News

In March 1966 at a Medical Committee for Human Rights convention, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. stated: “Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in health care is the most shocking and inhumane...” In recognition of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day on Monday, January 18, a few faculty members in the Department of Biomedical Informatics (DBMI) shared their thoughts on how biomedical informatics plays an important role in improving health equity for all. 

Teams mounting separate clinical trials at Vanderbilt University Medical Center sought to form research cohorts on two rare, life-threatening adverse drug reactions: drug-induced torsade de pointes (an arrythmia) and Stevens-Johnson syndrome/toxic epidermal necrolysis.

The COVID-19 vaccines are here and employees within the Department of Biomedical Informatics (DBMI) are signing up! On Sunday, December 20, 2020, Yaa Kumah-Crystal, MD, Assistant Professor in DBMI and Pediatric Endocrinology, received her first COVID-19 vaccine injection. She described the experience as a "very smooth process." 

Dr. Kevin Johnson, DBMI Chair, and Elizabeth Brown, DBMI Chief Business Officer would like to extend their welcome to the new employees that have joined the department this year.  Welcome to: Danyel Campbell

In low- and middle-income countries, free, open-source facial recognition software could provide an economical solution for verifying patient identity across health care settings, according to a study by Martin Were, MD, MS, and colleagues, appearing in the International Journal of Medical Informatics.

Zhijun Yin, PhD, assistant professor of Biomedical Informatics at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, has received the National Cancer Institute’s Method to Extend Research in Time Award (or MERIT Award) for Early Stage Investigators. See Paul Governs full article here.

The COVID-19 national emergency has led to surging care demand and the need for unprecedented telehealth expansion. Rapid telehealth expansion can be especially complex for pediatric patients. From the experience of a large academic medical center, this report describes a pathway for efficiently increasing capacity of remote pediatric enrollment for telehealth while fulfilling privacy, security, and convenience concerns. To see the JAMIA article click here.

REDCap, a software application created and developed at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, has found widespread use in the public health response to the COVID-19 pandemic. For the full VUMC Reporter article, click here.

Laurie Novak, PhD, MHSA, assistant professor of Biomedical Informatics, served as one of 15 members of NAM’s Committee on the Health and Medical Dimensions of Social Isolation and Loneliness in Older Adults. For the full article, click here.