Blog Posts

Vikram Bansal, MD, and Jeffrey Clemmons, MD, both won the American Society of Regional Anesthesia (ASRA) Pain Medicine's Excellence in Education Award. Both doctors say it is humbling to have received such a prestigious award. This is a national award that recognizes physician members at the instructor or assistant professor level who have demonstrated innovation and success in education and have been attending physicians for a minimum of five years.

Braden Hestermann, MD, joined the Department of Anesthesiology at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in September of 2021 as an Assistant Professor of Clinical Anesthesiology. He joined the department through the Military-Civilian Training Program and remains on Active Duty in the U.S. Army. “I truly believe that a majority of physicians in the military should be incorporated to hospitals around the country and be allowed to serve in a similar capacity to reservists while on active duty,” he said.

Michael Hof, MD, PhD, has joined Vanderbilt University Medical Center in October 2020 as an Associate Professor of Clinical Anesthesiology. He practices both Multispecialty Adult Anesthesiology and Neuroanesthesiology. While he has a special interest in neuroanesthesia, Hof has managed to keep an interest in many areas of anesthesia. “I work in critical care as well as in emergency medicine, just as I love pediatric and obstetric anesthesia,” he said. “All types of clinical work are interesting to me.”

Tiffany Brainerd, MD, a pediatric anesthesiologist, has joined Vanderbilt University Medical Center. She is a former Harvard faculty and now shares time between VUMC and Colorado, where she pursues mountain rescue. Brainerd’s clinical interests include international education and ultrasound technology, including regional nerve blocks, point-of-care, and austere applications.

By Jenelle Grewell Several studies in the Department of Anesthesiology have received NIH grants. These studies cover a wide-range of topics and showcase the variety and scope of research in our department. Jerod Denton, PhD, was awarded a four-year NIH grant for his study on whether inhibitory drugs that act specifically on Kir6.1/SUR2B are an effective therapy for patent ductus arteriosus (PDA) in newborns. This study is in collaboration with Elaine Shelton, PhD, in Pediatrics, who studies molecular mechanisms that underlie PDA in newborns.

By Jenelle Grewell Vanderbilt University Medical Center is expanding throughout the Middle Tennessee region, and one of the most recent locations to open is in Belle Meade. Vanderbilt Health Belle Meade opened on Monday, Jan. 18, 2021. This outpatient surgery center is combined with a surgical clinic and infusion center.

On Sunday, Dec. 13, the Sandbergs hosted a Holiday Drive-Thru event where participants donned their masks and enjoyed the holiday lights, decorations, and music of the Sandberg home from the safety of their vehicles. Adult participants received gifts such as candied apples and a catered cheese plate while children received age appropriate gifts such as books, stuffed animals, gingerbread houses, and candy.

Matthew B. Weinger, MD, was recently named the recipient of the 2020 A. R. Lauer Safety Award by the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society (HFES). This award recognizes a person for outstanding contributions to human factors aspects in the broad area of safety. “I am truly honored to be recognized by the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society for this award,” Weinger said.

Before June, VUMC had a big problem with big beds: they don’t fit in all of the hospital’s operating rooms. Scheduling mishaps were discovered the hard way, right at the operating room door, causing delays and headaches for patients and clinicians. However, as of June 24, VUMC solved that problem through a collaboration between the eStar OpTime/Anesthesia team and our perioperative services leadership.