Department of Medicine

October 8, 2020

COVID patient’s heart-lung transplant is world’s first

Vanderbilt University Medical Center has performed the world’s first dual heart-lung transplant of a COVID-19 patient.

By Matt Batcheldor
October 5, 2020

Clue to diabetic kidney disease

Vanderbilt researchers have identified a signaling pathway that promotes kidney fibrosis in patients with diabetes — and that could be targeted with an existing approved medication.

By Sarah E. Glass
October 1, 2020

Genes spell penicillin allergy risk

Studies using large DNA biobanks revealed genetic variants associated with penicillin allergy, the most common type of drug-induced allergic reaction.

By Paul Govern
October 1, 2020

Legner to direct new Primary Patient Care Center

Victor Legner, MD, has been named the founding executive medical director of the newly formed Primary Care Patient Care Center (PCC) at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, effective Sept. 1.

By Jill Clendening
A childhood role model helped inspire Portia Thomas to pursue a career in medicine and research.
October 1, 2020

Diversity role model inspires career path

Portia Thomas grew up in Doerun, Georgia, a small, rural city named by pioneer hunters as a place with “a perfect doe run,” where the population has hovered around 800 people for the past 30 years. A childhood impression lifted her aspirations beyond her hometown and inspired her to pursue a career as a physician-scientist.

By Tom Wilemon
September 24, 2020

VICC leading first global study of MDS/MPN overlap syndrome

Overlap syndromes are distinct blood cancers that present with features of both myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) and myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPN).

By Tom Wilemon
September 17, 2020

Grant from Google to support COVID gene expression study

Vanderbilt University Medical Center and the University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill have been awarded $500,000 by Google’s philanthropy, Google.org, to study how COVID-19 alters gene expression in some people in ways that may be linked to their risk of severe illness and death.
By Bill Snyder
September 17, 2020

New predictors of prostate cancer risk

An international group of researchers including Vanderbilt epidemiologists has identified new DNA methylation biomarkers associated with prostate cancer risk.
By Sarah E. Glass
September 10, 2020

Technique helped treat patient’s rare pulmonary disorder

Sourav Panja, PhD, a postdoctoral scholar in the Department of Pediatrics at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, was working in his lab one evening last year when he began coughing up blood. Even breathing was becoming difficult.
By Matt Batcheldor
September 10, 2020

Award supports integration of genomic data, electronic health records

Eric Gamazon, PhD, assistant professor of Medicine, has been awarded a $1.5 million grant from the National Human Genome Research Institute, part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), to develop novel computational tools that integrate functional genomic data and electronic health records.
By Leigh MacMillan
September 10, 2020

Roumie to direct Master of Public Health program

Christianne Roumie, MD, MPH, has been named director of the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine Master of Public Health program, a two-year interdisciplinary program accredited by the Council on Education for Public Health.
By Jake Lowary
September 7, 2020

Possible key to COVID-19 infectivity

New findings demonstrate how genetic variations in the receptor that binds SARS-CoV-2 impact virus recognition and infectivity and offer insights to COVID-19 susceptibility and treatment.
By Sarah E. Glass
August 20, 2020

Salt, immune cells and hypertension

Excess dietary salt activates immune cells to induce inflammation and hypertension, supporting current recommendations for low sodium consumption.
By Leigh MacMillan