releases

Vanderbilt University Medical Center, which has a 21-year accident free operation, is the first dedicated air medical operation in the U.S. to deploy the American Eurocopter EC 145 equipped with the latest in state of the art avionics specially designed to operate in the nighttime and inclimate weather environment. VUMC, which operates four helicopters and one fixed wing and is the largest IFR program in Tennessee, has air ambulance experts available to speak about air ambulance safety standards.

The Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center has been chosen by the National Cancer Institute to join an elite group of researchers asked to test the most cutting-edge cancer treatments in Phase II clinical trials in both solid tumor and hematologic malignancies.

Efforts to reform drug regulation in the wake of the Vioxx withdrawal do not go far enough, according to experts at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

A study in the January/February 2006 issue of the journal Health Affairs concludes that increasing the number of registered nurses and hours of nursing care per patient would save 6,700 lives.

Researchers at the Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center have uncovered a clue to explain the invasive nature of an aggressive kind of brain tumor called glioblastoma multiforme, or gliomas, and their findings are published in this week's online edition of the journal Oncogene.

Thomas Weisner, an expert on the mental health challenges and needs of teens with disabilities, will deliver the 2006 Vanderbilt Kennedy Center Martin Luther King Jr. lecture Monday, Jan. 16, at 4:10 p.m. in Room 241 of the Vanderbilt Kennedy Center. The lecture is free and open to the public.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt has appointed Vanderbilt Kennedy Center Director Pat Levitt to the National Advisory Mental Health Council.