The arrival last March of the COVID-19 pandemic in Tennessee presented challenges for the clinical research enterprise at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Prompt recruitment of patients newly diagnosed with COVID-19 into clinical trials was, and remains, a public health imperative with top-level backing from the federal government.

Vanderbilt University Medical Center and Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have received renewal of a major federal grant to continue their collaboration to test and develop new treatments and vaccines against HIV/AIDS — and now COVID-19.

As of Feb. 1,065 outpatients have received antibody infusions since the clinic opened on Nov. 18. Clinic officials estimated that the infusions have prevented about 70 patients from developing severe COVID-19 illness requiring hospitalization or emergency department evaluation.

While the number of COVID-19 cases across the country is decreasing, pediatricians at Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt are beginning to see a new post-surge trend: an increase in cases of multi-system inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C).

Treatment with convalescent plasma vastly improved the survival rate of patients hospitalized for COVID-19 who also had hematologic malignances that compromise the immune system, according to new data released by the COVID-19 and Cancer Consortium (CCC19).

Advanced practice nurses, physician assistants and hospital leaders from around Vanderbilt University Medical Center gathered over Zoom on Jan. 19 for the kickoff of Advanced Practice Grand Rounds, the monthly educational series organized by the Office of Advanced Practice.

The increase in children’s online activity during the COVID-19 pandemic has sparked the decision to host a free webinar on cyberbullying and internet safety on Thursday, Feb. 11, from noon to 1 p.m.