Variation in the gene for the beta-1 adrenergic receptor increases the risk that a patient will have an abnormal heart rhythm after cardiac surgery.

The state of Michael Stanbery’s health was shocking.

Michael Petracek, M.D., has been named interim chair of Vanderbilt’s Department of Cardiac Surgery.

While Benjamin Foley, D.D.S., was on a two-week surgical rotation in Bogota, Colombia, the impact of limited access to health care was as clear as the fused jaw of a 6-year-old child.

Vanderbilt's first robotic surgical procedure was performed in mid May by Dr. Joseph A. Smith Jr., William L. Bray Professor and Chair of Urologic Surgery. Smith used VUMC's new $1 million-plus Da Vinci Surgical System, built by Intuitive Surgical, to perform a radical prostatectomy.