April 2011
writing contest
Mar. 28, 2011—
Medicine! Mayhem! Murder! redux
Mar. 28, 2011—A. Scott Pearson, M.D., associate professor of Surgery, has published a new medical thriller, a follow-up to Pearson’s well-received 2009 book “Rupture,” which has just been released in paperback. “Public Anatomy” has the same central character as “Rupture,” Memphis surgeon Eli Branch, and, as Branch is drawn further into the labyrinthine plot, a knowledge of...
A Legacy of Lifesaving
Mar. 28, 2011—Cheryl Major, R.N., may have saved more babies than anyone in the state of Tennessee. Some of them she has saved in person as a neonatal nurse. Many more she has saved by providing lifesaving skills to others who care for fragile newborns.
Reaching for the stars
Mar. 28, 2011—I am a total astronomy geek. In elementary school, I cleaned out the school library’s supply of astronomy books, many of which, I later learned, were at least 10 years old and spectacularly inaccurate. For example, even by 1966, it was well known that there was no chance that Venus had a planetwide boiling sea,...
Unique three-stage spine surgery saves woman’s life
Mar. 28, 2011—Judy Kerns was facing a one-of-a-kind problem. Here’s how she put it: her head had fallen off her neck. You would expect a medical professional to put this in more scientific terms, but Matthew McGirt, M.D., uses pretty much the same words as his patient: “Her head had literally fallen off her spine, and it was a miracle she wasn’t paralyzed,” said the assistant professor of Neurosurgery.
From renal nurse to renal patient
Mar. 28, 2011—For 10 years Janice Dalton worked as a renal transplant/dialysis nurse at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. In 2003, at the age of 54, she was diagnosed with renal failure, placed on dialysis and told she would need a kidney transplant.
Call for Entries: House Organ Writing Contest
Mar. 3, 2011—27th Annual House Organ Writing Contest Deadline May 9 For the 27th year, the July House Organ will be the Summer Reading Issue, filled with the winners of the House Organ Writing Contest—poems, short stories and nonfiction pieces contributed by Vanderbilt staff, faculty and students. Every year demonstrates that Vanderbilt has a lot of people...