David Calkins

News about upcoming training for employees on how to recognize and combat microaggression and racism was shared during a panel discussion on these issues that featured experts including, from left, Megan Youngblood, MBA, Mamie Williams, MPH, MSN, FNP-BC, Selena McCoy Carpenter, MEd, and Kristy Sinkfield, MEd. (photo by Susan Urmy)

Medical Center’s creative problem-solvers inspire others during Strategy Share 2023

The ingenuity and enterprising spirit on display at Vanderbilt University Medical Center took center stage last week at Strategy Share 2023, as more than 30  employees presented their problem-solving and innovative solutions.

The International Retinal Research Foundation Board’s Sandra Blackwood poses with Vanderbilt’s Paul Sternberg Jr., MD, left, and David Calkins, PhD.

Major commitment bolsters Vanderbilt’s retinal vision research efforts

A $10 million gift from the International Retinal Research Foundation will establish a center dedicated to retinal vision research at the Vanderbilt Eye Institute and a directorship to support a physician-scientist leader in the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences.

Calkins lands national award for research on blinding eye diseases

Vanderbilt’s David Calkins, PhD, has been selected by the Research to Prevent Blindness and Association of University Professors of Ophthalmology to receive the 2023 David F. Weeks Award for Outstanding Vision Research.

Calkins named Assistant VP for Research at VUMC

David Calkins, PhD, director of the Vanderbilt Vision Research Center and vice chair and director for Research of the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, has been appointed Assistant Vice President for Research at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

StrategyShare2020 co-chairs Erin Tickle, MMHC, RN, and David Calkins, PhD, guided the program from physically distant podiums in front of cameras at VUMC’s Collaboration Space on West End Avenue.

StrategyShare2020 presents thought-provoking sessions

Although the global COVID-19 pandemic forced StrategyShare2020 organizers to rapidly transform the event to an online-only format, there were no compromises in the quality and depth of the presentations, and more than 1,000 individuals registered to participate interactively, a record number for the annual event.

Study points to potential new approach to treating neurodegenerative diseases like glaucoma and Alzheimer’s disease

Researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center have shown for the first time that when one optic nerve in the eye is damaged, as in glaucoma, the opposite optic nerve comes to the rescue by sharing its metabolic energy.

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