Stephen Raffanti

Comprehensive Care Clinic’s Ruby Gala set for Feb. 10

The Vanderbilt Comprehensive Care Clinic, Nashville’s original nonprofit medical home for people living with HIV, will hold its annual Ruby Gala on Saturday, Feb. 10, 2024, at Marathon Music Works.

Stephen Raffanti, MD, MPH, with longtime colleague Quentella Carpenter, patient care programs coordinator at the Vanderbilt Comprehensive Care Clinic.

Breaking the stigma of AIDS part of Raffanti’s long legacy

On June 29 Stephen Raffanti, MD, MPH, hung up his scrubs at the Vanderbilt Comprehensive Care Clinic for the last time. It was a bittersweet moment for the man who helped lead Nashville out of the darkest days of the AIDS epidemic 30 years ago.

In 1994, Harold “Scottie” Scott’s HIV-positive status was covered on the local news. He has been an educator ever since.

Now, 25 years after his announcement, Scott’s mission remains the same: to educate others on the history of HIV, dispel myths and break down stigma.

Major grant renews AIDS education, training initiative

VUMC has been awarded a five-year, nearly $23 million federal grant to continue coordinating AIDS education and training efforts in Tennessee and seven other southeastern states.

Katrina Robertson went from death’s door to a full life. Her story is one of thousands from the first 25 years of the Vanderbilt Comprehensive Care Clinic

The VCCC opened its doors 25 years ago when AIDS was fatal and hope was rare. Today the clinic serves thousands of patients and is an international model in the treatment of people with HIV.

NIH launches website for StoryCorps project

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is launching its Voices of the NIH Community website, which features a collection of StoryCorps audio recordings from patients, families, researchers, doctors, nurses, staff and volunteers in both the NIH and Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) communities.