Elizabeth Phillips

July 27, 2021

Using Patients’ Allergy History as Screening Tool for mRNA COVID-19 Vaccine Works Well: Study

A report of more than 23,000 health care workers and employees at Vanderbilt University Medical Center who received the Pfizer-BioNTech mRNA COVID-19 vaccine shows that a risk stratification screening mechanism for potential allergies to the vaccine worked exceedingly well as the vaccine program rolled out in December 2020.

By Nancy Humphrey
October 1, 2020

Genes spell penicillin allergy risk

Studies using large DNA biobanks revealed genetic variants associated with penicillin allergy, the most common type of drug-induced allergic reaction.

By Paul Govern
May 6, 2020

New rule outlines when to challenge a penicillin allergy

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, fewer than 1% of the population is truly allergic to penicillin. The rest were never allergic to begin with or have outgrown their allergy — an estimated 80% of people with penicillin allergy lose their sensitivity to the drug within 10 years.

By Paul Govern
October 17, 2019

Effort to remove penicillin allergy labels seeing success

A program in the Medical Intensive Care Unit has successfully removed penicillin allergy labels from more than 45 inpatients at high risk to receive antibiotics, but whose penicillin allergies were low risk.

By Nancy Humphrey
February 28, 2019

Gene identified that increases risk of antibiotic reaction

Researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and colleagues have identified a gene that increases the risk for a severe and potentially life-threatening reaction to the commonly prescribed antibiotic vancomycin.

By Bill Snyder
September 27, 2018

Clinic helps adults clarify true status of penicillin allergy

By Bill Snyder
May 31, 2018

Team seeks to shed light on rare immune-mediated adverse drug reaction

Thirty years ago when she was 16, Katie Niemeyer was prescribed carbamazepine for depression. Three weeks later she was in a St. Louis, Missouri, burn unit with second and third degree burns all over her body. “My parents were told the chances of me surviving were slim,” she said.
By Bill Snyder
April 12, 2018

Alpha-gal found to be both a medication and red meat allergy

Alpha-gal allergy has commonly been referred to as “the red meat” allergy, but doctors at the Vanderbilt Asthma, Sinus and Allergy Program (ASAP) helped uncover that not only red meat, but some medications, can contain alpha-gal.
December 21, 2016

Daughter’s rare adverse drug reaction inspires family’s donation

Last year Paul and Wanpen Anderson of Champaign, Illinois, were preparing to celebrate the Christmas holidays with their two children when their 22-year-old daughter, Angela, developed a rare adverse drug reaction called SJS/TEN.
By Bill Snyder
July 9, 2015

VUMC lands major pharmacogenomics grant

Vanderbilt University Medical Center has received a five-year, $12.8 million grant from the federal government to develop better ways to predict how patients will respond to the drugs they’re given.
By Bill Snyder
March 14, 2013

Recruitments bolster personalized medicine initiative

VUMC’s personalized medicine effort is getting a major boost with the recruitment of two physician-scientists from Australia who will increase Vanderbilt’s strength in translational immunology, the translation of basic immunological discoveries into clinically useful tools.
By Nancy Humphrey