Latest IMPH Community News

Wei Zheng, MD, PhD, MPH, Anne Potter Wilson Professor of Medicine, has been named associate director for Population Sciences Research at Vanderbilt- Ingram Cancer Center (VICC). Zheng, chief of the Division of Epidemiology and director of the Vanderbilt Epidemiology Center, replaces William Blot, PhD, who retired from the leadership position on April 1 but will continue to serve in a professor emeritus role.

A study by Vanderbilt researchers that analyzed both smoking history and genetic risk variants for lung cancer supports modifying current guidelines to include additional smokers for lung cancer screening.

The Vanderbilt Institute for Global Health (VIGH) has received a new research grant from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke and Fogarty International Center of the NIH to establish a large childhood status epilepticus (SE) cohort in northern Nigeria with key partners Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital (AKTH) and Bayero University, and with the Sydney Brenner Institute for Molecular Bioscience at the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) in South Africa.

A Vanderbilt University Medical Center investigator is hoping to improve access to HIV testing in South Africa, where more than 7 million people are known to have the virus, by training traditional healers to perform the tests. Carolyn Audet, PhD, assistant professor of Health Policy in the Department of Health Policy and Institute for Global Health, has partnered with Ryan Wagner, PhD, a research fellow at the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa, to develop a novel HIV testing strategy for individuals living in rural communities

Sean Collins, MD, MSci, professor of Emergency Medicine, has taken on new leadership roles in the Vanderbilt Coordinating Center (VCC) and the Vanderbilt Institute for Medicine and Public Health (IMPH).

Delirium, a form of acute brain dysfunction, is widespread in critically ill patients in lower resourced hospitals, and the duration of delirium predicted both mortality and disability at six months after discharge, according to a study published in PLOS ONE.

Matthew Bret Weinger, Norman Ty Smith Chair in Patient Safety and Medical Simulation and professor of anesthesiology was elected as one of the 2020 fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science for his distinguished contributions to the fields of human factors, clinician performance, and patient safety.

Wesley Self, MD, MPH, has been appointed Vice President for Clinical Research Networks and Strategy at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.