Public health and healthcare

VACoCREW trial

VACoCREW (NCT02444598) was a Karolinska Institutet-sponsored randomized trial at civilian hospitals in Jordan and Iraq comparing negative-pressure wound therapy with standard dressings for conflict-related extremity wounds; NPWT showed no clinical or cost benefit.

VADT trial

VADT (Veterans Affairs Diabetes Trial), VA Cooperative Study #465, randomized 1,791 veterans with poorly controlled type 2 diabetes to intensive versus standard glucose control; no significant cardiovascular event reduction during 5.6 years, transient post-trial benefit.

VADT-F study

VADT-F (VADT-FS, CSP #465-F, NCT00756613) is the VA's observational long-term follow-up of the Veterans Affairs Diabetes Trial, which found a transient 17% cardiovascular benefit at 10 years but no legacy effect or mortality benefit at 15 years.

Vanderbilt University Medical Center

Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC), also called Vanderbilt Health, is an independent nonprofit academic medical center in Nashville, Tennessee, founded 1874, separated from Vanderbilt University in 2016, with six hospitals, 3.5 million annual patient visits, and top-5 NIH funding.

Vanessa Kerry

Vanessa Kerry, American critical care physician, co-founder and CEO of Seed Global Health, WHO's first Special Envoy for Climate Change and Health (2023) and Special Envoy for Health Resilience (2026), daughter of John Kerry.

Oct 20, 2026

VDAART trial

VDAART (Vitamin D Antenatal Asthma Reduction Trial), NCT00920621, randomized 881 high-risk pregnant women to 4,400 vs 400 IU/day vitamin D3; 20% asthma reduction at age 3 (p=0.051), no effect by age 6.

Verbal autopsy

Verbal autopsy is a survey-based method that infers the cause of death from structured interviews with the deceased's relatives, used where medical certification is unavailable.

Veterans Health

Veterans Health (MeSH D058014): the physical and mental health conditions of military veterans, delivered mainly through the U.S. Veterans Health Administration, the largest integrated health system, with quality comparisons, community care, and research.

VFHCS study

The Vicente Ferrer HIV Cohort Study (VFHCS) is a long-term cohort study of HIV patients at Rural Development Trust hospitals in Anantapur district, Andhra Pradesh, India, running since 2009.

VIBE-FGS study

VIBE-FGS (VIBE-FGS-EUSAN, NCT01154907) was an EU FP7 consortium led by Oslo University Hospital studying praziquantel prevention of female genital schistosomiasis and HIV risk in 2,293 adolescent girls in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, 2011–2016.

VICIS study

VICIS (Vienna Cirrhosis Study), NCT03267615, is a prospective observational cohort and biobank of advanced chronic liver disease patients at Medical University of Vienna, following up to 10,000 adults for transplant-free and decompensation-free survival.

Oct 20, 2026

Vigiis101 trial

Vigiis101 trial: two 4-week randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled studies of Vigiis 101-LAB (Lactobacillus paracasei NTU 101, 5 or 10 billion CFU/day) in healthy Taiwanese adults, showing increased fecal Bifidobacterium and Lactobacillus, faster transit, and higher IgG, IgM, and antioxidant activity.

Violence interruption

Violence interruption is a public health approach to urban gun violence in which trained outreach workers, called violence interrupters, mediate conflicts before someone is shot.

Violet Affleck

Violet Affleck (born 2005), daughter of Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner, is an American public health advocate against mask bans and for clean indoor air; she spoke at the LA County Board of Supervisors in 2024 and at a 2025 UN Healthy Indoor Air event after contracting a post-viral condition in 2019.

VIPVIZA trial

VIPVIZA (Visualization of Asymptomatic Atherosclerotic Disease for Optimum Cardiovascular Prevention) is a Swedish PROBE randomized trial nested in the Västerbotten Intervention Programme: pictorial carotid ultrasound reports to 3532 people aged 40–60 lowered Framingham and SCORE cardiovascular risk at 1 and 3 years.

Vitebsk State Medical University

Vitebsk State Medical University (Віцебскі дзяржаўны медыцынскі універсітэт), a public medical university in Vitebsk, Belarus, founded November 1, 1934; first Belarusian medical university (1998), 6-year Vrach degree, Russian and English instruction.

Vivek Murthy

Vivek Hallegere Murthy, American physician, 19th and 21st US Surgeon General (2014-2017, 2021-2025) under Obama and Biden; known for advisories on loneliness, youth social media harms, and the opioid epidemic.

Oct 20, 2026

Vocational Rehabilitation

Vocational rehabilitation (VR): services helping people with disabilities prepare for, gain, and keep employment. Began with the 1918 Soldiers Rehabilitation Act; US state-federal program since 1920; includes IPS supported employment and VA Chapter 31.

Voluntary counseling and testing

Voluntary counseling and testing (VCT) is a client-initiated HIV service in which a person chooses, after confidential pre-test counseling, whether to be tested, then receives the result with post-test counseling.

Voluntary Hospitals

Voluntary hospitals are private, not-for-profit, self-governing hospitals that historically dominated UK acute care. They were nationalized by the NHS in 1948, remaining 58% of US community hospitals.

VON VLBW study

The VON VLBW study is the Vermont Oxford Network's observational registry collecting standardized data on very low birth weight infants at neonatal intensive care units worldwide since 1990.

VTS trial

The VTS trial, formally the Vertical Transmission Study and locally known as Mamanengane, was a South African cohort study of breastfeeding and postnatal HIV transmission.

Waiting Lists

Waiting lists: prospective patient listings for appointments or treatments (MeSH D014850). Queues for elective care and organ transplants in universal systems; measured as treated or on-list waits, prioritized by urgency, reduced by supply, demand, and target policies.

Waiting Rooms

Waiting rooms: spaces in clinics and hospitals where patients wait before care. British GP waiting rooms politicized under NHI (1913) and the NHS (1948 inspections); modern evidence-based design targets daylight, privacy, artwork, and infection control.

Walter J. McNerney

Walter J. McNerney (1925–2005) was an American health services executive who led the Blue Cross Association, helped shape Medicare, and later taught health policy at Northwestern.

Walter Reed

Walter Reed (1851-1902), U.S. Army physician and epidemiologist, led the 1900 Yellow Fever Commission proving mosquitoes transmit yellow fever; namesake of Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.

Walter Reed National Military Medical Center

Walter Reed National Military Medical Center (WRNMMC), Bethesda, Maryland; also called Walter Reed Bethesda, formed 2011 from Walter Reed Army Medical Center and National Naval Medical Center; Level II trauma center, presidential hospital, flagship of US military medicine serving over 1 million beneficiaries.