Treatment options are limited for the more than 500,000 people in the U.S. who are diagnosed annually with C. diff infections, but researchers are working on potential vaccines, therapeutic antibodies and — most recently — nanobodies, to prevent and treat C. diff infections.

New study represents a major step forward for vaccine development for C. diff, the leading cause of health care- and antibiotic-associated infection.

There currently are no approved treatments or vaccines to protect against the infection, which can cause internal bleeding, organ failure, and in roughly 50% of cases, death.

Dr. Hill transformed medical education at Vanderbilt and conducted groundbreaking research on African sleeping sickness.

The single administration of an antibody that provides cross-protection against both RSV and hMPV infection could provide logistical and economic advantages over the need to develop and administer multiple virus-specific monoclonal antibodies.

At Vanderbilt Health, Wallace recruited and built a team of veterinarians and operations managers to provide a high-quality animal care program to support researchers with Vanderbilt Health and Vanderbilt University.

Humphries also will serve as executive medical director of the Pathology and Laboratory Medicine Clinical Service Center.