Karen Hughart, MSN, R.N., has been named senior director of Nursing Informatics, where she will lead the nursing enterprise in implementing new clinical systems in a partnership with clinical leaders throughout Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC).

Avni Cirpili, DNP, R.N., is leaving after five years as Chief Nursing Officer for Vanderbilt Psychiatric Hospital (VPH) to become senior vice president and Chief Nursing Officer at the Menninger Clinic in Houston.

Five Vanderbilt nurses received top honors at the March of Dimes Tennessee Chapter Nurse of the Year Awards, held last month at the Franklin Marriott Cool Springs.

The Middle Tennessee Advanced Practice Nurses Association recently named Vanderbilt’s Jennifer Jayaram, MSN, FNP, its Advanced Practice Nurse of the Year. The organization is an affiliate of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners.

René Gifford, Ph.D., associate professor of Hearing and Speech Sciences, received the 2015 Louis M. DiCarlo Award for Recent Clinical Achievement from the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) at the group’s national convention, which was held last month in Denver.

Nursing research was on full display on Oct. 28 in Light Hall during the Research Day Poster Presentations, organized by the Evidence-Based Practice (EBP) and Nursing Research Committee.