Vanderbilt’s Trans-Institutional Programs (TIPs) investments fund programs devoted to discovery and learning with an “interdisciplinary” approach that addresses society’s most pressing problems. It's a centerpiece of the university’s Academic Strategic Plan. This year, TIPs has funded the project Soldier-Inspired Innovation Incubator for Discovering Research-Based Solutions in Vanderbilt Re-Investment Awards (VRA) category. Project faculty are from the School of Engineering, College of Arts and Science, Peabody College, School of Medicine – Clinical, and Owen Graduate School of Management. Project researcher, Sean Collin, MD, is Professor and Executive Vice Chairman for Research and Director of the Center for Emergency Care Research and Innovation at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Project lead, Douglas Adams, Ph.D., is Daniel F. Flowers Professor, Distinguished Professor, Chair of Civil and Environmental Engineering, and Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Vanderbilt University.

The Vanderbilt Institute for Clinical and Translational Research (VICTR) and RTI International, a non-profit clinical research organization based in North Carolina, have been named Administrative Coordinating Center (ACC) of a national effort to st

Early data assessing the primary language of those who received COVID-19 tests at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, and tested positive, illustrates the disproportionate impact the pandemic is having on racial or ethnic communities. Of the first 18,491 patients tested for the novel coronavirus, 1,063 speak 37 languages other than English, according to analysis of electronic health records by VUMC’s Office of Health Equity. Although this group represents 5.7% of those tested, they are 19.4% of those positive and the highest number reside in two adjacent Nashville ZIP codes.

The Outcomes Related to COVID-19 Treated with Hydroxychloroquine among In-patients with Symptomatic Disease (ORCHID) trial stopped enrolling new patients based on the fourth scheduled interim analysis showing no evidence of benefit or harm.

People with cancer sickened by COVID-19 have a crude death rate of 13%, according to the largest series of data released thus far from a multinational perspective. The data on more than 900 patients, published May 28 in The Lancet and simultaneously presented at ASCO20 Virtual, also revealed cancer-specific factors associated with increased mortality.

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.

Out of the electronic health records (EHRs) of patients seen at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, a team in the Department of Biomedical Informatics is creating a COVID-19 patient registry as a platform for research.

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.

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.