Epilogue

Photo by John Russell A communications leader and champion for STEM research at Vanderbilt, Heidi Nieland Hall died Sept. 25 in Nashville from metastatic colorectal cancer. She was 49. Hall, an honored reporter and editor for decades, left The Tennessean to join the Vanderbilt School of Engineering communications team in… Read More

Dan Lovinger By all measures—admissions, graduation rates, philanthropic support, exceptional faculty, diversity and financial health—Vanderbilt has raised its profile dramatically under the leadership of Chancellor Nicholas S. Zeppos. We will be forever grateful for his knowledge, vision and passion during his 11 years as chancellor, as well as his 32… Read More

Investigative journalist and New York Times best-selling author Elaine Shannon has spent decades reporting from the globe’s danger zones. Her latest book recounts the efforts to take down notorious criminal Paul LeRoux, whom she describes as “a twisted-genius entrepreneur and cold-blooded killer who brought revolutionary innovation to transnational crime.” Photo… Read More

Dee Margo (photo courtesy City of El Paso) EDITOR’S NOTE: As this issue of Vanderbilt Magazine was going to press, the world was just starting to hear about the tragic mass shooting that took place in El Paso on Aug. 3. Mayor Dee Margo wrote on Twitter in the immediate… Read More

Lester G. “Ruff” Fant (Photo courtesy of the Fant Family) EDITOR’S NOTE: Fant, a prominent financier, lawyer and philanthropist in Washington, D.C., died May 19. His friend and classmate, the acclaimed author and humorist Roy Blount Jr., BA’63, penned this remembrance. Lester Glenn “Ruff” Fant III, my old friend and… Read More

  The Vanderbilt University Alumni Association Board of Directors announces seven new members, who began their three-year terms July 1. “Each of these new members sets a great example for all alumni through their philanthropy and volunteerism,” says Dan Lovinger, BA’87, president of the Alumni Association Board. “That passion for… Read More

Photo by Stephen Doster The story of Richard Armstrong is a shining example of how one person’s legacy can have a powerful ripple effect on others. A basic sciences professor of biochemistry and chemistry from 1995 until his 2015 death, Armstrong was known for his groundbreaking biochemical research. In his… Read More

The Vanderbilt Alumni Association Board of Directors is pleased to announce its 2019 alumni award recipients. They will be honored Oct. 17 at a special ceremony during Reunion and Homecoming weekend. “These honorees shine through their professional accomplishments and leadership service to their communities and Vanderbilt,” says Jodie Leeka… Read More

On the wall of heart-rhythm specialist Jeffrey Williams’ medical office is his seventh-grade essay in which he writes that he wants to be a cardiologist. He doesn’t remember writing it, but his younger self accurately predicted the future. As co-director of the Heart Rhythm Center at Lakeland Regional Health in… Read More

John Hindle The establishment of the Hindle Family Scholarship in 2014 was one more way for John Hindle, BA’68, PhD’81, and his wife, Joan Barr Hindle, to pay forward the lifelong success they have achieved, which John credits in large measure to his Vanderbilt education. At the time they created… Read More

Sarah Vaillancourt (Photo by Kevin Richtik/Caroline Photography) Sarah Vaillancourt’s mission—to help women get the care they need—far predated her nursing degree. “I knew I wanted to work in women’s health before I knew exactly what I wanted to do or how I wanted to do it,” says Vaillancourt, who earned… Read More

Dr. W. Bedford Waters (Photo by John Russell) Dr. W. Bedford Waters, president of the Vanderbilt Medical Alumni Association and the second African American to graduate from Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, died May 25. He was 71. Waters completed his internship and one-year residency in general surgery at the… Read More

Ben Schulman (photo courtesy of Scripps MD Anderson) The vision and thoughtful generosity of Benjamin D. Schulman, who died June 2, helped Vanderbilt become a more nurturing and diverse community. Schulman, of Carlsbad, California, was 102 at the time of his death. He had returned to campus in January 2017… Read More

Bill Yoast (Photo by James A. Parcell) William “Bill” Yoast, the high school coach who helped unify a racially divided Alexandria, Virginia, during the 1971 football season, died May 23. He was 94 years old. The relationship between Yoast and coach Herman Boone is the crux of the 2000 film… Read More

Dr. Constance Mobley is among only 14 female African American physicians in the U.S. who are abdominal transplant surgeons. She directs the surgical and liver intensive care unit for Houston Methodist Hospital. Photo by Tommy Lavergne As a molecular physiology and biophysics doctoral student at Vanderbilt, Dr. Constance Mobley… Read More

Impacting Alumni Careers Dan Lovinger Vanderbilt alumni truly are Vanderbilt for Life. By giving back as volunteers and donors, we directly impact future alumni and prepare them to take the next steps in their lives. Many help students find their way in the real world by… Read More

Newton Adkins, BS’14 (bottom row, far right), joined the Student Alumni Board as a first-year student. Other members shown from the Class of 2014 board are (back row, left to right) Blake Wulfe, BS; Will Shipley, BA; Christopher Jerrolds, BA; (middle row, left to right) Katie Rose, BS; Hilary Robertson… Read More

Courtesy Merrily Talbott It was while interviewing travelers for a tourist publication in Breckenridge, Colorado, that high school psychology teacher and writer Merrily Van Norstrand Talbott came up with a fresh idea. A woman who thought she was suffering from altitude sickness told Talbott that she found relief after… Read More

Courtesy of Kim Le After spending nearly two decades as a storyboard artist for Hollywood film and television production companies, Kim Le is guided by a singular imperative: “I want to tell a good story, entertain people, and hopefully make them laugh.” As creative types go, storyboard artists… Read More

Lettie Pate Whitehead Evans On clinic day every week, first-year nursing student Brooke Hazen’s 12-hour shift starts at 6:30 a.m. “We’re taking vital signs, helping patients shower and walk, administering shots and IVs, and interpreting lab results,” she says. Hazen is in Vanderbilt School of Nursing’s prespecialty… Read More