Vanderbilt researchers have received an R01 grant from the National Institutes of Health to study a novel non-invasive imaging approach to detect activation of inflammatory cells in the lungs of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), a progressive lung condition that makes breathing difficult.

The tears Reid Thompson, M.D., shed one day as a medical student left an indelible mark.

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.