Pratik Pandharipande, M.D., MSCI, professor of Anesthesiology and Surgery, has been named chief of the Division of Anesthesiology Critical Care Medicine, succeeding C. Lee Parmley, M.D., J.D., who was named chief of staff of Vanderbilt University Hospital earlier this month.

Patients treated in intensive care units across the globe enter their medical care with no evidence of cognitive impairment but often leave with deficits similar to those seen in patients with traumatic brain injury (TBI) or mild Alzheimer’s disease (AD) that persist for at least a year, according to a Vanderbilt University Medical Center study published today in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Vanderbilt University Medical Center investigators have received a $2.8 million grant from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) to continue studying ways to improve sedation management for intensive care unit patients who are on mechanical ventilators.

Study suggests that the “kynurenine” biochemical pathway could be a target for reducing delirium and coma in critically ill patients.