High levels of stress and anxiety can be debilitating, especially for health care providers on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic. But there are ways they can protect themselves and their ability to provide the best and most compassionate care.

Roy Elam III, MD, emeritus associate professor of Internal Medicine and founding medical director for the Osher Center for Integrative Medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, died Aug. 20. He was 71.

David Vago, Ph.D., is one of the principal authors of a “Mind the Hype” article in Perspectives on Psychological Science that calls for more scientific evaluation, circumspect reporting and uniform treatment standards for mindfulness and meditation.

For 2018, the Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) employee health plan will offer an array of insurance options and new wellness services.

As mindfulness grows in popularity as a treatment option for conditions ranging from anxiety to chronic pain, experts in integrative medicine at Vanderbilt are doing research to better quantify its effectiveness and setting standards for how it is administered.

The Osher Center for Integrative Medicine at Vanderbilt offers most of the treatments in the new guidelines for back pain recently recommended by the American College of Physicians, but misconceptions about those treatments remain a barrier to care.

The contemporary dance company Nashville in Motion and the Peter Moon Band will present “Fix: What’s Your Monkey?” beginning at 7 p.m. Oct. 15 in Ingram Hall. The rock show addresses addiction and recovery through dance, comedy and drama.