News: Departments

Dylan Burnette, PhD, assistant professor of Cell and Developmental Biology at Vanderbilt, uses a structured illumination microscope to capture cancer cells in motion. This advanced microscope shines different patterns of light on a sample to reveal images that are blurred by older microscope designs. The microscope he and other researchers use is housed at the […]

While the risks for many types of cancer increase with age, cancer is not restricted to those of older age. Stephen Huff, the subject of our cover story in this issue of Momentum, was 29 years old when he was diagnosed with lung cancer. He shares his shock at hearing the news, his gratitude about […]

At first glance, it looks like an ordinary workout gym — cardio machines, a running track, even a pool. Then you notice that some people are wearing masks. It’s a Monday morning in the Vanderbilt Dayani Center for Health and Wellness, where three  patients are starting their day. Each was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia […]

Will Mason Moses spent many hours of his college summer vacation baking cookies, brownies, cobblers, doughnuts and cakes and making savory items such as sausage balls, candied bacon, hummus and queso to hand-deliver to oncology nurses at Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt three times a week. The 20-year-old sophomore at Rochester Institute of […]

As a barrel racer, Bari Brooks is accustomed to dealing with a trio of obstacles. The rodeo sport entails staying astride a horse as it careens around three 50-gallon drums arranged in a cloverleaf pattern. After being diagnosed with breast cancer, she had to put the racing on hold and make it past three more […]

Patients with stage IV small cell lung cancer lived longer when given the immunotherapy atezolizumab with chemotherapy, setting the stage for what could become the first new treatment approved in decades for this particularly aggressive form of lung cancer. Results of the study published recently in the New England Journal of Medicine showed that patients […]

Terry Burke was going out on a limb. He planned to hire 30-year-old Curt Thorne for a senior-level position at Cigna. “Son, I’m going to give you an opportunity of a lifetime, and if you make it, you’re going to make it big. And if you don’t, I’m going to fire your ass,” Burke told […]

Centennial High School teacher Stephen Huff vividly remembers the day he came very close to passing out behind the wheel. “It was the day after the final day of school in 2017,” Huff said. “I was on my way home from getting a chest CT scan when my phone rang. It was my doctor. I […]

The National Cancer Institute (NCI) has entrusted Vanderbilt scientists to lead several major research initiatives with recently awarded grants. The largest of those awards is an $11 million Cancer Moonshot grant. A trans-institutional team of researchers from Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) and Vanderbilt University will utilize those funds to build a single-cell resolution atlas […]

My first emotional breakdown over cancer was contained to a few dignified tears and maybe a sniffle. It happened in the middle of a crowded cafeteria after the call came that, yes, the 4-centimeter tumor in my upper rectum was cancerous, and I’d have to come back in for more scopes and scans to determine […]