Department of Medicine

Researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) have received a four-year, $6.2-million grant from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health to develop a novel panel of biomarkers to improve the diagnosis of acute heart failure (AHF).

Heat therapy could offer a novel nonpharmacologic approach for treating the overnight hypertension that affects patients with autonomic failure.

Vanderbilt researchers dissected the complex microenvironment of the pancreatic islet to discover the signals that drive beta cell regeneration — as a possible treatment for diabetes.

Type 2 diabetes patients who also have asthma are benefitting from a diabetes medication, typically given to help the pancreas produce more insulin, that also improves asthma symptoms and may reduce lung and airway inflammation.

According to an innovative large-scale clinical trial reported last week in the New England Journal of Medicine, a single daily baby aspirin (81 mg) or a single daily adult aspirin (325 mg) are equally safe and effective for prevention of adverse cardiovascular events for patients with established atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease.

Richard Light, MD, professor of Medicine in the Division of Allergy, Pulmonary and Critical Care, died May 11 from injuries he sustained from a fall. He was 79.

People with a high polygenic risk score for colorectal cancer could benefit more at preventing the disease by leading healthy lifestyles than those at lower genetic risk, according to a study by Vanderbilt researchers published in the April issue of The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.