Jim Ayers Tower opens doors
On Oct. 1, Level 7 of the Jim Ayers Tower welcomed its first patients as the initial floor of 30 private, inpatient rooms opened in the new expansion tower adjoining Vanderbilt University Hospital.
The 28,000-square-foot pulmonary stepdown unit is the first of six inpatient floors in the new building that rises above 21st Avenue on the Vanderbilt Health Main Campus in Nashville.
The Jim Ayers Tower is Vanderbilt Health’s largest facility expansion to date. Construction of the 495,000-square-foot structure began in the summer of 2022 and is expected to be completed by early 2027.
New hospital in Lebanon, Tennessee, announced
Vanderbilt Health and Encompass Health Corp. announced plans to build a freestanding, 40-bed inpatient rehabilitation hospital in Lebanon, Tennessee.
The hospital, expected to open in 2028, will be part of Encompass Health’s national network of rehabilitation hospitals and its second joint venture location with Vanderbilt Health, in addition to Vanderbilt Stallworth Rehabilitation Hospital in Nashville.
Record number of solid organ transplants
The Vanderbilt Transplant Center performed a record number of solid organ transplants in fiscal year 2025 — 918 lifesaving procedures among its adult and pediatric programs. The adult program performed a record 859 transplants, and the pediatric program completed a record 59 transplants during the fiscal year, which ran from July 2024 until the end of June 2025.
Vanderbilt Health acquiring Tennova Healthcare-Clarksville
Leaders of Vanderbilt Health announced plans to acquire full ownership of Tennova Healthcare-Clarksville from subsidiaries of Community Health Systems Inc. Since 2021, VUMC has held a 20% minority interest in the hospital, its freestanding emergency department and related physician practices.
Full acquisition of the Clarksville hospital strengthens Vanderbilt Health’s ability to serve patients across the region, supporting the Medical Center’s strategy to provide high-quality care for patients with less complex needs in more convenient, community settings that are also more cost-effective.
LifeFlight’s Allan Williams mourned
Vanderbilt LifeFlight honored Allan Williams, MSN-Ed, RN, CFRN, EMT-P, a flight nurse/paramedic who died Nov. 8 during his service as a member of LifeFlight 1, based in Gallatin, Tennessee. Williams was 55 years old.
Grant supports study of role of viruses in human health and disease
With the aid of a five-year, $20 million research grant from the National Institutes of Health, a Vanderbilt Health research team will venture to broadly characterize the role of viruses in human health and disease. The grant will help establish the Vanderbilt-coordinated Virus Characterization Center, or V2C2.
Final floor of Growing to New Heights Campaign completed
Ten years after leaders at Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt announced the Growing to New Heights Campaign to add a four-floor, 160,000-square-foot expansion atop the existing hospital building, the last and final floor — the 12th floor — was completed. The 12th floor was one of two floors initially shelled for future need due to the region’s growth.
Patients moved onto the new 38-bed, 40,000-square-foot floor Feb. 24.
GI SPORE grant renewed
A colorectal cancer research team led by Robert Coffey, MD, received a prestigious Specialized Programs of Research Excellence (SPORE) grant renewal totaling $12.6 million from the National Cancer Institute for a five-year period.
The grant marks ongoing funding of the GI SPORE awarded to Coffey’s team, which dates back to its inception at the Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center in 2002. Currently, Vanderbilt-Ingram is one of only four cancer centers in the United States with GI Cancer SPORE funding.
Vanderbilt University Hospital debuts newly renovated kitchen
On July 30, Vanderbilt University Hospital officially opened the doors of its 34,000-square-foot newly renovated kitchen.
Construction to transform the space began in fall 2023, replacing a kitchen that hadn’t seen renovation in over 40 years. The redesign was driven by a greater need for flexibility and efficiency in meal production to support patients’ treatment and recovery through specific dietary needs.
Identifying cancer risk proteins
Researchers at Vanderbilt Health and the University of Calgary have established an analytical framework that integrates genomic, proteomic and electronic health record data to identify cancer risk proteins and therapeutics for cancer prevention.
Their study, reported in the American Journal of Human Genetics, identified previously unreported protein biomarkers and candidate drug targets across six major cancer types and highlights approved drugs with potential cancer preventive effects.
Tuberculosis grant
Timothy Sterling, MD, professor of Medicine in the Division of Infectious Diseases at Vanderbilt Health, received a five-year, $5.7 million grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases to investigate how Mycobacterium tuberculosis spreads from person to person.
Great Hospitals in America recognition
Vanderbilt Health has been named to Becker’s Hospital Review’s 2025 “Great Hospitals in America” list, recognized for excellence in clinical care, patient safety and health care innovation.
According to Becker’s, the 100 hospitals featured on this list are honored for “delivering excellent clinical care, prioritizing patient safety, and driving innovation through research, education and continuous improvement.” The hospitals recognized have earned top-tier outcomes and distinctions from leading ranking and awards organizations for outstanding performance across multiple specialties.
Complex Infant Lung and Airway Disease Program debuts
In August, Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt opened the Complex Infant Lung and Airway Disease Program in the neonatal intensive care unit. This program is housed in a special unit developed specifically for this population of infants and their specialized needs. Families in this unit have children with neonatal chronic lung disease, pulmonary hypertension, and/or congenital malformations of the large airways of the lungs.
Lowering pediatric food allergies
A study published in the November issue of Pediatrics supports the common practice of introducing peanut products early with findings that food allergy rates in children under 3 fell after the guidelines were put into place — equating to nearly 60,000 fewer children with food allergies.
My Health Passport
A team at Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt implemented My Health Passport — an individualized care planning tool designed to give children more power to participate in deciding how they could best receive care and be supported when in the hospital for behavioral health needs.
Three major surgeries done sequentially
A Vanderbilt Transplant Center patient received an open-heart surgery, a lung transplant and a liver transplant back-to-back in 15 hours of procedures. It is the first time Vanderbilt has performed these three major surgeries sequentially.
Grant bolsters colon cancer research
A multidisciplinary team led by investigators at Vanderbilt Health received a $4.2 million grant from the National Cancer Institute to probe the genetics of colorectal adenomas — polyps that can develop into colon cancer — and to identify drug candidates that could reduce adenoma recurrence.
Novel surgical procedure
Surgeons in Vanderbilt Health’s Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery successfully performed the country’s first procedure using the latest generation of intraoperative PET (positron emission tomography) and CT (computed tomography) technology, with the goal of improving surgical outcomes.
Study maps genes associated with stuttering
The largest genetic analysis of stuttering has demonstrated a clear genetic basis for the speech disorder, highlighting neurological pathways of risk. The study, published in the journal Nature Genetics, used data representing more than 1 million individuals who had their DNA analyzed by the company 23andMe Inc.
The findings point to 57 distinct genomic regions that mapped to 48 genes associated with stuttering and suggest a shared genetic architecture of stuttering with autism, depression and musicality.
New method could increase availability of donor organs
Vanderbilt Health researchers developed a groundbreaking new method for the recovery of hearts from deceased organ donors after circulatory death.
The method, rapid recovery with extended ultra-oxygenated preservation, involves flushing the donor heart with a cold oxygenated preservation solution after death.
Artificial intelligence collaborative
Vanderbilt Health’s Section of Surgical Sciences has been selected by global technology conglomerate LG as a collaborator — a direct result of the revolutionary work within Vanderbilt Health’s Molecular AI Initiative.
After a global search, LG AI Research chose Vanderbilt Health for its leadership in creating sophisticated artificial intelligence (AI) that solves real-world medical challenges.
Specialized clinical testing lab opens
Transplant matching and other specialized clinical tests are now being conducted by the Histocompatibility and Immunogenetics Laboratory at Vanderbilt Medical Laboratories.
The new laboratory launched its first phase of testing June 26 and ultimately will fully support clinical testing for the Vanderbilt Transplant Center, the nation’s third busiest transplant center by volume, said the laboratory’s director, Daniel Ramon, PhD, associate professor of Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology.
Gift supports research on severe mental disease
An estate gift from the late Charlotte and Donald Test Jr. of Dallas will provide transformational support for research on severe mental disease in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Vanderbilt Health. The landmark bequest builds on the couple’s lifetime giving to establish the Henry and William Test Endowment Fund.
Named for Donald Test’s late sons, and Charlotte’s stepsons, the endowment will bolster the department’s expansive research portfolio, promising a secure funding source for pathbreaking discoveries in areas such as schizophrenia, coordinated care models, brain imaging and neuromodulation.
Record number of adult and pediatric heart transplants performed
The Vanderbilt Transplant Center had a banner year in 2024, setting a world record by performing 174 adult and pediatric heart transplants. The number of patients whose lives were saved by Vanderbilt Health’s heart transplant team far surpasses any previous total by an individual transplant center.
Huda Akil receives Vanderbilt Prize in Biomedical Science
Huda Akil, PhD, an internationally known neuroscientist whose research has helped reveal the fundamental nature of anxiety, depression, pain and addiction, received the 2025 Vanderbilt Prize in Biomedical Science.
Akil, who was awarded the National Medal of Science by then-President Joe Biden in 2023, is the Gardner C. Quarton Distinguished University Professor of Neurosciences in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Michigan Medical School and senior research professor at the Michigan Neuroscience Institute, both in Ann Arbor.
Gift supports neonatal intensive care program
Scott and Sandi Borchetta pledged a $5 million gift to support the neonatal intensive care program at Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt.
Monroe Carell’s Level IV-designated Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, considered among the best in the country, is also among the nation’s largest NICUs, treating between 1,500 and 1,600 infants each year.
Antimicrobial stewardship grant
Researchers at Vanderbilt Health have been awarded a five-year, $4.1 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to assess antibiotic prescriptions and antimicrobial stewardship in unplanned care spaces across Vanderbilt Health, including emergency rooms, retail clinics and walk-in clinics.
Antibiotic prescriptions, particularly those that are not necessary to treat infections, may contribute to antimicrobial resistance — a global health threat caused by microbes adapting to and reducing the effectiveness of antibiotics.
Patient safety recognition
Vanderbilt University Hospital received the American College of Surgeons Quality Verification Program (QVP) focused verification, a national recognition of the hospital’s strong infrastructure and data-driven processes to deliver high-quality, safe surgical care to patients.
QVP-verified hospitals undergo a rigorous assessment of their surgical quality and safety practices, including a site visit by an external peer review team.
At-home prostate cancer screening
Researchers at Vanderbilt Health and the University of Michigan showed that a simple at-home urine test for prostate cancer screening is highly accurate. The exciting new results, published in The Journal of Urology, build upon a prior Vanderbilt Health study of prostate cancer screening that required a digital rectal exam.
The results are important because this could enable at-home testing and increased access to testing for patients undergoing telehealth care or living in remote areas.
Clarksville cardiology practice acquired
Leaders of Vanderbilt Health announced an agreement to acquire Tennova Healthcare-Clarksville’s cardiology practice from a subsidiary of Community Health Systems Inc. The acquisition, which was effective Feb. 1, is part of Vanderbilt Health’s ongoing efforts to provide Vanderbilt-quality cardiovascular care closer to home.
The addition of the clinic, at 647 Dunlop Lane, Medical Building One, Suite 101, in Clarksville, Tennessee, brings two experienced interventional cardiologists to the Vanderbilt Health family — David Amlicke, MD, and Thomas Killian, MD, as well as a talented nurse practitioner, Lydia Banks, NP. Both doctors completed their cardiology training at Vanderbilt before committing their clinical efforts to the Clarksville community.
