Jill Clendening

Galen Perdikis, M.D., professor and chair of the Division of Plastic Surgery at the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Florida, has been named professor and chair of Vanderbilt’s Department of Plastic Surgery. His appointment is effective Aug. 1.

Nashville musician and producer Jesse Boyce compares the anxiety he felt just before receiving palliative radiation therapy to the jitters he often experienced before going on stage. The instant treatment began — and as the first note rang out — his anxiety was replaced by a sense of peace and determination.

Plastic surgeons at Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) have published a prospective study that proves there are specific risk factors — such as obesity, smoking and diabetes — that contribute to development of a major surgical site infection following cosmetic surgery.

Neat stacks of paper are lined up on the desk of Timothy Geiger, M.D., with each stack representing a challenge. For example, one sheet has a flow chart sketched on it — Geiger’s musing on ways to more efficiently use Vanderbilt University Medical Center’s (VUMC) operating rooms, matching the best locations with case types and surgical teams.

Recording and analyzing patient and family reports about rude and disrespectful behavior can identify surgeons with higher rates of surgical site infections and other avoidable adverse outcomes, according to a study led by Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) investigators in collaboration with six other major academic health systems.

Improvements in how patients’ preventive health care needs are identified, documented and tracked are being implemented at Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) through an initiative called Bridge, the aim of which is to increase the ability of both VUMC and the Vanderbilt Health Affiliated Network to deliver care in a more cohesive manner rather than as a series of individual encounters.