Vanderbilt hospital road renamed for Black surgery pioneer
April 5, 2021
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NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) A road leading to Vanderbilt University Medical Center is now named for a Black pioneer in cardiac surgery, instead of bearing the Confederacy-tied moniker of Dixie Place.
Officials in Nashville commemorated the name change to Vivien Thomas Way during an event Monday.
In a news release, the hospital said the switch resulted from current second-year Vanderbilt University School of Medicine students brainstorming with college mentors last summer about creating change amid the civil unrest nationwide over the death of George Floyd.
Medical school professor Walter Clair, a mentor and the vice chair for diversity and inclusion in the school s Department of Medicine, suggested the name change. He noted to students that the last stoplight he had to drive through before parking in a garage at work was on Dixie Place.