Researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center are leading a nationwide study to determine the rate of novel coronavirus infection in U.S. children and their families. The study, named the HEROS (Human Epidemiology and Response to SARS-CoV-2) study and funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), aims to gain insight into how many children ages 1 to 21 have been infected, the percentage of those infected who develop symptoms of COVID-19 and any differences in immune responses to the virus between children and adults within the same household.

by Jake Lowary: Tennessee parents take steps to safeguard opioids at home, an important concern when children are spending more time indoors due to COVID-19 social distancing recommendations. More than 50% of parents who filled a prescription for an opioid in the past five years kept leftover medication in the home, according to poll results. The Vanderbilt Child Health Poll asked a statewide sample of 1,100 Tennessee parents about their concerns related to children and prescription opioids, which include medications like Vicodin and Percocet. Seventy-eight percent of parents said they worry about children becoming addicted to prescription opioids, yet only 32% are concerned about their own children’s opioid use.

The Critical Illness, Brain Dysfunction, and Survivorship (CIBS) Center is studying the cognitive function and physical outcomes of COVID-19 survivors to understand the relationship between COVID-19 and long-term health from the pandemic. It may be that the dementia seen after critical illness, that we already study, could be made worse for COVID-19 patients. Neurotropism of coronaviridae (CoVs) is known to have occurred in both the SARS and MERS epidemics. SARS-CoV-2 closely shares the viral structure and pathobiology of SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV.

The Association for Clinical and Translational Science (ACTS) recently named Christopher J. Lindsell, PhD, Professor of Biostatistics, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, as its president for 2020-2021.

From VUMC Office of Research: "We are pleased to honor you with a VUMC Biomedical Science Impact Award in recognition of your high impact research contributions to Vanderbilt University Medical Center. The award specifically recognizes your 2019 publication in the Journal of the American Medical Association titled “Association of Treatment With Metformin vs Sulfonylurea With Major Adverse Cardiovascular Events Among Patients With Diabetes and Reduced Kidney Function”. In addition, we will present you with a crystal award in honor of this achievement."   

Vanderbilt University Medical Center is playing a key role in a national effort to establish a registry of U.S. health care workers and test whether the anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) will protect them, their patients and their families from COVID-19. The Board of Governors of the non-profit Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) in Washington, D.C., today approved up to $50 million to fund the initiative, known as the Healthcare Worker Exposure Response and Outcomes (HERO) research program, to be led by the Duke Clinical Research Institute (DRCI). Co-chairs of the HERO Steering Committee are Russell Rothman, MD, MPP, VUMC Senior Vice President for Population and Public Health, and Judith Currier, MD, professor of Medicine and chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases at UCLA Medical Center, Santa Monica. Fellow steering committee member Sean Collins, MD, MSCI, professor and executive vice chair of the Department of Emergency Medicine at VUMC, will lead VUMC’s engagement in the HERO study and will serve as the site’s principal investigator. He also is a member of the protocol advisory committee.

"ICU patients need "to have humans around to orient them, to calibrate them, to touch them, to look in their eyes, and make them understand what's happening," Dr. E. Wesley Ely, a professor of medicine and critical care at Vanderbilt University, said. "But that's exactly what the COVID patients won't get because they're all being isolated." Ely said physicians are learning about the specific impact of COVID-19 on post-ICU syndrome from countries that have already had large numbers of cases."

Today, on National Doctors’ Day, Music Row and Nashville’s creative community are coming together to support the Vanderbilt University Medical Center staff through the launch of ‘Gratitunes.’ ‘Gratitunes’ is a consumer-generated music platform to celebrate and thank members of the VUMC family, through the power of music, for their dedication, empathy and unwavering commitment during the COVID-19 pandemic. Brad Paisley will kick-off the program with the first dedicated ‘Gratitune’ from his Instagram today.

A new partnership between Vanderbilt Divinity School and Mental Health and Chaplaincy, a national program of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs’ Veterans Health Administration, will relaunch a doctor of ministry program at Vanderbilt. The program aims to equip chaplains with best practices for providing high-quality, evidence-based care for persons with diverse psychosocial–spiritual needs. “I am excited that we are relaunching our Doctor of Ministry program with this first track on integrative chaplaincy,” said Emilie M. Townes, dean of the Divinity School and the E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Professor of Womanist Ethics and Society. “This track will integrate spirituality and mental health in a hybrid online/in-person class format that engages students who are actively functioning as chaplains. They will be able to apply their coursework to their contexts immediately.”

Edwin Trevathan, MD, MPH, director of the Vanderbilt Institute for Global Health (VIGH), has been appointed to the Advisory Council for the National Institute for Neurological Diseases and Stroke (NINDS) of the National Institutes of Health. Trevathan, the Amos Christie Chair in Global Health and professor of Pediatrics and Neurology, will serve a four-year term on the National Advisory Neurological Disorders and Stroke Council (NANDSC). The advisory council meets three times a year to provide guidance to the NINDS director on programming, reviews and reports on intramural and extramural programs.