Department of Cardiac Surgery

November 11, 2022

With each pediatric heart surgery she schedules, Alicia Kepley builds a rapport with families

By Nancy Humphrey
November 10, 2022

Study defines role of steroids in congenital heart disease surgery

Steroids are commonly given to infants during open-heart surgery to reduce inflammation, but whether the drugs significantly improve patient outcomes has not been settled — until now.

By Bill Snyder
Mervyn Joseph traveled from South Africa to receive his lung transplant at Vanderbilt.
September 29, 2022

Patient journeys from South Africa for lung transplant

Mervyn Joseph, who searched the world over for the best place to be considered for lung transplant, is thankful he found Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

By Matt Batcheldor
Marsha Eastridge is doing well following the surgical procedures she received at Vanderbilt.
July 28, 2022

Patient doing well after complex vascular procedures

Marsha Eastridge had no clue she had heart problems until she was diagnosed in December 2021. Barely three weeks later, she was undergoing the first of two complex vascular procedures at Vanderbilt Heart and Vascular Institute that would save her life.

By Matt Batcheldor
April 21, 2022

Shumway Lecture

Ashish Shah, MD, chair of Cardiac Surgery, Carmen Solórzano, MD, chair of Surgery, and Seth Karp, MD, chair of the Section of Surgical Sciences and director of the Vanderbilt Transplant Center, welcome Sara Shumway, MD, (second from left), prior to her delivering the 2022 Shumway Lecture in Transplantation at Vanderbilt.

By VUMC News and Communications
Current and former ECLS (ECMO) fellows include, from left, John Stokes, MD, Yuliya Tipograf, MD, Yatrik Patel, MD, and Sean Francois, MD.
March 17, 2022

ECMO fellowship program provides lifesaving training

Vanderbilt’s extracorporeal life support fellowship gives new doctors two years of hands-on experience with a lifesaving critical care tool, one that has only become more important during the COVID-19 pandemic.

By Matt Batcheldor
February 16, 2022

Multicenter team seeks to create at-home artificial lung system

Vanderbilt University Medical Center is part of a multi-institutional teem seeking to create an artificial lung system that patients with incurable lung disease can use at home.
By Matt Batcheldor
January 24, 2022

Donna Atherton and Karen Pinkard are nurses who have worked together for years. The day Karen’s heart stopped at work, Donna was there to save her life.

A lot of people worked to save her life and help her recover. Thanks to them, Karen Pinkard is back at work.
By Tom Wilemon
November 2, 2021

VUMC debuts two new state-of-the-art hybrid operating rooms

Vanderbilt is opening two of the newest generation of hybrid operating rooms, which each combine a traditional operating room with the latest advanced imaging equipment.
By Matt Batcheldor
April 1, 2021

COVID recovery included long stay on ECMO, double-lung transplant

Zach Lloyd was only 37 years old with no pre-existing health conditions, but COVID-19 was bringing him within an inch of his life.
By Matt Batcheldor
January 12, 2021

VUMC now leads world in heart transplantation

Vanderbilt University Medical Center performed more heart transplants in 2020 than any other center in the world — 124 adult hearts, 23 pediatric hearts and VUMC’s first heart-lung transplant since 2006.
By Matt Batcheldor
November 18, 2020

Collaborative Vanderbilt Lung Institute launches

By Matt Batcheldor
October 14, 2020

Bacchetta named associate chair of Thoracic Surgery

Matthew Bacchetta, MD, MBA, MA, associate professor of Thoracic Surgery, has been named associate chair of Vanderbilt University Medical Center’s Department of Thoracic Surgery, effective Sept. 1.
By Jill Clendening
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