Reporter

Geoffrey Fleming, MD, associate professor of Pediatrics, has been selected to serve on the Continuing Board Certification’s Vision Initiative Commission.

The potential link between the body’s microbiome and cancer is the topic of this year’s Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center (VICC) Scientific Retreat. The annual event, which features leading cancer investigators from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and several prominent universities will be held Thursday, May 3, 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Vanderbilt Student Life Center.

While many might prefer to not think about dying, healthcare professionals throughout the United States are encouraging patients and their families to do just that during a national awareness campaign April 16-22 that promotes the importance of completing an advance directive for healthcare.

Sirtex Medical Ltd. has renewed a grant award to Dan Brown, MD, professor of Radiology and Radiological Sciences and chief of Interventional Oncology, and his Vanderbilt Health colleagues, for a research program designed to treat patients with liver tumors that cannot be addressed with surgery.

Brian Kobilka, MD, who received the 2012 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his studies of G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs), shared his team’s progress in understanding receptor activation — and how that might guide drug development — at last week’s Flexner Discovery Lecture.

Ingrid Mayer, MD, MSCI, Ingram Professor of Cancer Research and leader of the Breast Cancer Research Program at Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center (VICC), has been named a Komen Scholar for her leadership in breast cancer research.

Henry Paul and Dave Robbins, members of country music group BlackHawk, as well as southern rock band The Outlaws, recently donated $40,000 to Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center (VICC) in support of melanoma research. Since 2006, the band members have generated more than $100,000 for VICC.