Reorganization bolsters news efforts
Vanderbilt Medical Center's Office of News and Public Affairs has reorganized and promoted several staff members to new positions.
• John Howser, formerly assistant director and director of Media Relations, has been promoted to deputy director of the office. Howser, who joined VMC in 1987, will continue to oversee media relations and will also assume a broader role in the office's administrative responsibilities. Howser received a Bachelor of Arts in Photojournalism from Western Kentucky University. A former newspaper photographer, Howser served as the Medical Center's staff photojournalist before assuming responsibility for media relations in 1996.
• Wayne Wood, assistant director, has taken on additional duties and has been named executive director of New Media. Wood, who joined the staff in 1981, will continue to serve as editor of House Organ and the Medical Center's annual report. Wood is the author of the book Watching the Wheels: Cheap Irony, Righteous Indignation, and Semi-Enlightened Opinion, and is on the faculty of the Vanderbilt School of Medicine, where he teaches an elective called Medicine and Media. He is a graduate of the University of the Tennessee College of Communications and has a Master's in Liberal Arts and Science from Vanderbilt.
• Nancy Humphrey has been promoted to assistant director and director of Publications. Humphrey, who will continue to edit Vanderbilt Medicine, received a Bachelor of Arts degree in journalism and history from Western Kentucky University. She was a general assignment and medical reporter for The Nashville Banner from 1982-1985 and worked for the communications office of the Bureau of Health Services, Tennessee Department of Health, prior to joining the staff at Vanderbilt in 1993.
• Jerry Jones has been promoted to assistant director of News. Jones, who joined VMC in 2000, is the medical center's regional news director. He will assume a broader role in the office's media relations activities. Jones has a Bachelor of Arts degree in communications and journalism from Lipscomb University and a master's degree in public administration from Tennessee State University. He was editor of the Lipscomb student newspaper, The Babbler, and a former staff writer of the Shelbyville Times-Gazette, and The Williamson Leader.
All assistant directors will report to Howser, who, in turn, will report to Bill Hance, director of News and Public Affairs.