Department of Medicine

The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) has formally recommended two changes that will nearly double the number of people eligible for lung cancer screening by lowering the age from 55 to 50 and reducing the number of smoking history pack years from 30 to 20.

Christine Lovly, MD, PhD, associate professor of Medicine in the Division of Hematology and Oncology and Ingram Professor of Cancer Research, is one of two inaugural recipients of the EGFR Resisters/LUNGevity Lung Cancer Research Award.

Dan Roden, MD, Senior Vice President for Personalized Medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, received the Oscar B. Hunter Career Award in Therapeutics last week at the virtual annual meeting of the American Society for Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has awarded Vanderbilt University Medical Center a two-year, $3.7-million contract to determine genetic and bacterial factors that may increase the risk for severe illness and death from COVID-19.

A novel hormone deficiency may exist in humans, Vanderbilt investigators have discovered. In an analysis of two decades worth of electronic health records, the researchers found that some patients have unexpectedly low levels of natriuretic peptide hormone in clinical situations that should cause high levels of the hormone.

A study by Vanderbilt researchers that analyzed both smoking history and genetic risk variants for lung cancer supports modifying current guidelines to include additional smokers for lung cancer screening.

Vanderbilt researchers clarify how a microRNA associated with triple-negative breast cancer survival inhibits cancer progression, suggesting new treatment strategies.