Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a common smoking-related lung illness and the third leading cause of death in the United States. Scientists have long believed that inhaling toxic gases and particles from tobacco smoke causes inflammation of the small airways in the lungs, leading to the development of COPD.

Vanderbilt researchers show that a certain factor negatively impacts the first-line responder cells in the lungs, providing one explanation for why patients with asthma are at greater risk for invasive bacterial disease.

Arthur P. “Art” Wheeler, M.D., professor of Medicine and the longtime director of Vanderbilt University Medical Center’s Adult Medical Intensive Care Unit (MICU), died Thursday, Dec. 17, from cancer. He was 58.

Two physician-scientist leaders at Vanderbilt University Medical Center were honored last week with newly created awards for helping to build and nurture Vanderbilt’s vibrant culture of clinical and translational research.

The irregular heart rhythm atrial fibrillation increases the risk of death in patients in the intensive care unit.

Their wedding date was just weeks away when Caleb Hanby and his fiancée Bethany Davidson rushed to Vanderbilt University Medical Center last Thursday.

The question of what’s different about pragmatic research was aired in a well-attended panel discussion last week in Light Hall sponsored by the Vanderbilt Center for Health Services Research and the Mid-South Clinical Data Research Network (CDRN).