Benjamin French, PhD, professor of Biostatistics and director of graduate studies for the department, has been elected to the National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements.

Vanderbilt University School of Medicine continues to make impressive strides in research funding, rankings and faculty accomplishments, Dean Jeff Balser, MD, PhD, said Friday during the spring faculty meeting.

Transformational scientific achievement in bench-to-bedside translational research forms the criterion for the ACTS Edward H. Ahrens Jr. Distinguished Investigator Award, given annually by the Association for Clinical and Translational Science.

Vanderbilt's Scott Smith, MD, PhD, has been awarded a five-year, $3.5 million grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, part of the National Institutes of Health, to study the human immune response to tick bites and its role in preventing tick-borne illnesses.

Infectious diseases researcher H. Keipp Talbot, MD, MPH, has been appointed chair of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.