Reporter

A Vanderbilt University Medical Center-led research team has shown that magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) can detect changes in resting-state spinal cord function in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS).

“State Health Policy: Does Evidence Really Make a Difference” was the title of the spring Research into Policy and Practice Lecture, April 11 in Light Hall. The semi-annual lecture is sponsored by the Department of Health Policy.

“Big data” can help reverse the alarming decline in life expectancy in the United States — if universities and academic medical centers take the lead, former U.S. Food and Drug Administrator Robert Califf, MD, told a Vanderbilt audience last week.

David Robertson, MD, internationally known for his groundbreaking work in defining and treating often-debilitating neurological disorders of blood pressure regulation, will be honored with a two-day symposium May 3-4 at Langford Auditorium.

The spring Flexner Discovery Lecture series wraps up on Thursday, April 26, with a presentation by Terry Orr-Weaver, PhD, professor of Biology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

“When it’s you, it’s a whole different feeling,” Orrin Ingram said, gazing at logs burning in the fireplace.

Much of everyday clinical decision-making is informed by lab tests performed rapidly on automated instrumentation — basic metabolic panels, complete blood counts, all the lab orders for which clinicians expect quick results.