2025
A specialized Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (PM&R) clinic for Moderate-to-Severe Acquired Brain Injury is staffed by a PM&R doctor, a team of therapists and a teacher who helps students get back to school successfully after recovering from their injury.
Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt has announced plans to create Tennessee’s first inpatient pediatric rehabilitation unit to keep the state’s children closer to home while recovering from life-altering illnesses or injuries.
Barton Huddleston, MD, appointed to State Rehabilitation Council.
Rehabilitation for Nerve Transfers of the Upper Extremity: A Clinical Manual, was published by Springer Nature as a result of a multicenter three-year project that Jennifer Q. Farrar, OTR/L, CHT, COMT, was a part of to help patients who have nerve transfer surgery after brachial plexus injuries have an optimal rehabilitation. Jennifer was the author of four chapters in the manual.
The department had a strong showing at the IPSIS meeting in September 2025!
- W. Evan Rivers, DO hosted a talk during the influential papers session alongside Taylor R. Burnham, DO, MS regarding a paper on multifidus stimulation vs. optimum medical management.
- D.J. Kennedy, MD participated in an "Ask the Experts" session on Challenging Cases and Pearls Case.
- Jihong Min, MD, spine fellow, won the Best Resident Research Abstract — Imaging in Lumbosacral TFESI.
- Byron Schneider, MD was re-appointed as Standards Division chair of the IPSIS!
2024
The NIH formed the National Commission on Lymphatic Diseases (NCLD), which commenced in Dec 2023! PM&R's own Dr. Paula Donahue is a member of this commission. This is a huge win for the field of lymphatics.
Dr. D.J. Kennedy is featured in two articles: March 20, 2024 article in Next Avenue/PBS "Coccydynia: A Pain in the Tail" by Laurie Saloman Read article here.
2023
Dr. Jeffery Johns has been invited to become an Associate Editor of the Journal of Spinal Cord Medicine, the official journal of the Academy of Spinal Cord Injury Professionals.
Congratulations to Jacob Jeffers for passing his brain injury subspecialty board exams. Along with Drs. Plummer and Martin, Dr. Jeffers is the third physician in the VUMC Department of PM&R with this certification out of only eight in the state of Tennessee.
Dr. CJ Plummer was selected to be part of the 2023 class of the AAP’s Program for Academic Leadership (PAL). This is a highly competitive training program for academic leaders and a great honor. Congratulations!
Kudos to Dr. Jeff Johns as co-author of the article, "Baseline characteristics and outcomes for people with and without COVID-19 diagnoses receiving Inpatient Rehabilitation Care across the US in 2020-2021" in the Archives of Rehabilitation Research and Clinical Translation Volume 5, Issue 3 - September 2023, 100281. Read article here.
Dr. Jeffery Johns has been invited to become an Associate Editor of the Journal of Spinal Cord Medicine, the official journal of the Academy of Spinal Cord Injury Professionals.
Congratulations to Jacob Jeffers for passing his brain injury subspecialty board exams. Along with Drs. Plummer and Martin, Dr. Jeffers is the third physician in the VUMC Department of PM&R with this certification out of only 8 in the state of Tennessee.
Dr. CJ Plummer was selected to be part of the 2023 class of the AAP’s Program for Academic Leadership (PAL). This is a highly competitive training program for academic leaders and a great honor. Congratulations!
2022
PM&R’s own Dr. Mosi Jones acted as a session moderator and a session speaker at the American Academy of Neuromuscular and Electrodiagnostic Medicine (AANEM) Annual Meeting in Nashville September 21-24, 2022. Along with Dr. Jones, Vanderbilt colleagues Drs. Lauren Porras, Stephen Schaaf and Byron Schneider also participated in the session, “An Update on MSK Injections and Injectables." The session included thoughtful discussions on topics such as "Orthobiologic: The Role of Corticosteroid Injections, Local Anesthetic Chondrotoxicity, and The Importance of Using Ultrasound Guidance When Doing These Injections." #AANEM .
PM&R's own Dr. Aaron Yang was named an Inaugural member of the Vanderbilt Academy for Excellence in Clinical Medicine Excellence (AECM). The AECM was created in 2021 by leaders of Vanderbilt University Medical Center and Vanderbilt University School of Medicine to recognize and advance exceptional patient care.
VUMC PM&R Resident PGY4's Drs. Devon Shannon, Paige Chase and Bailey Frei, along with Education Faculty Member Aaron Yang, published their findings in the PM&R Journal (July 18, 2024) looking at which medical schools produce the most PM&R residents.
The NIH formed the National Commission on Lymphatic Diseases (NCLD), which commenced in Dec 2023! PM&R's own Dr. Paula Donahue is a member of this commission. This is a huge win for the field of lymphatics. To read more, click here.
PM&R’s own Dr. Mosi Jones acted as a session moderator and a session speaker at the American Academy of Neuromuscular and Electrodiagnostic Medicine (AANEM) Annual Meeting in Nashville September 21-24, 2022. Along with Dr. Jones, Vanderbilt colleagues Drs. Lauren Porras, Stephen Schaaf and Byron Schneider also participated in the session, “An Update on MSK Injections and Injectables." The session included thoughtful discussions on topics such as "Orthobiologic: The Role of Corticosteroid Injections, Local Anesthetic Chondrotoxicity, and The Importance of Using Ultrasound Guidance When Doing These Injections." #AANEM.
PM&R's own Dr. Aaron Yang was named an Inaugural member of the Vanderbilt Academy for Excellence in Clinical Medicine Excellence (AECM). The AECM was created in 2021 by leaders of Vanderbilt University Medical Center and Vanderbilt University School of Medicine to recognize and advance exceptional patient care.
Dr. Paula Donahue and her collaborators are pleased to announce the publication of their work, "3.0 T relaxation time measurements of human lymph nodes in adults with and without lymphatic insufficiency: Implications for magnetic resonance lymphatic imaging" in the Journal of NMR Biomed.