Reporter June 4 2021

June 3, 2021

‘Secret shopper’ study sheds light on barriers to opioid treatment for women

After a 2020 Vanderbilt University Medical Center study showed women have a difficult time accessing treatment for opioid use disorder (OUD), investigators analyzed comments received from the study’s participants to further shed light on barriers to care, which included everything from long on-hold times to difficult interactions with clinic receptionists during phone calls seeking appointments.

By Jill Clendening
June 3, 2021

VUMC team discovers new genetic disease

Researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center have discovered a new genetic disease that causes a severe form of neurogenic orthostatic hypotension, a rapid drop in blood pressure upon standing that can cause fainting.

By Bill Snyder
June 3, 2021

Predictive model identifies patients for genetic testing

Patients who, perhaps unbeknownst to their health care providers, are in need of genetic testing for rare undiagnosed diseases can be identified en masse based on routine information in electronic health records (EHRs), a research team reported June 3 in the journal Nature Medicine.

By Paul Govern
June 3, 2021

Patient of Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt first in world to receive new investigational gene editing therapy

A 9-year-old patient of Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt is the first in the world to receive an investigational gene editing therapy for Methylmalonic Acidemia (MMA), a rare genetic disorder diagnosed at birth.

By Christina Echegaray
June 2, 2021

State of Nursing address reviews remarkable year

In her 2021 State of Nursing address, Executive Chief Nursing Officer Marilyn Dubree, MSN, RN, NE-BC, looked back on an unprecedented year of nursing care at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, responding to the COVID-19 pandemic as the organization continued to grow.

By Matt Batcheldor
June 2, 2021

Smith named CNO of Vanderbilt Tullahoma-Harton Hospital

Marilyn Smith, DNP, MSN, RN, had an incredible and unlikely journey to her role as Chief Nursing Officer of Vanderbilt Tullahoma-Harton Hospital.

By Matt Batcheldor
June 2, 2021

Dusetzina appointed to federal Medicare Payment Advisory Commission

Stacie Dusetzina, PhD, associate professor of Health Policy and Ingram Associate Professor of Cancer Research at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, has been appointed to a three-year term on the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC).
By Jake Lowary
June 1, 2021

New Clinician Spotlight: Andrew DeFilippis

Andrew DeFilippis, MD, has joined Vanderbilt University Medical Center from the University of Louisville School of Medicine. He began seeing patients in September 2020.
By VUMC News and Communications