The Ambassador of Iraq to the United States, Samir Sumaidaie, took a break from business in Knoxville to come to Nashville Sunday to visit Amenah, the 2-year-old Iraqi girl who has come to the Monroe Carell Jr. Children\'s Hospital at Vanderbilt for surgery to correct a life-threatening heart defect. Sumaidaie is from Haditha, Iraq, the hometown of Amenah and her family.

A team of pediatric heart specialists at the Monroe Carell Jr. Childrenπs Hospital at Vanderbilt continues to assess the condition of a 2-year-old Iraqi girl named Amenah (pronounced Ahh -min ñUh). The girl was flown to Nashville from Iraq on Wednesday in hopes of receiving lifesaving surgery.

The Tennessee Health Services and Development Agency this week approved the Certificate of Need for expansion of the Monroe Carell Jr. Children\'s Hospital at Vanderbilt.

Jennifer Pietenpol, Ph.D., Ingram Professor of Cancer Research and professor of Biochemistry, has been named director of Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center.

Pediatric researchers at the Monroe Carell Jr. Children\'s Hospital at Vanderbilt are working with community pediatricians attempting to reduce the risk to children from two of the major causes of meningitis.

Vanderbilt Kennedy Center researchers are reporting slightly lower divorce rates for families raising a child with Down syndrome than in the comparison groups, following an examination of the Tennessee Department of Health\'s birth, hospital discharge, and divorce database records from 1990-2002.