Heroes come in all sizes, and Mikayla Honeycutt was a small but mighty one. Born with a congenital brain condition called Dandy-Walker Syndrome, she had too much fluid in her brain.

Tim Lowell of Hernando, Mississippi, received the first total artificial heart in the state of Tennessee when the cardiac surgery team at Vanderbilt Health placed the device in his chest on Sept. 26, 2018. The mechanical heart kept him alive for nearly three months until a matching human donor heart became available and he was transplanted on Dec. 16, 2018, at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

Vanderbilt University Medical Center, a leading institution for advanced practice professionals, recently reached another milestone for prominence in this area.

Justin Bachmann, MD, MPH, is receiving the Presidential Career Development Award from the American College of Cardiology (ACC), which comes with one year of research support totaling $70,000.

Vanderbilt University Medical Center employees and guests gathered in the sixth floor atrium of the Critical Care Tower on Feb. 14 to dedicate “The Gift of Life,” a metal sculpture memorializing the final, selfless act of VUMC’s organ donors and their families.

Vanderbilt staff pays tribute to his heroism with Honor Walk