Vanderbilt TB Center News

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!

Yuri van der Heijden, MD, MPH, will present an abstract at the 22nd International Workshop on HIV and Hepatitis Observational Databases (IWHOD) March 22-24, 2018, titled "Differences in ascertainment of tuberculosis resistance according to four patient-matching strategies using programmatic laboratory data in South Africa".

Heather Ewing, MA(c), MPH(c), presented her MPH thesis on Friday, March 2, titled "Knowledge of Tuberculosis is Associated with Greater Expression of Stigma in Brazil". This project stemmed from a Vanderbilt Trans-Institutional Program grant (TIPs), which focused on healthcare in Brazil.

On Monday, February 19, 2018, Paul Farmer, M.D., Ph.D., of Partners in Health (PIH), spent the day at Vanderbilt lecturing and meeting with faculty, staff and students. Members of the Division of Infectious Diseases were fortunate enough to meet with Dr. Farmer in a small group setting, discussing our current global projects as well as fellows and residents research. It was great to hear his perspectives on our ongoing work and inspiring to meet with such a leader in the field of global health.

This article was published in the Research News @ Vanderbilt online blog. Original publication: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29334197 "When they occur among people living with HIV, certain cancers and opportunistic infections are considered by health authorities as AIDS-defining events, or ADEs.

Thanks to all who braved the cold temperatures to join our January TB Center Meeting on Wednesday, January 17th!

Results from the iAdhere trial conducted through the TB Trials Consortium have been published in the Annals of Internal Medicine. This randomized trial aimed to compare treatment completion and safety of once-weekly isoniazid and rifapentine by self-administration versus direct observation. Enrollment sites were located in the US, Spain, Hong Kong, and South Africa; Vanderbilt and the Metro Nashville Health Department participated in enrollment.

Congratulations to Graeme Meintjes at University of Cape Town on a newly funded D43 training grant from the Fogarty International Center (FIC) titled "HIV-Associated Tuberculosis Training Program (HATTP)". VUMC is excited to be a US partner site for this training grant, along with Johns Hopkins University.

Charles L. Daley, MD, Chief of the Division of Mycobacterial and Respiratory Infections at National Jewish Health in Denver, CO, presented Medicine Grand Rounds today. His talk was sponsored by the M. Glenn Koenig, Visiting Professorship in Infectious Diseases, hosted by the Division of Infectious Disease. During his talk, "Nontuberculous Mycobacteria: What's in a name?", he described the many species of mycobacteria and how they affect disease progression.

The Regional Prospective Observational Research for Tuberculosis (RePORT)- International Annual Meeting was held Tuesday, September 12 through Wednesday, September 13, 2017 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. RePORT-International is now composed of 5 regions: Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, and South Africa.

Chris Fiske, MD, MPH and Spyros Kalams, MD, presented at ID Grand Rounds on Thursday, September 7th. Dr. Fiske presented her work on the host immune response to M.tuberculosis, including a focus on patients with extrapulmonary tuberculosis. Dr. Kalams presented on the immunology of tuberculosis and an ongoing study funded by the NIH and CNPq in Brazil which is attempting to identify an immune signature that predicts active TB disease.

The Vanderbilt Tuberculosis Center turns 5 this year and a celebratory meeting was hosted on August 23rd, 2017. First we heard from Heather Ewing, MPH/MA candidate, who discussed updates from the TIPS (Trans-Institutional Programs) grant on social determinants of health in Brazil.