VUMC News and Communications

Researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center are attempting to short circuit the progression of Parkinson's disease by implanting stimulation devices into the brains of Parkinson's patients earlier on in the course of their disease.

Every year, around the Fourth of July, experts at the Monroe Carell Jr. Children's Hospital at Vanderbilt see fireworks-related injuries -- everything from burns and abrasions to serious eye damage, and even blindness. This year, doctors say, they hope parents will opt for a professional fireworks show rather than something in the back yard, put on by amateurs. National statistics show 10 percent of firework injuries are sustained by toddlers and injuries are most likely when children have fireworks without adequate supervision.

Sten H. Vermund, M.D., Ph.D., the director of The Vanderbilt Institute for Global Health and a Pediatric Infectious Disease research epidemiologist at the Monroe Carell Jr. Children's Hospital at Vanderbilt has been selected as the primary investigator to lead the HIV Prevention Trials Network (HPTN) for the newly restructured HIV/AIDS clinical trials networks.

After treating five children for near-drowning in the last two weeks, Vanderbilt Children's Hospital experts are asking parents to review safety tips. Tom Abramo, M.D., director of the Emergency Department at Vanderbilt Children's, says most of the incidents have involved children under the age of 5.

President George W. Bush recently announced his intention to nominate Vanderbilt University School of Nursing Dean Colleen Conway-Welch, Ph.D., as a member of the Board of Regents of the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences.

The Food and Drug Administration is examining study data from Vanderbilt University Medical Center researchers, published this week in the New England Journal of Medicine, to determine if new warnings should be placed on common blood pressure medications indicating an increased risk of birth defects for babies whose mothers take these medications during the first trimester of pregnancy.