Looking up
Aug. 31, 2011—There is a list, famous among astronomers, of 110 faint objects in the night sky, first cataloged by French astronomer Charles Messier in the 18th century. A “Messier marathon” is when astronomers begin at dusk and work until dawn, hoping to locate every single one, searching amid the field of stars for each elusive light...
Years of Service
Aug. 31, 2011—The combined Medical Center and University Service Awards will be held Tuesday, Sept. 13, from 3 to 5 p.m. in Langford Auditorium. Those being honored this year are staff with five, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40, 45, 50, 55 and 60 (!) years of service.
Appointments now open for annual inspections of lead-lined shields
Aug. 5, 2011—Vanderbilt’s Department of Radiology is offering free annual inspections of lead-lined aprons, vest, skirts/kilts, thyroid collars, gonadal shields, gloves, and vinyl-type mobile shielding every Thursday from Sept. 29 to Nov. 10, from 3:30 to 9 p.m. Appointments should be made for this service by Sept. 15. These inspections are mandatory; the Tennessee Department of Health...
VUMC wins state commendation for sharps injuries
Aug. 5, 2011—Vanderbilt University Medical Center has been awarded a special commendation from the Tennessee Occupational Safety and Health Administration (TOSHA) for reduction in sharps injuries. The Occupational Health Clinic monitors sharps injuries and facilitates projects to improve safety based on injury patterns. Among the projects leading to the commendation were an effort to require safety devices...
Days of miracle and wonder
Aug. 4, 2011—Normally, parents don’t rejoice at the sight of a wet diaper. But this situation was different, because Jada Daves knew if her toddler son Shafer’s diaper was wet, that would mean his new kidney was working, which would mean his transplant was successful. And it meant even more to Jada, because only hours earlier, the...
Fur, smiles and tears
Aug. 4, 2011—A celebrity had entered the concourse at Vanderbilt Health One Hundred Oaks, causing quite a sensation. Eyes wide and mouths gaping open, onlookers young and old stopped in their tracks to gawk at the visitor, and many whipped out cell phones to snap a photo. But then they started asking questions a starlet would never...
Healing of body, and mind
Aug. 4, 2011—Ashley Tauriac, M.D., invested four years of her life, and miles of neurons to learn the practice of medicine. Then she nearly lost it all. On Friday, May 14, 2010, she graduated from Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, feeling a bit feverish during the ceremony. By the Monday after her graduation, Tauriac developed a headache...
Of JFK, U2, telephones and security
Aug. 4, 2011—President John F. Kennedy spoke at Vanderbilt Stadium on May 18, 1963. It was a large and appreciative crowd. U2 played a concert at Vanderbilt Stadium on July 2, 2011. It was also a large and appreciative crowd. I don’t mean to imply an equivalency between a president and a rock band, but I was...
2011 Poetry honorable mention
Jun. 28, 2011—Bubbles by Jennifer Dix, Center in Molecular Toxicology Let’s play bubbles, she says You blow, me chase I oblige her simple wish And watch her run Chasing gleaming transparent spheres Deliberately bursting them with Two toddler fingers Extended just so Come back, she calls When one escapes into the sun She giggles a tinkling sound Golden...
Summer Reading 2011
Jun. 28, 2011—The House Organ Writing Contest has been held since 1985, and has published poems, fiction and nonfiction by staff and faculty every July since then; the Summer Reading Issue is part of a Medical Center tradition. And, once again, the quality of the entries again presented ample evidence that Vanderbilt is full of writers walking...