Encouragement, resilience and passion were the key messages at the recent Meharry-Vanderbilt Alliance (MVA) summit for black men interested in health professions titled “Navigating the Pre-Health Path.”

Nashville Predators players Pekka Rinne, left, and Ryan Johansen talk with Samantha Mortagua during a recent visit with patients and families at Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt. Members of the team stopped by the hospital the day before their home opener at Bridgestone Arena against the Calgary Flames.

Anne Marie Tharpe, PhD, might not have become a worldwide authority on pediatric hearing loss if she hadn’t been looking for something to do during study hall in her high school years in Memphis. One day, she and a friend volunteered to work in a classroom with deaf children.

Lily Hensiek, diagnosed with pre B cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia 10 years ago at age 7, has helped raise $1 million, through community fundraisers and individual donors, to create two funds to support pediatric cancer research and training at Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt. The funds are the Lily’s Garden Endowed Lecture in Childhood Cancer and the Lily’s Garden Research Fund.

About 300 employees made donations and filled multiple LP PENCIL Box yellow bins with paper, pencils, crayons and other supplies

More than 5,000 people gathered for the Arrington Vineyards Harvest Party on Saturday, Aug. 11, to benefit Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt. The daylong event, now in its seventh year, featured wine tastings, food trucks and a concert by country music star Kix Brooks.

Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt celebrated the arrival of San Diego Zoo Kids with a launch celebration last week, making it the 150th facility to offer the closed-circuit television channel to patients.