Vanderbilt TB Center News

VUMC investigators and staff, Timothy Sterling, Yuri van der Heijden, Stephany Duda, Marina Figueiredo, Fernanda Mauri, Megan Turner, Maria Arriaga, and Austin Katona; attended the annual RePORT International meeting that was held in Goa, India September 6, 7 and 8, 2023.

Prof. Gavin Churchyard, CEO; Mr. Arshad Hassim, CFO; and Dr. Violet Chihota, Chief Specialist Scientist of the Aurum Institute, visited VUMC from August 21st to August 25th. Their visit strengthens the ongoing collaborative partnership between the two institutions, which is focused on research and global health. Included in the visit were a variety of strategic planning meetings, programmatic evaluations, and a presentation at ID Grand Rounds by Dr. Violet Chihota.

Vanderbilt Tuberculosis Center recently hosted a meeting of researchers involved in our TB/HIV grant "Predictors of treatment toxicity, failure, and relapse in HIV-related tuberculosis" (NIH R01AI120790-04). The event, which took place on April 26th and 27th, included presentations on the results and findings of each working group, breakout sessions, and discussions on future steps to be taken and larger goals of the research.

The Regional Prospective Observational Research for Tuberculosis (RePORT) - Brazil Semi Annual Meeting was held October 17th through October 21st in Salvador, Bahia. Investigators and staff from throughout the network participated in a variety of workshops, presentations, and collaborative planning sessions, both in-person and from remote locations. 

VUMC investigators and staff, Timothy Sterling, Yuri van der Heijden, Stephany Duda, Marina Figueiredo, Fernanda Mauri, Megan Turner, and Austin Katona; attended the annual RePORT International meeting that was held in Cape Town, South Africa, September 7 and 8, 2022. The meeting included all seven regions of RePORT: Brazil, China, South Africa, South Korea, India, Indonesia, and the Philippines. It was a successful meeting full of presentations and collaborative discussions.

Nancy Séraphin, MPH, PhD, Research Assistant Professor in the Department of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases and Global Medicine (IDGM), and the Emerging Pathogens Institute (EPI) at the University of Florida visited VUMC between June 13th-15th. Her visit was highlighted by meetings with the TB Center team, collaborative discussions with researchers at VUMC, and the presentation of a guest lecture entitled: "The public health importance of Mycobacterium tuberculosis intra-host genetic variability”.

Vanderbilt Tuberculosis Center recently hosted a meeting of researchers involved in our LTBI R01 project “Immunogenetic predictors of active and incipient TB in HIV-negative and -positive close TB contacts” (NIH R01AI147765). The event, which took place between May 31st and June 2nd, included presentations about ongoing research and initial data, working group sessions, and breakout meetings.

Al Leslie, Farina Karim and Lerato Ndlovu, from the Africa Health Research Institute (AHRI) visited VUMC between March 2nd and March 6th, 2020. The VTC partners with the Durban site (AHRI) of the RePORT-South Africa network.

Vanderbilt investigators and staff, Timothy Sterling, Marina Figueiredo, and Megan Turner, attended the 4th Annual RePORT International meeting that was held outside of Shanghai, China, September 12-14, 2018. The meeting included all six regions of RePORT: Brazil, China, South Africa, India, Indonesia, and the Philippines.

On Friday, April 27th the TB Center hosted the 2018 Symposium, "Cutting-Edge Translational Research in Tuberculosis". The symposium was attended by Vanderbilt faculty, staff, and students, as well as TN Department of Health and Metro Nashville Health Department members.
 
 We heard from a variety of speakers, who came from Nashville, Cincinnati, Seattle, and Brazil!
 
 Thomas Hawn, MD, PhD- "Macrophages and resistance to M.tuberculosis infection"

The Metro Nashville Public Health Department organized a wonderful event for World TB Day on Friday, March 23, 2018. The event featured talks on the history of TB in Nashville and current epidemiology, connecting health equity and TB, and how to better serve Nashville's refugee community. At the close of the event, a short film, "Tubercules!" was premiered, highlighting the Metro Nashville TB Clinic staff and their tireless efforts to end TB in Nashville.
 
 Thanks for hosting us and for a fun and informative day!