Names and faces
■ Dolly Parton is donating $1 million to pediatric infectious disease research at Vanderbilt University Medical Center i n Nashville, Tenn., the organization announced Wednesday.
Parton said she supports the work because she loves children. “No child should ever have to suffer,” she said. “I’m willing to do my part to try and keep as many of them as I can as healthy and safe as possible.” The gift is one of several Parton has made to the center over the years, including $1 million in 2020 for covid vaccine research. That money helped Vanderbilt researchers test an array of drugs aimed at reducing the life-threatening symptoms associated with the virus, the center said. Researchers are also looking at entirely new therapies to treat covid-19 and prevent infection. Vanderbilt said the latest gift will support a variety of research, including understanding how viruses and bacteria cause disease, understanding and preventing antibiotic resistance, preventing and treating infections, diagnosing and treating infections in children with cancer, and gauging the impact of childhood infections throughout the world. “Dolly’s previous support to infectious disease research, and also our pediatric cancer program, has already saved countless lives,” said Dr. Jeff Balser, president and CEO of the medical center and dean of Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. “This new gift will bolster our defenses against future threats to the safety of this region and society as a whole.”
■ A Time magazine correspondent has a book planned for next year that will draw on his extensive access to Ukrainian President Vo l o d y - myr Zelenskyy. Simon Shuster’s “When the World Is Watching: Volodymyr Zelensky and the War in Ukraine” will provide a detailed account of his response to the Russian invasion, HarperCollins Publishers announced Wednesday. [The Associated Press uses Ukrainian transliterations of people’s names, including Zelenskyy.] “Shuster will offer revelations about the way Zelensky and his team have experienced this war and navigated the shifting roles of foreign leaders from around the world,” according to the publisher. “The book combines intimate, fly-on-the-wall storytelling with the unnerving narrative of how the war is unfolding across Ukraine.” Shuster is a Moscow native who has worked in Russia and Ukraine for more than 15 years, reporting from both countries. He lives in New York but currently spends much of his time in Kyiv.