College athletes who play contact sports are more than twice as likely to carry the deadly superbug methicillin-resistant Staphylocuccus aureus (MRSA) than peers who play non-contact sports, according to a Vanderbilt study released at IDWeek 2014.

The Tennessee Public Health Association and the Tennessee Medical Association are collaborating to establish the “William Schaffner, M.D., Public Health Hero Award,” to be presented annually to an individual who has demonstrated extraordinary efforts in the advancement of public health in Tennessee.

David Penson, M.D., the Paul V. Hamilton, M.D. and Virginia E. Howd Professor of Urologic Oncology, will become chair of Vanderbilt’s Department of Urologic Surgery, effective Jan. 1, 2015.

In the same way scientists from the Vanderbilt Clinical Neuroscience Scholars (CNS) Program have benefited from their experiences in the clinical setting, an initiative is underway for Psychiatry, Neurology and Neurosurgery residents to have an opportunity to do bench work in the basic science labs.

Reuben Bueno Jr., M.D., associate professor of Plastic Surgery, is returning to Vanderbilt University School of Medicine as chief of Pediatric Plastic Surgery at the Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt and also as director of the Plastic Surgery Residency Program.

High-dose influenza vaccine is 24 percent more effective than the standard-dose vaccine in protecting persons ages 65 and over against influenza illness and its complications.