Vanderbilt Kennedy Center News and Videos Thursday, July 18, 2019

List all current items

List current videos

List current news

List archived videos

List archived news

News Page Image

Find news and media related to the Vanderbilt Kennedy Center
below. Use the menu on the left to filter your list.

Now listing current news and video items.

Detecting and treating schizophrenia early, perhaps even before symptoms arise, could lead to better therapeutic outcomes. Studies have demonstrated differences in social function and cognition among people who later develop symptoms of schizophrenia, but less is known about pre-morbid temperament and personality.

Early detection of schizophrenia

Last Updated: 7/1/2019 9:58:15 AM

For many people, simple sensations such as the gentle caress of a loved one or walking barefoot through the grass feel pleasant. For individuals with autism, the feeling of light pressure on the skin may be perceived as aversive or even cringe-worthy.

Researchers explore perceptions of touch in people with autism

Last Updated: 6/27/2019 8:52:36 AM

Tennessee Disability Pathfinder program director Megan Hart, M.Ed., was recently elected as chair of the Tennessee Disability Coalition Board of Directors.

Hart elected chair of Tennessee Disability Coalition Board of Directors

Last Updated: 6/24/2019 3:06:11 PM

Vanderbilt University Medical Center’s Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences has received a $10 million endowed gift to fund translational research, support clinical programs and create an endowed chair within the department.

$10 million gift bolsters psychosis research efforts

Last Updated: 6/24/2019 9:38:44 AM

Vanderbilt University Medical Center is forming a new Center for Improving the Public’s Health Using Informatics (CIPHI, pronounced “Sci Fi”) to be co-directed by Michael Matheny, MD, MS, MPH, and Melissa McPheeters, PhD, MPH.

VUMC forms new Center for Improving the Public’s Health Using Informatics (CIPHI)

Last Updated: 6/24/2019 9:35:02 AM

Cathy Maxwell, PhD, Shelagh Mulvaney, PhD, and Bethany Rhoten, PhD, have been named Vanderbilt University School of Nursing’s first Valere Potter Distinguished Dean’s Faculty Fellows.

Three School of Nursing faculty named first Valere Potter Distinguished Dean’s Faculty Fellows

Last Updated: 6/17/2019 9:56:22 AM

<p>(July - September at the Vanderbilt Kennedy Center)</p> <p>This free exhibit features original work and reproductions of art by and about Tennesseans with disabilities that are featured in the annual arts issue of <em>Breaking Ground</em> magazine of the Tennessee Council on Developmental Disabilities. </p>

Breaking Ground III at the VKC

Last Updated: 6/13/2019 2:15:39 PM

Shari Barkin, MD, MSHS, division chief of General Pediatrics at Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt, was honored recently with the 2019 Academic Pediatric Association (APA) Research Award.

Academic Pediatric Association honors Barkin

Last Updated: 5/29/2019 9:40:37 AM

John Gore, PhD, director of the Vanderbilt University Institute of Imaging Science (VUIIS), and Michael King, PhD, J. Lawrence Wilson Professor and chair of the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Vanderbilt University, were recently elected to the International Academy of Medical and Biological Engineering (IAMBE) 2019 Class of Fellows in recognition of their contributions in the field of medical and biological engineering.

Gore, King elected to 2019 IAMBE Class of Fellows

Last Updated: 5/29/2019 9:39:49 AM

Vanderbilt University astrophysicist Keivan Stassun, Stevenson Professor of Physics and Astronomy, was named Tuesday to the National Academies’ Decadal Survey on Astronomy and Astrophysics (Astro2020) Steering Committee.

Stassun appointed to Astro2020 Steering Committee

Last Updated: 5/29/2019 9:39:01 AM

MegaConference

VKC at Tennessee Disability MegaConference

Last Updated: 5/24/2019 11:59:44 AM

A pair of Vanderbilt University neuroscientists will collaborate with a Buffalo, New York, art gallery on a two-year project that recently earned a National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Research: Art Works program award.

Vanderbilt neuroscientists, art museum collaborate on NEA-funded visual cognition research

Last Updated: 5/20/2019 9:52:53 AM

New News Item

AERA Ideas in Action - Also Noted

Last Updated: 5/15/2019 10:41:15 AM

American Educational Research Association 2018 Ideas in Action Conference

AERA Ideas in Action – Notes and Honors

Last Updated: 5/15/2019 10:32:04 AM

A team of Vanderbilt University biologists are a step closer to determining how prenatal exposure to long summer days or long winter nights affects long-term mental wellbeing.

Vanderbilt team determining how seasonal light for pregnant moms affects offspring’s mental health

Last Updated: 5/15/2019 10:17:29 AM

On a two-day visit to Tennessee, Julie Hocker, Commissioner of the U.S. Administration on Disability, met with Vanderbilt Kennedy Center leadership, faculty, trainees, and Tennessee Developmental Disabilities Network partners. Hocker visited at the suggestion of Lance Robertson, Assistant Secretary for Aging at the Administration for Community Living, who travelled to Tennessee in January and returned enthusiastic about the collaborative relationships within the state.

AOD Commissioner Julie Hocker visits Vanderbilt Kennedy Center

Last Updated: 5/14/2019 11:45:02 AM

Eleven outstanding faculty members from across the university have been selected for the 2019 cohort of Chancellor Faculty Fellows. This group is composed of highly accomplished, recently tenured faculty from a wide variety of disciplines and areas of expertise.

Eleven faculty members named as 2019 Chancellor Faculty Fellows

Last Updated: 5/14/2019 9:19:47 AM

Twenty-five retiring faculty members were recognized during Vanderbilt’s Commencement ceremony May 10, when the university honored their years of service and bestowed on them the title of emeritus or emerita faculty.

Vanderbilt University honors 25 as emeriti faculty; Zeppos appointed chancellor emeritus

Last Updated: 5/13/2019 9:27:50 AM

http://news.vumc.org/2019/05/08/nettles-receives-nashville-cables-power-of-inclusion-individual-award/

Nettles receives Nashville Cable’s Power of Inclusion Individual Award

Last Updated: 5/9/2019 3:35:05 PM

Two Purposes: Accepting and Including People with Disabilities

Last Updated: 5/6/2019 1:44:38 PM

Vanderbilt’s six newest endowed chairs were honored by colleagues, university leaders, family members and donors at a ceremony on April 30 in the Student Life Center.

Six new endowed chairs from Medicine, A&S, Owen and Law School honored

Last Updated: 5/3/2019 4:20:59 PM

The sight of a dog in a therapy vest trotting down a hospital hallway or being petted by a child lying in a hospital bed is familiar to many, yet the scientific research showing the impact of therapy animals is largely anecdotal, says Vanderbilt University School of Nursing Professor Mary Jo Gilmer, PhD, FAAN. Her work is changing that.

Vanderbilt Nursing professor launches study on therapy animals and children with cancer

Last Updated: 5/3/2019 8:50:19 AM

Erasing the term disability from the collective vocabulary is misguided and has harmful sociocultural implications, according to a new article by leading scholars and rehabilitation psychologists in the field of disability identity.

Disability is not a dirty word; ‘handi-capable’ should be retired

Last Updated: 4/24/2019 2:40:45 PM

New findings from an ongoing 45-year Vanderbilt study reveal that patterns found in test scores and a psychological assessment measuring the personal values of nearly 700 intellectually gifted adolescents were highly predictive of the distinct fields of eminence they would occupy by age 50.

Gifted kids turn 50: Most successful followed heart, not just head

Last Updated: 4/24/2019 2:39:58 PM

David Dickinson, Margaret Cowan Chair in Education and associate dean for research at Peabody College, has published with Ann B. Morse Connecting Through Talk: Nurturing Children’s Development with Language (Brookes Publishing, 2019).

Kudos: Read about faculty and student awards, appointments and achievements

Last Updated: 4/19/2019 9:27:33 AM

Using a unique computational framework they developed, a team of scientist cyber-sleuths in the Vanderbilt University Department of Molecular Physiology and Biophysics and the Vanderbilt Genetics Institute (VGI) has identified 104 high-risk genes for schizophrenia.

Researchers find high-risk genes for schizophrenia

Last Updated: 4/18/2019 3:20:36 PM

New News Item

Doug and Lynn Fuchs win the Alexander Heard Distinguished Service Professor Award

Last Updated: 4/16/2019 3:52:02 PM

<p>(April - June at the Vanderbilt Kennedy Center)</p> <p>This free exhibit features 10 charcoal drawings created by participants from the Vanderbilt Kennedy Center Swaney Art Workshop. Led by artist Kat Kennedy, these artists with disabilities explored the workshop’s theme, <em>Residue and Renewal</em>, through various media such as charcoal, tape-resist painting, and photography.</p> <p>The workshop and show are a collaboration between the VKC and Metro Parks disABILITIES, made possible by a gift from the late Mary Jane Swaney. A talented artist, Swaney recognized the importance of using her passion in her efforts to give back. Through her support of the VKC art program, she shared that passion for art with people with disabilities of all ages. </p>

Residue: from the Swaney Art Workshop

Last Updated: 3/26/2019 2:09:37 PM

Robot-guided video game gets older adults out of comfort zone, learning and working together

Last Updated: 3/19/2019 9:28:18 AM

With the aid of $2.5 million in funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Vanderbilt researchers are on a quest to develop early biomarkers of treatment outcomes for patients with temporal lobe epilepsy based on their individual brain networks.

Study aims to predict treatment response in epilepsy patients

Last Updated: 3/15/2019 8:52:51 AM

Vanderbilt University neuroscientist James R. Booth is making available the largest known neuroimaging dataset on math development. His goal in doing so is to support the work of other researchers across the world who are working to understand how arithmetic skills develop in childhood.

Researcher shares largest neuroimaging dataset on math development

Last Updated: 3/8/2019 2:59:18 PM

Although increasing evidence shows that children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) can be accurately identified during their second year of life, the average age of diagnosis in both Tennessee and across the country remains well above 4 years of age.

Telemedicine holds promise for quick diagnosis of autism

Last Updated: 3/8/2019 9:01:14 AM

A Nicholas Hobbs Discovery Grant and a Director’s Strategic Priorities Grant have been awarded to Vanderbilt Kennedy Center investigators for 2019-20. The grants aim to further understanding of how social information is processed within the reward circuit and explore the creation of an objective measure of social information processing.

VKC Hobbs Discovery and Strategic Priorities grants announced

Last Updated: 3/8/2019 8:58:06 AM

The science of sleep, and how to get people to do it better, is getting attention from policymakers to researchers who are trying to understand how sleep impacts performance and health.

‘Very exciting time’ for sleep research as studies zero in on performance, health

Last Updated: 3/7/2019 2:46:16 PM

Researcher shares largest neuroimaging dataset on math development

Researcher shares largest neuroimaging dataset on math development

Last Updated: 3/6/2019 8:50:18 AM

Vanderbilt University’s eight newest endowed chair holders were celebrated for their path-breaking scholarship and research by family members, donors, colleagues and friends during a Feb. 25 ceremony at the Student Life Center.

Endowed chair holder celebration honors eight faculty members

Last Updated: 3/1/2019 9:45:56 AM

Vanderbilt Kennedy Center investigator Blythe Corbett and her winter 2019 participants of the SENSE Theatre program will bring the original musical The Makeover to life March 8 and 9 at Belmont University’s Troutt Black Box Theater. The performances are the culmination of practice and hard work put in by research participants on the autism spectrum as well as trained typically developing peer actors who will join them on stage.

SENSE Theatre to perform ‘The Makeover’ March 8-9

Last Updated: 2/28/2019 9:45:02 AM

Kindred Stories at Disability Day on the Hill

Kindred Stories at Disability Day on the Hill

Last Updated: 2/26/2019 3:43:46 PM

Vanderbilt University Medical Center recently received a $3.9 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to improve outcomes for children with significant hearing loss by providing individualized, prescription-like programming for their cochlear implants.

Study takes personal approach to cochlear implant programming

Last Updated: 2/26/2019 12:34:55 PM

Ben Scheer jumps imagination-first into big projects, and he’s not afraid of a lot of trial and error. The Vanderbilt human and organizational development and economics double major has worked on dozens of entrepreneurial endeavors ranging from coding to music to virtual reality to photography, with his biggest focus being on connecting with people and solving problems.

Student creates app for orangutans

Last Updated: 2/26/2019 12:34:11 PM

2019 Vanderbilt Kennedy Center Hobbs Discovery and Strategic Priorities Grants announced

2019 Vanderbilt Kennedy Center Hobbs Discovery and Strategic Priorities Grants announced

Last Updated: 2/21/2019 2:27:31 PM

A recent study by Vanderbilt researchers of 11 counties in Middle Tennessee revealed that children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) were nearly 2.5 times more likely than children without ASD to be reported to the Child Abuse Hotline by the age of 8.

Study finds children with autism more likely to face maltreatment

Last Updated: 2/15/2019 11:30:13 AM

Stress contributes to psychiatric diseases including depression, eating disorders and addiction. Neurons that express the stress signal corticotropin releasing factor (CRF) in a brain region called the BNST are thought to promote negative responses to stress.

Modulating stress circuits

Last Updated: 2/15/2019 11:29:10 AM

Kennedy Center Lectures on Development and Developmental Disabilities: "Can't Fight This Feeling: Understanding and Remediating Anxiety in Teens with Autism"

Last Updated: 2/8/2019 11:15:47 AM

Educate to Advocate 2019

Last Updated: 2/5/2019 2:35:53 PM

Alacia Stainbrook, Ph.D., BCBA-D, director of Early Learning for the Vanderbilt Kennedy Center’s Treatment and Research Institute for Autism Spectrum Disorders (VKC TRIAD), has recently been promoted to the tile of Associate Director within the organization.

Stainbrook named Associate Director of VKC TRIAD

Last Updated: 1/18/2019 9:49:06 AM

Psychiatrists diagnose people with schizophrenia, ADHD, bipolar disorder and other mental illnesses by spending time with them, looking for the particular behavior symptoms of each. What follows can be a hit-or-miss series of medications and dosages until disruptive behaviors go away.

Team finds how error and reward signals are organized within cerebral cortex

Last Updated: 1/15/2019 2:27:47 PM

A Vanderbilt special education research team served as guest editors of the January issue of Exceptional Children, the distinguished research journal of the Council for Exceptional Children, available online today.

Researchers highlight moderator analysis in ‘Exceptional Children’ special issue

Last Updated: 1/11/2019 10:37:39 AM

Verity Rodrigues, M.S., Ph.D., educational consultant and instructor in Pediatrics at the Vanderbilt Kennedy Treatment and Research Institute for Autism Spectrum Disorders (VKC TRIAD), has been selected to participate on the advisory board for the National Training Center on Mental Health and Intellectual/Developmental Disabilities (MHIDD).

VKC TRIAD’s Rodrigues to serve on National Mental Health Advisory Board

Last Updated: 1/7/2019 2:24:35 PM

Colorful figures of the human body are helping Vanderbilt University researchers understand how people experience emotion through their bodies and how this process is radically altered in people with schizophrenia.

People with schizophrenia experience emotion differently from others, ‘body maps’ show

Last Updated: 12/31/2018 10:13:17 AM

<p>(January - March at the Vanderbilt Kennedy Center)</p> <p>This free exhibit features photographs by students with disabilities from Centennial and Franklin High Schools (Williamson County, Tennessee). The images represent the young adults’ strengths and/or depict the people, places, and things that are most important to them and that define them as individuals. This experience amplifies the voices of the participants and illustrates the power of self-expression. </p> <p> The <em>Able Voices</em> program was developed and is led by teaching artist, <a href="http://www.jenvogus.com">Jen Vogus</a>. This project was made possible by support from The Arc Williamson County, Middle Tennessee Electric Membership Corporation, and the Arts Council of Williamson County. Lain York, Preparator</p> <p> To learn more about <em>Able Voices</em>, visit <a href="https://www.jenvogus.com/able-voices">www.jenvogus.com/able-voices</a>. </p> <p>Prints available for sale. Contact <a href="mailto:jen@jenvogus.com">jen@jenvogus.com</a>. All profits go to the student photographer. Watch <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WK49Subb6hg&frags=pl%2Cwn">Able Voices: Centennial High School</a> on YouTube. Watch <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IPHqE3d7aTg&frags=pl%2Cwn">Able Voices: Franklin High School</a> on YouTube. </p>

Able Voices: Sharing Who We Are Through Our Photographs

Last Updated: 12/20/2018 11:26:39 AM

Ten charcoal drawings created by local artists with disabilities will be showcased in the Frist Art Museum in early 2019. “Artworks from the Swaney Art Workshop at the Metro Parks disABILITIES Day Program” will debut on January 7 and run through January 20 in the museum’s Upper Level Corridor.

Swaney workshop art to appear in Frist Art Museum in January 2019

Last Updated: 12/20/2018 9:35:33 AM

Erin Barton, associate professor of special education, has received a grant from the Caplan Foundation to support the development of a curriculum for children with disabilities who struggle to interact and engage socially through play.

Kudos: Faculty awards, appointments and achievements

Last Updated: 12/18/2018 12:24:52 PM

Robert Fox, Ph.D., professor of Psychology, Emeritus, and a long-time member of the Vanderbilt Kennedy Center, died Wednesday, December 12, 2018, after a short illness. He was 86.

In Memory: Robert Fox

Last Updated: 12/17/2018 12:01:40 PM

Neul Membership in American Pediatric Society

VKC director elected to American Pediatric Society

Last Updated: 12/14/2018 2:13:15 PM

Researchers in the Vanderbilt KidTalk Lab are joining researchers at two other universities to conduct a clinical trial of an intervention for young children with language delays in a study funded by the National Institute of Deafness and Communication Disorders.

KidTalk begins clinical trial for young children with language delays

Last Updated: 12/4/2018 4:00:30 PM

Vanderbilt University’s 10 newest endowed chair holders were lauded for their exemplary teaching and scholarship during a Nov. 27 ceremony at the Student Life Center.

Celebration honors 10 new endowed chair holders

Last Updated: 11/30/2018 9:30:02 AM

Two Vanderbilt University scientists — BethAnn McLaughlin, PhD, and the late Vivien Casagrande, PhD — have been honored by the Society for Neuroscience for making significant contributions to the advancement of women in science.

McLaughlin, Casagrande honored by the Society for Neuroscience

Last Updated: 11/30/2018 9:29:13 AM

The Society for Neuroscience has paid tribute to the late Vivien Casagrande’s groundbreaking research and dedication to the advancement of women in neuroscience with the Patricia Goldman-Rakic Hall of Honor Award. Casagrande, a longtime professor of cell and developmental biology, psychology, and ophthalmology and visual sciences at Vanderbilt, passed away in 2017 from cancer.

Society for Neuroscience honors Vivien Casagrande

Last Updated: 11/12/2018 10:17:30 AM

Alzheimer’s patients are five to 10 times more likely to suffer unprovoked seizures compared to healthy individuals. Alzheimer’s patients often also have reduced levels of ascorbate, or vitamin C.

Vitamin C protects brain from seizures

Last Updated: 11/9/2018 3:53:23 PM

A $10 million gift from alumna Jennifer R. Frist, BS’93, and husband William R. “Billy” Frist will endow a new center focused on supporting and developing the neurodiverse talents of individuals with autism at Vanderbilt University’s School of Engineering.

Vanderbilt launches the Frist Center for Autism and Innovation

Last Updated: 11/8/2018 8:51:59 AM

Stephan Heckers, MD, MSc, William P. and Henry B. Test Professor of Schizophrenia Research and chair of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, was recently recognized by the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) with a 2018 Exemplary Psychiatrist Award.

Heckers honored by National Alliance on Mental Illness

Last Updated: 11/5/2018 9:32:24 AM

The Department of Special Education at Vanderbilt’s Peabody College of education and human development has received five grants totaling $6.6 million in funding from the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Special Education Programs.

Vanderbilt earns $6.6M in special education teacher training grants

Last Updated: 11/5/2018 9:31:53 AM

Shari Barkin, MD, MSHS, chief of the Division of Academic General Pediatrics at Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt, has been named Pediatrician of the Year by the Tennessee Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics (TNAAP).

Barkin named TNAAP Pediatrician of the Year

Last Updated: 10/29/2018 11:47:54 AM

Neurofilament light (NFL) is a support protein within large axons in the brain’s white matter that supports nerve signal transmission. When axons are injured, increased NFL concentrations are found in the cerebrospinal fluid that surrounds the brain, representing an important biomarker for axonal breakdown.

Probing the pathology of impaired cognition

Last Updated: 10/26/2018 10:29:54 AM

The Vanderbilt Kennedy Center (VKC) has received a one-year $604,000 grant from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) to use Vanderbilt University Medical Center electronic medical record information and biological samples to develop a deeper understanding of critical issues in Down syndrome and to provide an infrastructure for future analyses.

Grant to help explore critical issues in Down syndrome

Last Updated: 10/26/2018 10:28:39 AM

Kennedy Center Lectures on Development and Developmental Disabilities: “The Development of Self-Regulation in Early Childhood”

Last Updated: 10/25/2018 1:11:07 PM

A new study examining stress and arousal across pubertal development in youth with and without autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is now enrolling participants, thanks to a $2.3 million, five-year grant from the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH).

Study to track teen development in those with, without autism

Last Updated: 10/24/2018 2:41:27 PM

VKC co-hosts Nov. 29 Autism, Innovation, & the Workforce Conference

Last Updated: 10/24/2018 2:34:30 PM

Kate Margulis has been passionate about music all her life. But it wasn’t until she came to Vanderbilt to earn a master’s degree in speech and language pathology that she realized she could marry that passion to her undergraduate research in developmental psychology and language and, as a result, help children learn language skills.

Biology and the Beat

Last Updated: 10/16/2018 10:18:02 AM

Transition Tennessee invites parents and caregivers across Tennessee to participate in a short survey on the needs of their child(ren) with disabilities (ages 14-22) preparing for future jobs, training, or college after high school.

Transition Tennessee seeking parents for needs assessment survey

Last Updated: 10/10/2018 8:48:26 AM

Laurie Cutting, Patricia and Rodes Hart Professor of Special Education at Vanderbilt’s Peabody College of education and human development, has received a $3 million National Institutes of Health Merit Award from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.

Laurie Cutting, Vanderbilt educational neuroscientist, honored with NIH Merit Award

Last Updated: 10/5/2018 12:01:27 PM

Reyna Gordon, PhD, assistant professor of Otolaryngology and director of the Music Cognition Lab in the Department of Otolaryngology at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, has received a National Institutes of Health (NIH) Director’s New Innovator Award of $2.3 million in total costs for her project, “Biomarkers of Rhythmic Communication: Integrating Foundational and Translational Approaches.”

Gordon receives $2.3 million New Innovator Award

Last Updated: 10/4/2018 9:32:34 AM

VKC Special Lecture: “When Hands Speak as Loud as Words: The Impact of Gesture on Human Communication and Its Disorders”

Last Updated: 10/3/2018 4:33:46 PM

Biostatistics and Bioinformatics Core Seminar: "Coupler: A User-Friendly Tool for Record Linkage"

Last Updated: 10/3/2018 4:30:26 PM

<p>(October - December at the Vanderbilt Kennedy Center and the Tennessee Performing Arts Center)</p><p>Sponsored by the Vanderbilt Kennedy Center, this free annual exhibit features works of art by artists with a wide range of abilities/disabilities and ages.</p><p><a href="http://www.tpac.org/visiting/directions.asp">Tennessee Performing Arts Center Lobby</a>, 505 Deaderick Street, Nashville, TN; call (615) 782-4000 for hours</p>

Creative Expressions XXIV

Last Updated: 9/27/2018 10:19:14 AM

Sarah Carpenter spends her days working on the SPARK study, the largest genetic study of autism in the country of which Vanderbilt is one of the most active centers.

Sarah Carpenter applies "Simpsons" experience to autism research

Last Updated: 9/18/2018 1:36:34 PM

Deborah Hatton, professor of special education, emerita, died Sept. 4. She was 65.

Hatton, scholar and advocate for the visually impaired, dies

Last Updated: 9/10/2018 4:16:05 PM

A Vanderbilt University Medical Center pilot study of treating late-life depression in nonsmokers with transdermal nicotine (nicotine patch) has yielded some promising results, but the study’s author cautions that more study is needed.

Nicotine patch shows promise in treating late-life depression

Last Updated: 9/7/2018 2:10:30 PM

The Dollar General Literacy Foundation has awarded a $40,000 Youth Literacy grant to the Vanderbilt Kennedy Center (VKC) Reading Clinic to provide partial and full scholarships to families of children who would not otherwise be able to afford clinic services.

Dollar General Literacy Foundation awards Youth Literary grant to VKC Reading Clinic

Last Updated: 9/5/2018 4:15:24 PM

Camilla P. Benbow, Patricia and Rodes Hart Dean of Education and Human Development, has announced several new appointments within Peabody College’s administrative offices.

Peabody College announces administrative changes

Last Updated: 9/5/2018 10:53:21 AM

A 4-year-old lines up colorful blocks in a row: red-red-green-red-red-green. Her teacher encourages her to replicate the pattern using soft toys: bear-bear-monkey-bear-bear-monkey. Another child uses blocks to build a doorway, figuring out how to balance blocks on top of others. This isn’t just play.

Can colorful blocks prep preschoolers for a future in math? This study says yes.

Last Updated: 8/27/2018 4:23:33 PM

For the first time, researchers have seen how proteins involved in the daily biological clock interact with each other, helping them to further understand a process tied to numerous metabolic and eating disorders, problems with shift work, jet lag and mental health issues.

High-speed atomic force microscopy reveals clock protein interactions

Last Updated: 8/24/2018 9:05:16 AM

Young children and their families in poor communities were able to make some achievable and sustainable behavioral changes during the longest and largest obesity prevention intervention ever conducted. But, in the end, the results were insufficient to prevent early childhood obesity.

Study finds behavioral changes insufficient at preventing early childhood obesity

Last Updated: 8/9/2018 2:07:38 PM

A biochemistry instructor curious about an enzyme discovered in the damaged neurons of people with multiple sclerosis made a leap toward a potential cure for countless neurodegenerative ills.

Enzyme helps build motor that drives neuron death

Last Updated: 8/7/2018 9:48:58 AM

In an effort to find a more engaging way to present child development to new psychology students, I decided to use a book about a little orphan boy who later discovers he is a wizard.

Why I use Harry Potter to teach a college course on child development

Last Updated: 8/2/2018 8:27:26 AM

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has renewed Vanderbilt University Medical Center’s membership in NeuroNEXT, a research network that helps streamline Phase 2 clinical trials for brain disorders.

VUMC’s membership in NIH NeuroNEXT network renewed

Last Updated: 7/30/2018 8:19:49 AM

A wildebeest knows when it is outnumbered by a pack of hungry hyenas, thanks to an imprecise, primal brain function called the Approximate Number System, or ANS. Animals have it and human babies are born with it. Scientists have long believed that human’s ability to solve symbolic math problems such as 3+2=5 depended on the precision of one’s ANS.

Learning arithmetic refines the primal brain system for representing quantity

Last Updated: 7/27/2018 9:25:39 AM