Department of Pediatrics

Recipients of the 2023 Research Staff Awards are, front row from left, Laura Stevens, MS, Kate Von Wahlde, MJ, CCRP, and JoAnn Gottlieb, RDMS, RDCS. Presenting the awards were, back row from left, Jennifer Pietenpol, PhD, Gordon Bernard, MD, and John Kuriyan, PhD.
April 6, 2023

Research Staff Awards honor contributions to discovery

By Bill Snyder
April 4, 2023

Study shows ketamine could be beneficial for treating brain injury in children

Vanderbilt research shows a common anesthesia drug could be beneficial in reducing pressure inside the skull of children with traumatic brain injuries.

By Craig Boerner
(iStock image)
March 30, 2023

Infant sleep safety education vital to reduce deaths

According to Tennessee’s 2022 Child Fatality Annual Report, over the past five years, white infants accounted for most of the sleep-related infant deaths in Tennessee, but Black infants were three times more likely to suffer a sleep-related fatality.

By Jessica Pasley
On hand for a recent celebration of the new research fund were Debra Friedman, MD, MS, left, and Brianna Smith, MD, MS, (holding the plaque) and, from right, Larisa and Phillip Featherstone with their daughters Lily, Sophie and Sophia, and Carol and Ron Johnston.
March 30, 2023

Family’s gift will support pediatric cancer research

Lily Hensiek’s family has made a new $1 million commitment to endow the Lily’s Garden Discovery Researcher Fund in the Division of Pediatric Hematology and Oncology in the Department of Pediatrics at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

By Nancy Humphrey
March 23, 2023

Study sheds light on drug’s impact on diabetes progression

A Vanderbilt study of a treatment to delay the development of Type 1 diabetes in individuals at high risk did not meet the study goals of delaying progression from normal glucose tolerance to abnormal glucose tolerance or clinical diagnosis, although the study drug, abatacept, impacted immune response and preserved insulin production during the one-year treatment period.

By Craig Boerner
March 23, 2023

Poll shows food insecurity on rise in Tennessee

A newly released Vanderbilt poll found that an increasing number of Tennessee parents are reporting their families are food insecure.

By Jake Lowary
March 16, 2023

Study seeks to identify prenatal allergy risk markers

A Vanderbilt clinical trial is seeking to identify prenatal and early childhood markers of high risk for food allergy and atopic dermatitis, or eczema, as well as biological pathways that lead to these conditions.
By Jessica Pasley
March 9, 2023

Family’s participation key to advancing diabetes research

A study of one family from Alabama has led Vanderbilt researchers to discover that insulin deficiency, independent of the autoimmunity associated with Type 1 diabetes, is the principal factor leading to a markedly smaller pancreas.
By Jill Clendening
March 9, 2023

Majority of Tennessee parents agree on several school firearm safety measures: poll

A new Vanderbilt poll finds that a majority of Tennessee parents agree on several firearm-related school safety measures.
By Jake Lowary
March 2, 2023

Cannula shortage led to more invasive lung support for infants

A Vanderbilt study found that a three-year shortage of a common cannula used in young infants needing lung support forced hospitals across the United States to switch to a more invasive form of lung support,
By Christina Echegaray
March 2, 2023

High-dose flu vaccine beneficial for pediatric stem cell transplant patients

Vanderbilt was the lead site for an influenza vaccine study in pediatric allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplant recipients that may lead to a change in the current flu vaccine recommendations in this vulnerable population.
By Jessica Pasley
February 23, 2023

Poll finds rates of uninsured children back to pre-pandemic level

The latest analysis of the annual Vanderbilt Child Health Poll of Tennessee parents shows the rate of uninsured children in the state has returned to prepandemic levels.
By Jake Lowary
February 8, 2023

Vanderbilt poll finds Tennessee parents trust their children’s health care providers the most for information about vaccines

A recent Vanderbilt poll found parents across the state reporting their children’s health care providers as the most trusted source for information about vaccines.
By Jake Lowary