When 17-year-old Ray Cruz was invited to perform at the Ryman Auditorium, he agreed to do it under one condition — that his doctor perform alongside him.

Curiosity is the spark that has always energized and illuminated Eric Shinohara’s life — curiosity about the natural world, about other people and about how to help those individuals.

Karen Munyon, MBA, director of Finance and Operations for Radiation Oncology at Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC), has been appointed to the Tennessee Radiologic Imaging and Radiation Therapy Board of Examiners. She is one of nine individuals appointed by the Tennessee governor or state lawmakers to the newly created oversight board.

Lisa Kachnic, M.D., Cornelius Vanderbilt Chair in Radiation Oncology and chair of the Department of Radiation Oncology at Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC), has been named one of the “Women to Watch” in health care by Nashville Medical News.

Nashville musician and producer Jesse Boyce compares the anxiety he felt just before receiving palliative radiation therapy to the jitters he often experienced before going on stage. The instant treatment began — and as the first note rang out — his anxiety was replaced by a sense of peace and determination.

Finn Schafran has always been a happy child, but these days the nearly 2-year-old boy is adjusting to spending part of each day at Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center (VICC), where he receives chemotherapy and radiation for a rare cancer.

Lisa Kachnic, M.D., chair of the Department of Radiation Oncology at Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC), has been elected president of the American Board of Radiology (ABR). She assumed the role after being chosen president-elect of the organization in March 2014 and succeeds former ABR President Milton Guiberteau, M.D.