February 17, 2023

VUMC in the news, Feb. 21, 2023

William Schaffner, MD, professor of Preventive Medicine, continues to be one of the most in-demand sources about RSV, COVID-19, influenza and other subjects in the news. Among the news organizations he has spoken with recently: Healthline, ABC News, CNN, NPR, Fortune, Medpage Today and the Tampa Bay Times.

The New York Times reporter Dani Blum was one of several journalists interviewing Kelsie Full, PhD, MPH, assistant professor of Medicine in the Division of Epidemiology, for stories about her Journal of the American Heart Association study that found sleep irregularity — chronically disrupted sleep and highly variable sleep durations night after night — may increase the risk for heart disease.

The Washington Post reporter Richard Sima interviewed Ryan Darby, MD, assistant professor of Neurology and director of the Frontotemporal Dementia Clinic at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, for a story about actor Bruce Willis being diagnosed with  frontotemporal dementia.

STAT News published an article written by Wes Ely, MD, professor of Medicine in the Division of Allergy, Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, on the haunting brain science of long COVID.

Stacie Dusetzina, PhD, professor of Health Policy, was quoted by Kaiser Health News in a story about a cancer drug that costs $50,000 a week. She was also quoted in a CNN story about U.S. Sen. Rick Scott’s repeated use of misleading information about Medicare.

A story in  The New Yorker by reporter Sue Halpern quoted Matthew Schrag, MD, PhD, assistant professor of Neurology, in a story about efforts to find drugs to counteract the effects of Alzheimer’s disease.