Jeff Balser’s announcement culminates a career-long journey that began at Vanderbilt in the mid-1980s as a medical student and doctoral dual degree candidate.

The 270-bed Clarksville facility is the newest member of Vanderbilt Health’s network of Regional Hospitals in Tennessee.

More than 100,000 people in the United States are waiting for an organ transplant, and about 13 people die each day waiting.

Hanlon, who joined the Vanderbilt faculty in 2016, succeeds Mary Margaret “Meg” Chren, MD, the department’s inaugural chair.

Being one of the nation’s largest academic medical systems provides a structural advantage. VUMC invests heavily in its own infrastructure for research and training.

He guided a packed audience through a century of history at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine and Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

The new chair celebrated the department’s achievements and growth for the past year and set a vision for the future.