Department of Pediatrics

Members of the Vanderbilt Undiagnosed Diseases Program include (front row, from left) Mary Kuziura, DNP, Anna Bican, John Fahrenholz, MD, Kevin Byram, MD, Lisa Bastarache, MS, (back row, from left) Joy Cogan, PhD, John Phillips III, MD, and Rizwan Hamid, MD, PhD.
April 15, 2021

VUMC offers new program for undiagnosed diseases

Vanderbilt University Medical Center, an original member institution of the National Institutes of Health’s Undiagnosed Diseases Network, (UDN) is launching its own program, the Vanderbilt Undiagnosed Diseases Program (VUDP), which will operate alongside the UDN. The VUDP goal is to expand services to many more patients who are living with the often-dire consequences of an undiagnosed disease.

By Nancy Humphrey
April 14, 2021

Five land ASCI Young Physician-Scientist Awards

Five Vanderbilt University Medical Center faculty members have received Young Physician-Scientist Awards from the American Society of Clinical Investigation (ASCI), an elite honor society of physician-scientists.

By Bill Snyder
Vials with medication and syringe on blue methacrylate table. Horizontal composition. Top elevated view.
April 2, 2021

Investigational vaccine to be tested against COVID-19 variant

Vanderbilt University Medical Center is participating in a national phase 1 clinical trial in healthy adults of an investigational vaccine against the B.1.351 variant of the COVID-19 virus that was first identified in South Africa.

By Bill Snyder
March 30, 2021

Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt selected as trial site for pediatric COVID-19 vaccine

Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt is set to begin a phase 2/3 clinical trial to study the safety and efficacy of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine in children.

By Christina Echegaray
March 17, 2021

Children’s Hospital’s quality of care recognized

Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt’s pediatric primary care clinics have earned the National Committee for Quality Assurance’s (NCQA) Patient-Centered Medical Home Recognition for demonstrating evidence-based practices that ensure excellence and quality of care for all patients and families.

By Christina Echegaray
March 15, 2021

Preterm births in Tennessee decreased during pandemic

Statewide stay-at-home orders put in place as Tennessee fought to control the spread of coronavirus last March were associated with a 14% lower rate of preterm birth, according to a research letter published today in JAMA Pediatrics.

By Craig Boerner
March 11, 2021

‘Friendly’ bacteria may impact COVID severity

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.
By Bill Snyder
March 11, 2021

HBCU scholars program expanding enrollment

The James Puckette Carter Scholars Program, the result of a partnership between Meharry Medical College (MMC), Vanderbilt University Medical Center and the Burroughs Wellcome Fund (BWF), intended to increase the number of physicians who attended Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) in health care, is expanding to double its enrollment capacity.
By Matt Schorr
March 10, 2021

Hockey Fights Cancer skates on to support Children’s Hospital

Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt patient Lochlin Morris was named Champ of the Game at the Nashville Predators’ Hockey Fights Cancer game on Saturday, March 6. Beginning last season, each home game features a Children’s Hospital patient on the jumbotron as a Vanderbilt Health Champ of the Game.
By VUMC News and Communications
March 9, 2021

Pediatric emergency visits, hospitalizations down sharply during pandemic: study

Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, children’s hospitals across the United States have seen signification reductions in the number of children being treated for common pediatric illnesses like asthma and pneumonia, according to a new multicenter study led by Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt.
By Christina Echegaray
March 4, 2021

Probiotic protection

A probiotic factor given early in life to mice prevented intestinal inflammation in adulthood, providing a rationale for probiotic intervention in individuals at high risk of developing inflammatory bowel disease.
By Anivarya Kumar
February 15, 2021

Patients’ stories motivate Lizzie Simonds, the only paramedic working in VUMC’s COVID unit

She remembers one man who was scared and couldn't rest: “I spent 45 minutes…sitting next to him, holding his hand so he felt safe enough to try to sleep for a little bit."
By Wayne Wood
February 8, 2021

Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt sees surge in rare MIS-C cases amid drop in COVID-19 numbers

While the number of COVID-19 cases across the country is decreasing, pediatricians at Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt are beginning to see a new post-surge trend: an increase in cases of multi-system inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C).
By Christina Echegaray