Division of General Internal Medicine and Public Health

Section of Hospital Medicine

The Section of Hospital Medicine within the Division of General Internal Medicine and Public Health at Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) was founded in 2007 and has experienced steady growth since then. 

Excellence in patient care and training

We have a physician and NP/PA teams that provide direct patient care at Vanderbilt, the Tennessee Valley VA Hospital (directly linked with Vanderbilt), and the Stallworth Rehabilitation Hospital. We provide both day and nighttime care, teaching service, consultative medicine services, and focused surgical co-management service at the VA.  

Our practices are equipped with innovative, state-of-the-art electronic medical records to allow for providers, staff and patients to have the information they need to deliver safe, effective care. 

Since part of caring well involves training future providers and advancing knowledge in medicine, the Ambulatory Medicine program fully engages in leadership in medical school and residency education as well as generalizing the discovery of improvements in care. 

Watch the video to learn more about the Hospital at Home program, an initiative from the Department of Medicine and one of the Section of Hospital Medicine's clinical services. 

Developing caring physicians through collaborative education

We are proud of our experienced faculty and actively support their academic development as clinician-educators or physician-scientists. In addition to direct patient care activities, our faculty actively participate across a range of activities that includes:  

  • Medical School education 
  • Residency programming 
  • Quality and safety leadership 
  • Clinical operations leadership 
  • Externally funded research (e.g., VA, NIH, CMS, PCORI) 

Our group additionally benefits from many institutional resources related to Hospital Medicine, including world-class programs in quality improvement research, patient safety, and biomedical informatics.  

Nashville is a thriving and vibrant locale known not only for its music scene, but also as a "healthcare mecca," and we enjoy collaborative relationships with several of the healthcare institutions based here.  

Section Leadership


Russ Ledford, MD

Assistant Professor of Clinical Medicine 
Section Head, Hospital Medicine