social determinants of health (SDOH)

Poverty tops smoking as a major death risk: study

A Vanderbilt study found that Black and white people who earned less than $15,000 a year died, on average, more than 10 years earlier than those whose annual income exceeded $50,000.

Homelessness a major issue for many patients in the emergency department

Unstable housing and homelessness can exacerbate adverse health outcomes, leading to increased risk of chronic disease, injury, and disability. Yet, emergency departments currently do not have a universal method to identify those at risk of, or currently experiencing, homelessness.

By Craig Boerner

December 29, 2023

VUMC to launch Program for Health Equity Research

VUMC’s new Program for Health Equity Research aims to become the nation’s leader in health equity research that’s inclusive, supportive and diverse by creating a rigorous environment for application-driven research with rapid response to policies and practices.

By Kathy Whitney

December 18, 2023

Study examines social factors and cardiovascular disease risk

Eight social factors were among the top 15 markers of cardiovascular disease risk and could help guide community prevention efforts, according to a new study using machine learning algorithms.

By Paul Govern

VUMC’s new automated biobanking system can store as many as 10 million biospecimens.

November 14, 2023

Landmark academic-industry partnership harvests human genome “fruits” for research

The first fruits of a landmark academic-industry partnership that is harvesting the depth and breadth of the human genome to better understand and treat disease will become available to researchers in the spring of 2024.

By Bill Snyder

Nancy Cox, PhD, receives the American Society of Human Genetics Leadership Award from ASHG president Brendan Lee, MD, PhD. Photo courtesy of ASHG.

November 10, 2023

After 40 years, genetics still surprises VUMC’s Nancy Cox

As she looks back on her 40-plus year career, what surprises Nancy Cox, PhD, an internationally known geneticist at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, is how much progress has been made, and yet how much more there is to learn about the role genetic variation plays in human disease.