Latest IMPH Community News

Sunil Kripalani, MD, MSc, professor of Medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, has been appointed director of the Vanderbilt Center for Health Services Research The center, a critical component of the Institute for Medicine and Public Health (IMPH), engages with more than 160 scientists and other professionals across VUMC to conduct research and discover, implement and disseminate workable solutions for modern-day problems in health care delivery, health care quality and patient-centered outcomes.

The IVY Research Network has completed initial studies evaluating the epidemiology of COVID-19 in health care workers and patients.

“Mrs. Croft, I truly regret that I’m calling you about a covid-19 research program only an hour after your husband, John, died of his coronavirus infection. None of us know what you are feeling, and we want you to know how immensely sorry we are for all that you and your family are going through.

Vanderbilt University Medical Center investigators are leading a new study that examines the transmission of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, within households in Nashville. The study funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) aims to understand how fast the infections spread within households and the factors that may be associated with that transmission. This is one of few longitudinal studies in the country that will examine coronavirus infections among close contacts.

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

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.