Department of Medicine

June 17, 2025

VUMC-led research a step closer to understanding, preventing asthma 

“Findings from this study indicate that children who develop wheezing have different airway characteristics early in life, even before they develop asthma,” said Tina Hartert, MD, MPH.

By Bill Snyder
From left, graduate student Taylor Nagai, Ela Knapik, MD, senior research scientist Dharmendra Choudhary, PhD, and research assistant Cory Guthrie in Knapik’s lab surrounded by tanks of zebrafish, the model organism that drives their research. (photo by Erin O. Smith)
June 12, 2025

Tiny zebrafish aid discovery of rare, fatal genetic disease

The children were born in Turkey with a smaller-than-normal head size, cataracts, severe developmental delay, intellectual disability and epilepsy.

By Bill Snyder
June 10, 2025

Study shows sharp increase in appendix cancer for Generation X and millennials 

The findings reveal the need for increased awareness about appendiceal cancer from both clinicians and the public.

By Tom Wilemon
Sara Horst, MD, MPH
June 10, 2025

Sara Horst named Department of Medicine interim vice chair for Clinical Affairs

Horst succeeds Bryan Harris, MD, MPH, MMHC, current executive vice chair for Clinical Affairs, who has been named interim chair of Medicine.

By Bill Snyder
Jane Freedman, MD, delivers her farewell State of the Department address. (photo by Donn Jones)
June 6, 2025

VUMC’s Department of Medicine will continue to thrive: Freedman

Faced with great challenge and uncertainty, those who make up the department’s faculty have remained true to their mission and completed “outstanding, lifesaving work,” she said.

By Bill Snyder
June 4, 2025

VUMC team finds potential target to slow atherosclerosis

The research findings suggest that regulating the immune response to high cholesterol through the protein CaMK4 could enhance blood vessel repair and slow atherosclerosis progression.

By Guillermo Sanchez, PhD