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.

The Blue Ridge Academic Health Group — formed in 1997 by leaders of several of the nation's top academic health centers — studies and reports on issues of fundamental importance to improving the health care system. Its new report sets out innovations that health centers can undertake to address the ongoing health care workforce crisis.

A new study led by Vanderbilt University Medical Center researchers has identified key immune cell populations that predict how well pediatric hematopoietic stem cell transplant (HCT) recipients will respond to the influenza vaccine.