Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center

Smoking tobacco reduces lung function. African Americans have lower lung function compared to European Americans, but it is unclear if African ancestry modifies smoking’s impact on lung function. Melinda Aldrich, Ph.D., MPH, assistant professor of Thoracic Surgery, and colleagues evaluated lung function, tobacco smoking exposure and genetic ancestry in a large population of African Americans who [...]

Have you ever tried to quit smoking and been unsuccessful? As a former smoker, Barbara Forbes, a clinical nurse specialist and nurse practitioner, knows what you’re going through. She directs the Dayani Institute for Smoking Cessation and Prevention at Vanderbilt, and she can help you kick the habit for good. Learn more about the Smoking [...]

Barbara Forbes, MSN, keeps a big jar of tar on her desk. The dark, goopy mess is a visual representation of the amount of tar that a smoker will ingest by smoking one pack of cigarettes per day for a year. Forbes is the director of the Smoking Cessation Institute at the Vanderbilt Dayani Center [...]

It is widely known that a healthy lifestyle that includes not smoking, limiting alcohol intake, and maintaining a proper weight reduces disease risk. In the journal PLoS Medicine, Wei Zheng, M.D., Ph.D., and colleagues at Vanderbilt University Medical Center now report results from a large study quantifying the impact of combining healthy lifestyle factors. They [...]