Cheryl Laffer, M.D., PhD., professor of Medicine, is the new director of the Hypertension Service within the Division of Clinical Pharmacology.

Nobel laureate Andrew Fire, Ph.D., will deliver the next Flexner Discovery Lecture on Thursday, Jan. 24.

Evon Batey Lee, Ph.D., has been named director of training for the Vanderbilt Kennedy Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities (UCEDD). She succeeds Terri Urbano, Ph.D., MPH, R.N., professor of Clinical Pediatrics, who retired in December.

Tina Woods, in-house school teacher at the Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt, was recently named American Paper & Twine Co./Georgia Pacific Teacher of the Year for 2012.

While this year’s flu season appears to be slowing down in some parts of the country, we’re not out of the woods yet, caution officials at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

Vanderbilt and University of California investigators have discovered the “cell of origin” for pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma, a finding that could lead to early detection methods and new treatments.