After serving as interim director since Jan. 1, Ben Ho Park, MD, PhD, Donna S. Hall Professor of Breast Cancer Research at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, has been named director of the Division of Hematology and Oncology.

Vanderbilt Health is one of 12 of the nation’s premier providers of medical care that will begin offering services to any former National Football League player or team employee, and their families, under the banner of Hall of Fame Health.

The number of active COVID-19 cases in Tennessee is rising. In the 13 counties that comprise the Nashville Metropolitan Area, new cases have increased 50% over the last 2 weeks. We strongly urge everyone in Middle Tennessee, and all Tennesseans, to remain vigilant in their efforts to limit the spread of the virus by wearing masks, washing hands and staying socially distant — including not participating in large gatherings.

A new method that keeps microbes and gut cells together will be useful for studies of complex host-microbe interactions and for analysis of clinical specimens.

Older depressed adults show accelerated brain aging, according to a new study from Vanderbilt researchers, who suggest that the effects of depression may speed the decline in cognitive functions in older individuals.

Vanderbilt University Medical Center, in collaboration with the University of Colorado and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, is leading one of the first “telemedicine” clinical trials to test a potential treatment for COVID-19.

It might be possible to use vesicles carrying the receptor for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, to bind the virus and prevent infection.