John Howser

December 9, 2025

Stephan Heckers to step down after two decades as Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences chair

Heckers is currently VUMC’s longest serving clinical department chair. He credits his longevity to the department’s culture and tradition of steady leadership, with each of the three previous chairs serving for periods of similar length.

By John Howser
November 4, 2025

Allison Hanlon named chair of Department of Dermatology

Hanlon, who joined the Vanderbilt faculty in 2016, succeeds Mary Margaret “Meg” Chren, MD, the department’s inaugural chair.

By John Howser
October 29, 2025

Alice Coogan to retire; Adam Seegmiller to succeed as chair of Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology

The Department of PM&I continues to be one of the leading and most innovative of its kind in the nation.

By John Howser
Sasha Bendolph receives treatment at Vanderbilt University Hospital’s Emergency Department for sickle cell disease. (photo by Erin O. Smith)
September 25, 2025

Vanderbilt University Hospital’s Adult Emergency Department serves the region’s critically ill

Vanderbilt Health System’s emergency departments cared for more than 221,000 patients in the fiscal year that ended June 30.

By John Howser
Jamie Phillips, MHA
September 9, 2025

Jamie Phillips named President of Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt

She brings nearly 30 years of experience in health care administration to Monroe Carell, the past seven of which have been in a chief operating officer role.

By John Howser
Heather O’Dell, MSN, ANP-BC, MMHC. (photo by Donn Jones)
June 11, 2025

Heather O’Dell named Vanderbilt Transplant Center’s Executive Director and Associate Operating Officer

O’Dell succeeds Edward Zavala, MBA, the VTC’s founding administrator who is stepping down from his administrative leadership role June 30 after more than 22 years of service to VUMC.  

By John Howser
May 29, 2025

Melissa Duff named chair of Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences

She is nationally recognized for her research to understand and improve long-term outcomes of individuals with acquired brain injury.
By John Howser
May 22, 2025

Vanderbilt’s nationally recognized Trauma Center treats amazing array of injuries

On a given day, the Vanderbilt Trauma Center may admit multiple gunshot and motor vehicle accident victims. For 27 years, across nearly 100,000 admissions, the Trauma Center’s physicians, nurses and staff have been treating patients arriving from a region covering 80,000 square miles.
By John Howser
May 19, 2025

Saved by an angel — in Aldi

Steve Glaeser fell in an Aldi supermarket; a Vanderbilt Health critical care nurse saved his life.
By John Howser
May 14, 2025

André Churchwell honored with portrait unveiling

The portrait was unveiled during a celebration event at the Annette and Irwin Eskind Family Biomedical Library and Learning Center.
By Rebecca Warren
April 29, 2025

Peter Embí, Department of Biomedical Informatics chair, to step down

DBMI is one of the nation’s largest departments of its kind in academic medicine and consists of more than 130 faculty who focus on different aspects of biomedical informatics.
By John Howser
March 19, 2025

Jennifer Below named director of Vanderbilt Genetics Institute

The Vanderbilt Genetics Institute is the intellectual hub for genomics research at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and Vanderbilt University.
By John Howser
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