Dr. Jane Freedman will succeed Wright Pinson as Deputy CEO and Chief Health System Officer in July 2025.

Researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and the University of Calgary, co-led by Dr. Xingyi Guo (Epidemiology), have developed a novel computational genetics approach to enhance the discovery of disease risk genes.

Researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, including Department of Medicine Drs. Alex Bick (senior author), Brett Heimlich, Brent Ferrell, Ashwin Kishtagari and Michael Savona, have identified key factors that contribute to the clonal growth of abnormal blood cells experienced by roughly one in 10 people over age 70.

Eleven current Vanderbilt University faculty members are included in the 2024 list of “Highly Cited Researchers” around the world whose papers have been cited most frequently by other scientists.

Information was gathered by investigators with the Reproductive Health After Cancer Diagnosis and Treatment (REACT) study, an initiative led by Andreana Holowatyj, PhD, MSCI, Assistant Professor of Medicine, Division of Epidemiology.

Three grants, totaling over $22 million, were awarded by the National Institutes of Health’s National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute and will be led by a team of VUMC investigators, including Department of Medicine Drs. Jonathan Kropski and Margaret Salisbury.

The data collected will be utilized to analyze the impact of exposures such as air pollution, excessive heat, water pollution and “forever chemicals” as well as behavioral and inherited factors on human health.

The V Foundation for Cancer Research has awarded a $600,000 grant to Tae Kon Kim, MD, PhD, assistant professor of Medicine (Hematology and Oncology). Kim and colleagues will study whether this protein hinders the ability of the immune system to fight MDS and whether it can be blocked to treat MDS.

Russell Rothman, MD, MPP (Internal Medicine and Public Health), is first author of a study recently published in JAMA Network Open that found montelukast, a drug commonly prescribed to prevent and treat asthma and exercise-induced bronchoconstriction, does not speed recovery from symptoms of mild to moderate COVID-19.

Anna Person, MD, professor of Medicine in the Division of Infectious Diseases, is the recipient of the 2024 Clinical Teacher Award from the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA).