Alumni Profiles
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Monique Nelson-Nwachuku, BS鈥96: A Different Path
A profile of Monique Nelson-Nwachuku, winner of Vanderbilt鈥檚 2020 Alumni Professional Achievement Award, who is chairman and CEO of UniWorld Group, the country鈥檚 longest-standing multicultural marketing agency. Read MoreNov 3, 2020
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Ben Schecter, BS鈥18, and Allie Golden, BS鈥18
Last spring, as thousands of health care employees worked tirelessly to do good in the wake of COVID-19, Houston native Ben Schecter and several Vanderbilt friends, including fellow Class of '18 alumna Allie Golden, decided on a model that would help struggling local restaurants and serve health care workers at the same time. Read MoreNov 3, 2020
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Kenneth Epps, BS鈥90: Logistically Speaking
Kenneth Epps, rear admiral and deputy chief of staff for fleet ordnance and supply in the U.S. Fleet Forces Command, understands the importance of logistics in today鈥檚 military. Read MoreAug 4, 2020
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Michael Ainslie, BA鈥65: 鈥楢 Nose for Trouble鈥
Michael Ainslie has a knack for seeking out鈥攁nd solving鈥攄ifficult problems, as he writes in his new book A Nose for Trouble: Sotheby鈥檚, Lehman Brothers, and My Life of Redefining Adversity. Read MoreAug 4, 2020
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Asa Briggs, MSN鈥12: Continuity in Mental Health Nursing
Watching his aunt struggle with bipolar disorder, Asa Briggs traded in his legal aspirations to pursue a career in mental health care. Read MoreAug 4, 2020
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鈥楰now Better, Do Better鈥: Charlane Oliver, BS鈥05, focuses on educating and energizing the Black electorate
Oliver is a co-founder of the Equity Alliance, an organization dedicated to educating and energizing the Black electorate. Read MoreJul 23, 2020
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Barbara Bell, EdD鈥18: Veteran Vision
Photo by Susan Urmy As director of the Center for STEM Education for Girls at Harpeth Hall School in Nashville, retired Navy Capt. Barbara Bell wants to give girls the confidence and knowledge to excel in technical careers long dominated by men. A 28-year veteran and one of the first… Read MoreFeb 17, 2020
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Duc Pham, MD’98: From Vietnam to Vanderbilt
Duc Pham often speaks about how lucky he has been, despite a difficult childhood during the Vietnam War after which his father, a police captain in South Vietnam, was sentenced without trial by the North Vietnamese to seven and a half years of hard labor in a prison camp. 鈥淲hen… Read MoreFeb 17, 2020
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Lauren Mandel, BA鈥15: The Art of the Possible
Like many people her age, Lauren Mandel developed her funny bone to the antics of comedians like Kristen Wiig, Bill Hader and Maya Rudolph on "Saturday Night Live." Read MoreNov 7, 2019
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Ann Therese Ndong-Jatta, MS鈥84: UNESCO Education Leader
It was with a scholarship from the Africa鈥揂merica Institute that Ann Therese Ndong-Jatta enrolled at Vanderbilt to study educational leadership. Honored with the institute鈥檚 Distinguished Alumna Award, she now invests those skills in her native Africa. Read MoreNov 7, 2019
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Amanda Iovino, BA鈥08: Pushing for Positive Change
Photo by Pamela Lepold Congress passed the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution in June 1919, and the amendment became law Aug. 26, 1920, giving American women the right to vote after a decades-long fight. This year, the centennial of women gaining the right to vote, a record number of… Read MoreNov 7, 2019
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Tom Mulder, BMus鈥12: Musician and Mentor
Photo by Elena Cherkashnya Look no further than Tom Mulder to sing the praises of ArtSmart, a nonprofit begun three years ago in which classical musicians provide free individualized music lessons to high school students in underserved communities. 鈥淭here鈥檚 a power in that one-on-one relationship between a teacher and a… Read MoreNov 7, 2019
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On the Hunt: Elaine Shannon, BA’68, Investigative Journalist
Investigative journalist and New York Times best-selling author Elaine Shannon has spent decades reporting from the globe鈥檚 danger zones. Her latest book recounts the efforts to take down notorious criminal Paul LeRoux, whom she describes as 鈥渁 twisted-genius entrepreneur and cold-blooded killer who brought revolutionary innovation to transnational crime.鈥 Photo… Read MoreAug 20, 2019
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Border Roots: Donald R. 鈥淒ee鈥 Margo, BA鈥74
Dee Margo (photo courtesy City of El Paso) EDITOR鈥橲 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 MoreAug 20, 2019
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Engineering to Inform Medicine: Dr. Jeffrey Williams, BE鈥92
On the wall of heart-rhythm specialist Jeffrey Williams鈥 medical office is his seventh-grade essay in which he writes that he wants to be a cardiologist. He doesn鈥檛 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 MoreAug 20, 2019
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A Focus on Women鈥檚 Health: Sarah Vaillancourt, MSN鈥18
Sarah Vaillancourt (Photo by Kevin Richtik/Caroline Photography) Sarah Vaillancourt鈥檚 mission鈥攖o help women get the care they need鈥攆ar predated her nursing degree. 鈥淚 knew I wanted to work in women鈥檚 health before I knew exactly what I wanted to do or how I wanted to do it,鈥 says Vaillancourt, who earned… Read MoreAug 20, 2019
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Dr. Constance Mobley, PhD鈥98, MD鈥03 Transplant trailblazer
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 MoreMay 23, 2019
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Jarred Amato, BA鈥09, Watering 鈥楤ook Deserts鈥
Photo by John Russell Reading, and a child鈥檚 access to books, is a precursor to success by all yardsticks. But the lack of reading materials in many neighborhoods across America鈥攔egions known as 鈥渂ook deserts鈥濃攖hreatens the educational achievements of countless students. English teacher Jarred Amato decided to do… Read MoreMay 23, 2019
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Merrily Van Norstrand Talbott, BS鈥90, Mints for the Mind
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 MoreMay 23, 2019
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Kim Le, BA鈥98, Animated Storyteller
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: 鈥淚 want to tell a good story, entertain people, and hopefully make them laugh.鈥 As creative types go, storyboard artists… Read MoreMay 23, 2019