All News

Compassionate care met determination as burn patient Sean Smith worked toward recovery.
February 20, 2026

Kitchen fire to cap and gown: College senior’s meal prep accident led to 17 days at Vanderbilt Burn Center — and a fight to get back in the gym

Smith was told that his burns couldn’t be fully treated locally so he would be airlifted to either the Vanderbilt Burn Center in Nashville or the University of Louisville.

By Craig Boerner
February 18, 2026

Vanderbilt Health remembers C. Leon Partain, former chair of Radiology

A Tennessee native, C. Leon Partain is celebrated for being instrumental in bringing the first MRI and PET/CT machines to the Medical Center.

By Derek Scancarelli
C. difficile bacteria (image courtesy of CDC/Jennifer Oosthuizen)
February 18, 2026

Vanderbilt research offers new hope for preventing repeated C. diff infections

Treatment options are limited for the more than 500,000 people in the U.S. who are diagnosed annually with C. diff infections, but researchers are working on potential vaccines, therapeutic antibodies and — most recently — nanobodies, to prevent and treat C. diff infections.

By Bill Snyder
February 18, 2026

Novel vaccine protects against C. diff disease and recurrence

New study represents a major step forward for vaccine development for C. diff, the leading cause of health care- and antibiotic-associated infection.

By Leigh MacMillan
February 18, 2026

Patient with melanoma receives tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte therapy

The highly personalized treatment is currently approved for patients with advanced stages of melanoma whose tumors have grown despite immunotherapies and/or targeted therapies.

By Tom Wilemon
February 13, 2026

30 years of changing health care culture: How Vanderbilt Health’s CPPA pioneered professional accountability 

Three decades later, CPPA is a cornerstone of health care culture transformation, around the U.S. and the world reaching hundreds of thousands of clinicians.

By Holly Fletcher
February 13, 2026

Anti-Marburg antibody from Vanderbilt Health sent to Ethiopia during outbreak

There currently are no approved treatments or vaccines to protect against the infection, which can cause internal bleeding, organ failure, and in roughly 50% of cases, death.
By Bill Snyder
February 13, 2026

Aaron Williams a ‘pioneer’ on 2026 TIME100 Health list of influential leaders

Williams helped lead the team that developed a method to preserve donor hearts for up to 12 hours — triple the typical four-hour window.
By Holly Fletcher
February 12, 2026

Vanderbilt Health celebrates milestone for novel histotripsy procedure 

Appealing to patients for its noninvasive nature, it avoids many of the traditional drawbacks of surgeries that use incisions, including pain management. 
By Evan Dorian
February 11, 2026

Vaccination cuts risk of COVID-19 respiratory failure or death by 80%

Researchers at Vanderbilt Health and around the country continue to evaluate the effectiveness of vaccines approved by the Food and Drug Administration to reduce the severity and lethality of respiratory infections caused by the ever-mutating SARS-CoV-2 virus.
By Bill Snyder
February 11, 2026

Heart preservation technique increases pool of organs available for transplant

The technique, termed REUP (rapid recovery with extended ultraoxygenated preservation), avoids traditional methods that reanimate the heart within or outside the donor’s body.
By Matt Batcheldor
February 10, 2026

Wife of cholangiocarcinoma patient makes gift in honor of husband

After moving to Nashville in 2011, Sallie and John chose Vanderbilt Health for their care because they valued being part of a teaching hospital.
By Camille Amadeo Savell
February 9, 2026

AI finds patient-level statin barriers in clinical notes

A novel AI framework found documented intolerance to statins in 6.4% of all adult patients, contraindications in 0.7%, and statin deferral in 2.9%.
By Paul Govern