When Jerry Hughes, a Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) valet attendant, takes the car keys of Vanderbilt patients, he leaves a piece of his kind spirit with them as they venture into the hospital to face their day.

Vanderbilt investigators are probing the response to a bacterial toxin as a clinical assessment of immune function.

Sheila H. Ridner, the Martha Rivers Ingram Professor of Nursing at Vanderbilt University School of Nursing, will be honored by Sigma Theta Tau International with induction into its International Nurse Researcher Hall of Fame. The induction ceremony will be held in July in Dublin, Ireland.

Richard B. Johnston Jr., BA’57, MD’61—a renowned immunologist and pediatrician—is the recipient Vanderbilt Distinguished Alumni Award.

The department of Anesthesiology has created a new training program, the Fellowship in Perioperative Medicine, set to launch in July. The multidisciplinary 12-month program has slots for up to four fellows, and is open to physicians who’ve completed residency in either Anesthesiology or General Surgery.

Jennifer Pietenpol, Ph.D., Executive Vice President for Research at Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) and director of Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center (VICC), has been named a Chief Scientific Advisor (CSA) for the nonprofit breast cancer organization Susan G. Komen.