first Dean of Basic Sciences, which comprises four biomedical science departments, eight centers and 18 research cores. Marnett was named dean in April 2016. Can you please describe a formative moment from your career in...

Study explores nicotine patch to treat mild cognitive impairment

Feb. 28, 2018—Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) is one of 29 sites participating in a national study to determine whether a daily transdermal nicotine patch will have a positive effect on attention and early memory impairment in older adults diagnosed with Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI). Paul Newhouse, MD, director of the Center for Cognitive Medicine at VUMC,...

Symposium honors Moses’ storied cancer research career

Feb. 28, 2018—Members of the Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) community and others whose lives and careers have been influenced by legendary cancer investigator, educator and administrator Harold (Hal) Moses, MD’62, have endowed the Linda and Harold L. Moses, MD, Career Development Fund. The fund will support the next generation of physicians, scientists and scholars, and was...

Research Round-up

Feb. 28, 2018—Radiation and pulmonary fibrosis Radiation-induced pulmonary fibrosis — tissue scarring that can permanently impair lung function — limits the delivery of therapeutic radiation doses to non-small cell lung cancer. Michael Freeman, PhD, and colleagues are exploring the cell types and factors that contribute to the radiation-induced fibrotic response. The investigators previously showed that loss of...

Patient’s freak pancreas injury spurs rapid response

Feb. 28, 2018—Macie Glover sprinted across the gym floor at school, tripped and crashed into a wall. In a bizarre sequence of events, she hit her head and arm and scraped her knees as the force of the crash propelled her whole body arching backward into a crescent shape. “I hit the ground. I couldn’t breathe. Whenever...

The Importance of Physician Wellness

Feb. 28, 2018—Today, medicine is putting more focus than ever on patients’ social, behavioral and psychological dynamics, as it is clear these factors are not only major drivers of health, but in many cases are even more consequential for longevity and quality of life than their medical care. As we center on these issues, considering our own...

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