Five Department of Medicine faculty are among the 17 leaders across VUMC honored for their expertise in clinical care, research, education and administration.

A real-world learning health system was established at VUMC a decade ago. Now, the National Human Genome Research Institute is awarding two five-year grants totaling $12 million to support VUMC’s participation in, and coordination of, a genomic-enabled learning health system (gLHS) network.

According to a study published in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine by Tina Hartert, MD, MPH (Allergy, Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine), and colleagues, children who were raised in areas negatively affected by a government housing policy from the 1930s known as ‘redlining’ are still paying a price in the form of higher risk of developing asthma.

Alexander Bick, MD, PhD, a physician-scientist at Vanderbilt University Medical Center who is internationally known for his research on the genetics of blood disorders, has been named director of VUMC’s Division of Genetic Medicine, effective Oct. 1.

Dr. Aldrich uses population-based cohorts and biobanks to investigate lung cancer; her research informed guidelines for lung cancer screening.

Jennifer Lewis, MD, MPH, and Lucy Spalluto, MD, MPH, are the recipients of the 2024 VAQS Team Award for work they began in 2017.

The clinic, led by Drs. Elizabeth Phillips and Cosby Stone, has seen groundbreaking discoveries in personalized care and diagnosis for allergy, especially delayed drug allergy, and has advanced discoveries in the optimal process to test patients for drug allergies.

Kelly Dooley, MD, PhD, MPH, Addison B. Scoville Jr. Professor of Medicine and director of the Division of Infectious Diseases, has received a MERIT Award (Method to Extend Research in Time Award) from the NIH's National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID). One of 15 MERIT awards that will be issued by the NIAID this year, this new grant serves to expand an ongoing international TB prevention trial to include pregnant women, children and people receiving certain drugs for HIV infection.

VUMC researchers found that peptides modified by highly reactive compounds called isolevuglandins activated T cells and promoted hypertension in mice. Their first-ever isolation of such peptides is a step toward potentially intervening in this pathologic process.

The award program “recognizes hospitals participating in the registry who have demonstrated sustained, top-level performance in quality of care and adherence to guideline recommendations.”