Department of Medicine

April 12, 2018

Initiative stresses importance of advance directives

While many might prefer to not think about dying, healthcare professionals throughout the United States are encouraging patients and their families to do just that during a national awareness campaign April 16-22 that promotes the importance of completing an advance directive for healthcare.

By Jill Clendening
April 12, 2018

Alpha-gal found to be both a medication and red meat allergy

Alpha-gal allergy has commonly been referred to as “the red meat” allergy, but doctors at the Vanderbilt Asthma, Sinus and Allergy Program (ASAP) helped uncover that not only red meat, but some medications, can contain alpha-gal.

3d rendering white blood cells with red blood cells
April 10, 2018

Vanderbilt scientists test potential new way to treat anemia

Treatment of anemia caused by chronic kidney disease or other diseases often requires repeated — and costly — injections or infusions of an artificial form of the hormone erythropoietin (EPO), which stimulates production of red blood cells.

By Bill Snyder
April 5, 2018

Nashville Biosciences created to leverage wealth of data

Officials with Vanderbilt University Medical Center announced the creation of a wholly owned subsidiary, Nashville Biosciences, to harness the power of its extensive genomic and bioinformatics resources to advance drug and diagnostics discovery and development.

By Bill Snyder
hands of elderly white woman in hospital with oxygen monitor on finger and iv in arm
March 29, 2018

Sedative-associated delirium increases risk of dementia

A Vanderbilt study of more than 1,000 intensive care unit patients around the country, nearly three-fourths of whom experienced delirium, showed that many drugs given to sedate patients in the ICU are actually increasing their chances of — and duration of — delirium instead of helping them recover.

By Nancy Humphrey
March 27, 2018

Alzheimer’s proteins in ICU survivors

The cognitive impairment that affects patients who survive a stay in the ICU does not appear to have a similar mechanism to Alzheimer’s disease, Vanderbilt researchers have discovered.

By Meredith Jackson
March 22, 2018

Grant bolsters study of potential new therapy for C. diff infection

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in 2011 in the United States there were almost half a million Clostridium difficile infections, and one in 11 patients 65 or older with a healthcare-associated C. diff infection died within 30 days of diagnosis.
By Paul Govern
March 15, 2018

Peek named to serve on NIDDK Advisory Council

Richard Peek, MD, director of the Vanderbilt Digestive Disease Research Center (VDDRC) and chief of the Division of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition, has been appointed to serve on the advisory council of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK).
By Jill Clendening
March 15, 2018

Research explores barriers to kidney disease screening

New research by Vanderbilt nephrologists highlights potential barriers that may prevent black Americans from being screened for kidney disease.
By VUMC News and Communications
March 8, 2018

VICC study sheds new light on Von Hippel-Lindau syndrome

Investigators at Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center (VICC) and the Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute (VTCRI) have revealed a gene mutation’s role in Von Hippel-Lindau syndrome, a genetically inherited disease which causes tumor growth in several organs.
By VUMC News and Communications
March 8, 2018

Lovly earns scholarship grant for lung cancer research

Christine Lovly, MD, PhD, assistant professor of Medicine at Vanderbilt, has received a $200,000 grant to support promising new research on lung cancer.
By VUMC News and Communications
March 6, 2018

Discovery by Vanderbilt-led group could lead to improved diabetes treatment

Vanderbilt investigators and colleagues around the country have made a major discovery that could lead to better ways to treat type 1 diabetes (T1D).
By Bill Snyder
March 5, 2018

Nine new endowed chair recipients honored

Nine Vanderbilt University faculty members named to endowed chairs were honored during a celebration at the Student Life Center Feb. 28.
By VUMC News and Communications