Department of Medicine

Recovery team members included, from left, Will Tucker, MD, Stephen DeVries, DMSc, PA-C, and Christopher Schwartz, RN.
May 17, 2024

VUMC team travels to Alaska to recover a donor heart

The 5,704 nautical-mile trip is the farthest VUMC has traveled for an organ. The remarkable journey illustrates how new technologies make it possible to preserve organs longer, allowing Vanderbilt to look farther for a match.

By Matt Batcheldor
May 16, 2024

Smith, Tuchman join WPLN to talk about preventive health for adults and children

WPLN-FM 90.3 host Khalil Ekulona explores preventive health initiatives with Drs. Carlenda Smith and Carmen Tuchman. Listen in!

E. Wesley Ely, MD, MPH
May 15, 2024

Ely’s rehabilitation research honored by the US Department of Veterans Affairs

E. Wesley Ely, MD, MPH, has received the Paul B. Magnuson Award for Outstanding Achievement in Rehabilitation Research and Development from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).

By Nancy Humphrey
(iStock)
May 15, 2024

Treatment-resistant depression linked to body mass index: study

Genetic factors are a small but significant contributor to severe depression that does not respond to standard therapy, according to researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and Massachusetts General Hospital.

By Bill Snyder
(iStock)
May 14, 2024

Breast cancer risk variants identified for women of African ancestry

A study led by researchers from Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center sheds light on some of the genetic variants that make breast cancer more deadly for women of African ancestry and significantly reduces the disparity in knowledge for assessing their genomic risk factors.

By Tom Wilemon
May 7, 2024

Study seeks to evaluate military exposures on veterans’ lung cancer risk 

A prospective cohort of veterans including those with military toxic exposures, such as burn pits, will be screened annually with low-dose chest CT to detect lung cancer and other disease early.

By Tom Wilemon
May 1, 2024

VUMC’s Alexander Bick receives a ‘healthy aging’ research award

Vanderbilt's Alexander Bick, MD, PhD, has received a Hevolution/AFAR New Investigator Award in Aging Biology and Geroscience Research from the American Federation for Aging Research (AFAR) and Hevolution Foundation.
By Bill Snyder
May 1, 2024

Study finds 500 new blood pressure genes

An analysis of the genomes of more than 1 million people of European ancestry, conducted by several of the world’s leading genomic centers, including Vanderbilt University Medical Center, has identified more than 2,000 independent genetic signals for blood pressure.
By Bill Snyder
May 1, 2024

Poverty tops smoking as a major death risk: study

A Vanderbilt study found that Black and white people who earned less than $15,000 a year died, on average, more than 10 years earlier than those whose annual income exceeded $50,000.
By Bill Snyder
April 30, 2024

Atherosclerosis is a tumor-like disease: study

An anticancer drug blunted atherosclerosis progression — and even made plaques shrink — in a mouse model of the disease, opening new opportunities for preventing and treating this leading cause of death.
By Leigh MacMillan
April 29, 2024

Seven Vanderbilt faculty elected AAAS fellows

Seven Vanderbilt University faculty members, including four from Vanderbilt University Medical Center, have been elected fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
By Bill Snyder
April 29, 2024

New tool helps identify babies at high risk for RSV

A new tool to identify infants most at risk for severe respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) illness could aid pediatricians in prioritizing children under 1 to receive a preventive medication before RSV season (October-April).
By Craig Boerner
April 25, 2024

Advance in the treatment of acute heart failure identified

A multicenter study led by Vanderbilt University Medical Center and Lipscomb University College of Pharmacy in Nashville has identified a potential new treatment for acute heart failure, a leading cause of hospitalization and death.
By Bill Snyder