Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) has received an $11 million program project renewal grant from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute to study the genetics and underlying biological mechanisms that lead to idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF).

Investigators in the Division of Allergy, Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine recently received a $4.5 million Asthma and Allergic Diseases Cooperative Research Center (AADCRC) grant from the National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID).

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.