Department of Medicine

April 22, 2019

Asia’s diabetes epidemic preferentially kills women, the middle-aged: study

Diabetes has reached epidemic proportions in Asia and has dramatically increased the risk of premature death, especially among women and middle-aged people, a multinational study led by Vanderbilt University researchers has found.

By Bill Snyder
From left, Wei Zheng, MD, PhD, Jae Jeong Yang, PhD, Danxia Yu, PhD, and colleagues are studying smoking patterns and associated deaths in Asian countries.
April 18, 2019

Asian nations in early tobacco epidemic: study

Asian countries are in the early stages of a tobacco smoking epidemic with habits mirroring those of the United States from past decades, setting the stage for a spike in future deaths from smoking-related diseases.

By Tom Wilemon
April 11, 2019

Smith named president-elect of Tennessee Medical Association

M. Kevin Smith, MD, PhD, MMHC, assistant professor of Clinical Medicine, has been named president-elect of the Tennessee Medical Association (TMA) effective in May. He will serve as president from May 2020-May 2021.

By Nancy Humphrey
From left, Benjamin Brown, Christine Lovly, MD, PhD, Yun-Kai Zhang, PhD, Jens Meiler, PhD, and colleagues are exploring new ways to understand resistance to targeted cancer therapy drugs.
April 11, 2019

Study reframes approach to targeted therapy resistance

When a tumor mutates and develops resistance to a targeted therapy, researchers often focus on the acquisition of new mutations within the drug target as they seek an alternative treatment, but a team of Vanderbilt scientists has shown this may not be sufficient.

By Tom Wilemon
March 28, 2019

Drug interaction causes hypotension

A muscle relaxing-drug and inhibitors of the metabolic enzyme CYP1A2 interact to cause severely low blood pressure and should not be co-prescribed, Vanderbilt investigators caution.

By Leigh MacMillan
March 28, 2019

Treatment resistance of mental disorders studied

With the aid of a four-year, $3.4 million grant from the National Institute of Mental Health, researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) will apply new techniques to investigate treatment resistance of two devastating mental disorders — major depressive disorder, which befalls 15 percent of people at some point in their lives, and schizophrenia, which affects approximately 1 percent.

By Paul Govern
March 28, 2019

ACGME honors Moutsios’ contributions to teaching

The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) recently presented awards to 29 recipients at its annual Educational Conference, recognizing noteworthy achievements from a wide range of talented graduate medical education professionals.
By Kathy Whitney
March 28, 2019

First artificial heart patient gets permanent replacement

Tim Lowell of Hernando, Mississippi, received the first total artificial heart in the state of Tennessee when the cardiac surgery team at Vanderbilt Health placed the device in his chest on Sept. 26, 2018. The mechanical heart kept him alive for nearly three months until a matching human donor heart became available and he was transplanted on Dec. 16, 2018, at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.
By Matt Batcheldor
March 28, 2019

Cancer prevention drug also disables H. pylori bacterium

A medicine currently being tested as a chemoprevention agent for multiple types of cancer has more than one trick in its bag when it comes to preventing stomach cancer, Vanderbilt researchers have discovered.
By Leigh MacMillan
March 28, 2019

Bladder cancer research fund honors mentor’s lasting influence

The Terry Burke Fund for Bladder Cancer Research at Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center is supporting a range of discovery research aimed at improving outcomes for bladder cancer patients, and it is helping train the next generation of bladder cancer physician-scientists.
By Leigh MacMillan
March 14, 2019

Correctly copying DNA

A precise understanding of how the enzyme topoisomerase II cuts DNA could lead to better anti-cancer therapies.
By Sanjay Mishra
March 14, 2019

Reprogramming cells for kidney repair

Using gene transfer technologies to reprogram adult human kidney cells could lead to novel therapies for chronic kidney disease.
By Kelsey Herbers
March 14, 2019

Undiagnosed Diseases Network helps guide girl’s medical journey

On July 6, 2017, the Krauter family of Hiawatha, Kansas, received a belated 4th birthday present for their younger daughter, Mady — a diagnosis for a host of worsening neurological symptoms that they first noticed when she was 3 months old.
By Nancy Humphrey