We'd like to formally welcome our newest member of the Department, Assistant Professor Michael Richards! We've developed the "Five Questions" interview to help us get to know Michael and the rest of our new incoming faculty members.   Five Questions with Michael Richards   Department: What drew you to the Department of Health Policy at Vanderbilt?

From healthaffairs.org:  As Medicaid marks its 50th year in existence, and enrollment surpasses 70 million people, the July 2015 issue of Health Affairs includes a collection of papers focused on how the program is shaped by and has reshaped care delivery. You are invited to join us on Wednesday, July 8, 2015, at a forum featuring authors from the new issue at the National Press Club in Washington, DC. Panels will cover primary care, complex populations, payment, and coverage.

Stephen Patrick, M.D., MPH, assistant professor of Pediatrics and Health Policy in the Division of Neonatology with the Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt, recently testified before congress about the rise in neonatal abstinence syndrome. Speaking before the U.S. House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health, Patrick said that the condition — which now accounts for an estimated $1.5 billion in annual health care expenditures — is tied to the growing number of prescription opioids being used in the United States.

One of our newest incoming faculty members, Gilbert Gonzales, was recently published in The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) - click below for the full research letter! Abstract:

A new study led by Vanderbilt University Medical Center investigators found new diagnoses of prostate cancer in the U.S. declined 28 percent in the year following the draft recommendation from the United States Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) against routine PSA screening for men. The new research, led by first author Daniel Barocas, M.D., MPH, assistant professor of urological surgery and medicine, was posted online in the June 15 issue of The Journal of Urology in advance of publication.

by Matt Batcheldor | Monday, Jun. 22, 2015 New Vanderbilt-led research shows hospitals are doing a better job of using antibiotics less commonly associated with antibiotic resistance to treat children hospitalized with community-acquired pneumonia (CAP). Dr. Carlos Grijalva is quoted.

The Department's adjunct clinical faculty member, Dr. Timothy Jones, has accepted CDC’s nomination to become the new MMWR Editorial Board Chair. Dr. Jones completed medical school at Stanford University and a residency in Family Medicine and a Maternal/Child Health Fellowship at the Brown University/Memorial Hospital of Rhode Island program. He practiced in an underserved population in Utah before joining the CDC’s Epidemic Intelligence Service in 1997.

A recent paper, entitled, “Multistate point-prevalence survey of health care-associated infections,” published on March 2014 in the New England Journal of Medicine, and co-authored by the Department's Marion Kainer, has received the CDC’s 2015 Charles C. Shepard Science Award in the Assessment category. It was selected from among 23 excellent papers nominated in this category from across the agency. This is a great honor, and a testament to the outstanding work done by you and your colleagues on this project!