A simple blood test is allowing Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) researchers to determine which patients should be prescribed varenicline (Chantix) to stop smoking and which patients could do just as well, and avoid side effects, by using a nicotine patch.

Nashville photographer Fred Dusel took a long draw on his ever-present trademark cigar as he studied a richly detailed carbon transfer print of wind-twisted driftwood on a barrier island beach in Georgia.

Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) has established a new career development program for scientists in implementation research. The goal is to speed the uptake and translation of scientific discoveries into routine clinical practice.

Past research has proven that palliative care — specialized medical care focused on pain and symptom management as well as psychosocial interventions to improve quality of life — benefits patients with malignant diseases such as aggressive cancers. Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) health care providers are now studying whether palliative care can also benefit those with advanced liver disease, a diagnosis that precedes either a life-saving liver transplant or death.

Russell Rothman, M.D., professor of Medicine, Pediatrics and Health Policy, Vice President for Population Health Research, and director of the Vanderbilt Center for Health Services Research, has been named president-elect of the American Academy on Communication in Healthcare (AACH). He will serve as president beginning in January 2018.

Using patients’ health records to assess preparedness for hospital discharge is more effective at predicting readmission or death than commonly used questionnaires.

Vanderbilt University Medical Center and Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston recently collaborated on a study analysis to determine the effect of a tailored, pharmacist-delivered health literacy intervention on unplanned hospital readmission or emergency department visit following discharge.