Service to Medicine and Community Award

Presented to alumni who have maintained a high standard of medical service and who have achieved an outstanding record of community service or assumed other significant responsibilities not directly related to medical practice.

2023 Service to Medicine and Community Award Recipients

Earle - PhotoMorris Earle, Jr., M.D.'83, MPH
Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, UMASS Chan Medical School

Morris Earle, Jr., M.D.’83, MPH is an assistant professor of pediatrics at UMASS Chan Medical School and retired in September, 2022, from the Division of Pediatric Critical Care at UMASS Memorial Health Care. He has worked in global health since 1980, starting as a medical student in Nicaragua. After completing residency in Pediatrics at University of Colorado, he and his wife Lynn Luginbuhl, M.D.’83 spent 7 months at the Schweitzer Hospital in Haiti. Subsequently, he worked in Roxbury, Massachusetts at the Dimock Community Health Center, completed a chief residency at UMASS, fellowship in Pediatric Critical Care at Massachusetts General Hospital, and an MPH at Harvard. 

He published “Outcome of Pediatric Critical Care in Mexico and Ecuador,” which found increased mortality from high use of invasive procedures. He was in the division of pediatric critical care at Mass General for 10 years and then UMASS for 21 years. He was active in the UMASS Global Health Program teaching students and residents on rotations in Liberia, Ecuador, and Haiti. He did relief work in Haiti after the 2010 earthquake and later served with the Rotary International Gift of Life pediatric heart surgery program.  He has also volunteered as a pediatrician in Zambia and Bolivia.

Most recently, Dr Earle has been working for Doctors Without Borders (MSF), including 6 months in Zahle, Lebanon, where he helped establish a pediatric ICU, and currently in the MSF Peer Support Network, which supports returning field workers of MSF. 

Dr. Earle was a half time pediatrician in Middlebury for 21 years.  He participated in the Middlebury community as the high school resource physician, mentored teens at the Unitarian Church, and has taught in the Middlebury College medical anthropology course. During the pandemic, he spent 10 weeks as a fill-in pediatrician on the Navajo Nation at Tuba City, Arizona. Currently Dr. Earle is a pediatric hospitalist in Northampton, Massachusetts.

Herson - PhotoVictor C. Herson, M.D.'73
Neonatologist (Retired)
Professor of Pediatrics, University of Connecticut School of Medicine

Victor C. Herson, M.D.’73 is a professor of pediatrics at the University of Connecticut School of Medicine and a retired practicing neonatologist. After earning his medical degree from UVM, where he was inducted in the Alpha Omega Alpha honor society, Dr. Herson completed a pediatric residency at the University of Colorado and a fellowship in neonatal-perinatal medicine at the University of Connecticut. He would go on to spend his career at UConn, as Medical Director for the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Hartford Hospital and Connecticut Children’s Medical Center, Chief of the Division of Neonatology at UConn School of Medicine, and President of the Medical Staff at Connecticut Children’s Medical Center.

In 2014, Dr. Herson began volunteering in Haiti in collaboration with a non-profit organization in Portland, Maine (Konbit Sante) and the Global Health Program at Connecticut Children’s Medical Center. The goal of this partnership was to reduce neonatal mortality at Justinian University Hospital in Cap Haitien. On-site interventions included assessment of clinical care and causes of in-hospital mortality, introduction of standardized delivery room resuscitation and development of infant nasal CPAP therapy.  Training sessions were conducted with medical and nursing staffs from Obstetrics and Pediatrics. A “train the trainer” model was used to promote sustainability.  In addition, monthly individual mortality case reviews and pediatric resident education seminars were conducted remotely.  Neonatal mortality in moderately premature infants was reduced by 30% over this time period.   

Dr. Herson has 65 peer-reviewed publications, is the recipient of three Faculty Awards for Outstanding Teaching from the UConn Department of Pediatrics, and in 2017 received their Chameides Award for Lifetime Achievement in Clinical Care and Education. He lives in Pennsylvania with his wife Gail, with whom he shares three adult children and seven grandchildren.

Rutkowski - Photo 3Paul C. Rutkowski, M.D.'63
Retired Private Practice Opthalmology, Harrison, NY, 2022

Paul Rutkowski was born and raised in Malone, NY. He graduated UVM 1960 (cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa) and the medical school in 1963 (AOA). He interned at Boston City Hospital under Dr. Franz Ingelfinger followed by 2 years in US Navy, one year at sea and the other on land delivering babies. This was followed by a 4 year ophthalmology fellowship at Bellevue Hospital where he met his first wife. He then spent 3 months working in Haiti and completed a 6-month neuroophthalmology fellowship at the University of Iowa. He opened his ophthalmology practice in 1971 in Harrison, NY, and was attending ophthalmologist at United Hospital becoming Chair in 1991. He retired from private practice in 2022 at 84 years of age. He has two daughters, both physicians, and a son who is a water engineer. 

A consummate community physician, Dr. Rutkowski continued seeing patients during the COVID-19 pandemic, maintaining care during this critical time for the same families to whom he had dedicated more than five decades. Furthermore, since 2016, Dr. Rutkowski has engaged in research with Professor Dr. C. Albrecht May at the Technische Universitaet Dresden, publishing five peer-reviewed papers during that time.

He inspires community members, including those who nominated him for this award, to lead lives of “civility, decency, and care.” While he is a respected eye surgeon, it is his mentorship of community members and colleagues alike that makes him a role model. Furthermore, his sustained support of the UVM Larner College of Medicine makes him the single most generous donor to the Larner College of Medicine Annual Fund since he began giving in 1963.

Dr. Rutkowski lives with his wife Sylvia in Harrison, New York.

2022 Service to Medicine and Community Award Recipients

Dr. HamelMary Hamel, M.D. '92
Senior Technical Officer and Team Lead for Malaria Vaccines, World Health Organization

Dr. Hamel is a Senior Technical Officer and Team Lead for Malaria Vaccines at the World Health Organization. She leads the Malaria Vaccine Implementation Programme, which introduced and evaluated the introduction of the first malaria vaccine, RTS,S/AS01, in Malawi, Kenya and Ghana. Data from the pilot evaluations provided invaluable information on the vaccine in routine use, and in October 2021, WHO recommended this groundbreaking malaria vaccine for children at risk. This historic breakthrough was named by Time Magazine as one of the best innovations of 2021 and the announcement was celebrated around the world. When added to current malaria control interventions the vaccine has the potential to save an additional 40,000 to 80,000 children’s lives every year.  Dr. Hamel and her tireless team are now working with partners to support Ministries of Health to introduce the malaria vaccine through the routine childhood immunization programs in countries where malaria is a major cause of childhood illness and death.  

Prior to joining WHO, Dr. Hamel was the Deputy Chief for Science and Chief of the Strategic and Applied Science Unit for the Malaria Branch, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). She served as the Malaria Branch Chief at KEMRI/CDC Research and Public Health Collaboration, in Kisumu, Kenya from 2004 – 2010, where, among other studies, she was a Principal Investigator on the Phase 3 trial of the malaria vaccine. She was the Senior Technical Advisor to the President’s Malaria Initiative in Washington DC from 2010 – 2014.  She has led and supervised numerous malaria-related studies, primarily in Africa, focusing on malaria in children, pregnant women, and HIV infected persons and on transmission reduction efforts. Dr. Hamel ’s strategic vision, endless perseverance, and leadership on malaria research globally for over two decades helped bring this historic vaccine to fruition. Dr. Hamel was also the recipient of the UVM Larner College of Medicine Alumni Award for Distinguished Academic Achievement in 2012.

"The long-awaited malaria vaccine for children is a breakthrough for science, child health and malaria control," said WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. "Using this vaccine on top of existing tools to prevent malaria could save tens of thousands of young lives each year." 

Dr. LongSusan Long, M.D. '92, FACS
General Surgeon, St. Joseph's Hospital, West Virginia University Medicine

Sue Long, M.D. '92, FACS is a general surgeon from Buckhannon, West Virginia. After completing her undergraduate degree in Biology and English from Columbia University, she moved on to the University of Vermont for medical school. Following graduation from medical school she did her surgical residency in Wilmington, North Carolina then moved to Buckhannon, West Virginia where she has a thriving rural surgical practice. She has served both in her community and globally during this time. She started a nonprofit organization and has been traveling to Central America yearly to do surgical mission work since 1998. She and her group Hands and Hearts have raised over $1,000,000 to fund these missions. They have performed over 1500 surgical procedures in Belize and Guatemala.

She has been a member of the Buckhannon Rotary Club and and a Paul Harris Fellow since 2004. She is a member of the Rural Council of the American College of Surgeons and is working hard to preserve rural surgery in America and to advance the education of rural surgeons. She is clinical associate professor of surgery at West Virginia University and the West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine and often has medical students rotating with her from both schools. She is mother of 7 and an ironman triathlete.

Dr. McNamaraMariah McNamara, M.D. '02, MPH
Interim Assistant Dean for Students, UVM Larner College of Medicine
Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine, UVM Larner College of Medicine
Attending Physician and Medical Director of Emergency Department, UVM Medical Center
Associate Chief Medical Officer for Medical Staff Affairs, UVM Medical Center

Dr. McNamara graduated from the UVM Larner College of Medicine in 2002, and in addition to her M.D. degree, holds a Master of Public Health degree from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. She completed a residency in emergency medicine at the Harvard Affiliated Emergency Medicine Program at Brigham & Women's and Massachusetts General Hospitals and was a fellow in global health at Massachusetts General Hospital. Dr. McNamara joined the UVM faculty in 2012 and is currently an associate professor in the newly formed Department of Emergency Medicine, where she is medical director for the UVMMC Emergency Department. She is also associate chief medical officer for medical staff affairs at the UVM Medical Center.  Currently she is serving as the interim assistant dean for students and is the associate program director of the Larner College of Medicine/Nuvance Health Global Health program. She is the recipient of the Abrams Teaching Award for dedication and commitment to excellence in education from the UVM Department of Surgery.

2021 Service to Medicine and Community Award Recipients

Dr. BarnardPaul Morrow, M.D. '76
Forensic Pathologist, Auckland, New Zealand

Paul Morrow, M.D. ’76 grew up in Shelburne, VT. He earned his medical degree at UVM, where he took a year student fellowship in pathology, including research with Dr. John Craighead on a mouse model of diabetes. Dr. Morrow completed an anatomic pathology residency at SUNY Upstate Medical Center in Syracuse, NY and his clinical pathology residency in Evanston, IL, before completing a forensic pathology fellowship in Chapel Hill, NC. 

Dr. Morrow returned to Vermont in 1981 as Deputy Chief Medical Examiner and became Chief Medical Examiner for the State of Vermont in 1990. In addition to the development of a new office-mortuary facility, which included an innovative room dedicated for post mortem tissue donation (heart valve, bone, skin), Dr. Morrow created the Assistant Medical Examiner death investigator system to replace the failing physician-based regional medical examiner system. By the end of Paul’s tenure the VT OCME earned accreditation by the National Association of Medical Examiners (NAME).

In 2004, Paul took early retirement from the State of Vermont. In 2005, he became a senior forensic pathologist at the Department of Forensic Medicine in Sydney, Australia, and in 2009 he became a regional forensic pathologist with the Northern Forensic Pathology Service in Auckland, NZ.

In 2019, he completed an on-line Master of Public Health from George Washington University.  He remains involved with death investigation in New Zealand, continuing to work part-time as a forensic pathologist and is actively engaged with the NZ Coroner system.

Dr. Saia headshot

Kelley Saia, M.D. '01
OB/GYN, Boston Medical Center
Professor, Boston University School of Medicine

Kelley Saia, M.D.’01 is an Assistant Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Boston Medical Center and the founder and director of Project RESPECT, Substance Use Disorder in Pregnancy Treatment clinic at Boston Medical Center. She is board certified by the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology and is a Diplomat of the American Board of Addiction Medicine. In addition to practicing as a generalist in Obstetrics and Gynecology, Dr. Saia has 15 years of specialized experience in managing and treating pregnant women with substance use disorders. 

Established in 2006, Project RESPECT is a unique multidisciplinary program designed to stabilize and treat pregnant women with substance use disorders, predominately opioid use disorder, which combines high risk obstetrical care, psychiatric care, relapse prevention, social services, and peer support. Through the Project RESPECT clinical services, Dr. Saia trains fellows in Addiction Medicine, resident physicians from OB/GYN, Family Medicine, Emergency Medicine and medical students from Boston University and visiting universities. The Project RESPECT clinic is a national model for the complex delivery of care for these mother-baby pairs. In July 2021, Project RESPECT and Boston Medical Center will launch the first ACGME-accredited Maternal Health and Addiction Medicine Fellowship in the country combining specialized high risk obstetric and addiction medicine training for OB/GYN physicians.  

Dr. Saia states the following about her UVM Larner College of Medicine education: 

“I LOVE my job and the work our team does! Since 2005, we have cared for over 6,000 women in our program. None of this would have been possible without the educational opportunity granted to me by Dr. Sproul and the University of Vermont Larner College of Medicine. I am forever grateful!”

2020 Service to Medicine and Community Award Recipients

Dr. BarnardDiana Barnard, M.D. '90
Assistant Professor of Medicine, UVM Larner College of Medicine
Physician, Division of Palliative Medicine
University of Vermont Health Network - Porter Medical Center, Middlebury, VT

Diana Barnard, M.D. ’90 is an Assistant Professor of Family Medicine at the University of Vermont Larner College of Medicine and a palliative care attending physician at Porter Medical Center in Middlebury, VT. After running a private family health practice, Dr. Barnard was recruited by the UVM Medical Center to join their Palliative Medicine Division, where she was named Interim Medical Director. She established and became lead physician for a new palliative medicine consultation service at Porter Medical Center, where she continues to practic. In 2019, she received Vermont’s Madison Deane Educational Initiative Award for Excellence in End of Life Care.

Dr. Barnard has played a vital role in improving end-of-life care in Vermont, propelling the state to the forefront of palliative care. For over a decade, she led the grassroots effort to pass Vermont’s Medical Aid in Dying law, which was passed in 2013. Since then, Dr. Barnard has consulted with hospitals, skilled nursing facilities, and physicians on education, access, and implementation of that bill. In 2019, her work on the Medical Aid in Dying law led to her service as Expert Witness in legislative efforts to develop similar laws in Hawaii and New York. Her ongoing advocacy for patient-centered palliative care continues to inspire and teach physicians and medical students alike.

Dr. Imbasciani

Vito Imbasciani, Ph.D., M.D. '85
Secretary of Veterans Affairs, State of California
Urologic surgeon, Department of Urology, Kaiser Permanente Medical Center

Vito D. Imbasciani, Ph.D., M.D. ’85 completed his undergraduate studies at New York State University, and then earned a master’s degree and Ph.D. in musicology from Cornell University. After turning his attention to medicine and graduating from the UVM College of Medicine, Dr. Imbasciani completed surgical and urologic residencies at Yale-New Haven Hospital and the West Haven VA Hospital (Connecticut). Dr. Imbasciani was commissioned in the Medical Corps of the United States Army in December, 1986 and retired after 27 years in 2014 with the rank of colonel.

Dr. Imbasciani has practiced urologic surgery in Los Angeles since 1991, and with Kaiser Permanente since 1997. He is presently the Past President of the Los Angeles County Medical Association and the past President of the California Urologic Association. He was a member of the California Medical Association's Board of Trustees for ten years. He also served on the Board of the Southern California Permanente Medical Group (Kaiser Permanente) from 2003-2013, and was its Director of Government Relations from 2007-2015.

Today, he is Secretary of the California Department of Veterans Affairs. A member of the Governor's Cabinet, he also serves on the Board of the California Housing Finance Agency, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Honor Committee, and the Governor's Military Council.

2019 Service to Medicine and Community Award Recipients

Dr. GoldmanMindy Goldman, M.D. '89
Clinical Professor, Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Sciences, University of California, San Francisco;
Director, Women’s Health Cancer Care Center, Helen Diller Comprehensive Cancer Center and USCF Women’s Health

Mindy Goldman, MD, ‘89 is a Clinical Professor in the Department of Obstetrics/Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) where she has been on the faculty for 25 years. She directs UCSF’s Gynecology Center for Cancer Survivors and At-Risk Women, which provides breast cancer and other cancer survivors with care that is focused on quality of life and addresses specific women’s health needs while undergoing cancer treatment. Dr. Goldman is greatly respected, widely published and is a nationally recognized leader in this area of medicine and worked with the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists in writing their comprehensive clinical guidelines on the management of gynecologic issues in women with breast cancer. She is on the Survivorship Panel for the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) and the Sub-committee Chair for the panels on Sexual Functioning and Menopause, where she helped author guidelines to provide resources for oncologists regarding management of menopausal and sexual functioning for cancer survivors. Following the death of a dear friend from breast cancer, she co-founded, and is co-chair of the board of a non-profit named after her friend, the U’ilani Fund which provides funding for women with breast cancer to use for complementary and integrative therapies to improve quality of life while undergoing treatment. As of 2018, the all-volunteer, nonprofit has provided $500,000 in funds to help more than 1000 women improve their quality of life while undergoing breast cancer treatments. In 2010 Dr. Goldman began participating in annual surgical missions to Antigua, Guatemala with the non-profit organization, Faith in Practice, one of the largest providers of both medical and surgical care to the poor of Guatemala. Her group of 40, including 5-6 surgeons, typically performs 85+ surgeries in one week. She completed her 9th service trip to Guatemala in March 2019.

Dr. HebertAlbert J. Hebert, Jr., M.D. '74
Retired Primary Care Physician, Corner Medical, Lyndonville, VT
and Northern Vermont Regional Hospital, St. Johnsbury, VT

Albert J. Hebert, Jr., M.D. ’74 is a retired family physician from West Danville, Vermont. Before retiring, he worked at a busy primary care practice at Corner Medical, in Lyndonville, VT. Following graduation from medical school he served in the USAF and was Chief of Primary Care at Loring AFB, ME and later Chief of Clinical Services at Hansom AFB, MA. He received an honorable discharge after being awarded two Air Force Commendation Medals. Following his military service, he entered private practice in Enfield, CT and served as Chief of Family Practice and later medical staff President at Johnson Memorial Hospital, Stafford Springs, CT. From 1999 to 2001 he served as President of the Tolland County Medical Society, in Bloomfield, CT. While in Connecticut he was a member of the Enfield Rotary Club, served as President, and was a recipient of the Rotary’s Paul Harris Fellowship Award. Throughout his career as a primary care physician, he has mentored medical students and introduced many new providers and notably embraced EMR. He is the epitome of a physician who successfully balanced work, family, and personal wellness. His long career never sapped his enthusiasm for learning, and he continues to give back to the community. Throughout his career he has been actively involved in numerous community services and activities. Today, Dr. Hebert is President of the Joes Pond Association and a volunteer for the Charles Brainerd Public Library in West Danville, Vt. He is a current member on the Medical Alumni Executive Committee for the Larner College of Medicine and an MMI (multiple mini interviews) interviewer for prospective medical students.

Dr. ValcourVictor Valcour, M.D. '94, Ph.D.
Professor of Geriatric Medicine in Neurology, University of California San Francisco
Executive Director, Global Brain Health Institute and the Co-Director International NeuroHIV Cure Consortium

Victor G. Valcour, M.D. ’94, Ph.D. is a professor of medicine/geriatrics in the Department of Neurology at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) where he focuses on dementia care. Dr. Valcour is internationally recognized for his research in HIV-related cognitive disorders and has established research programs in Asia and Africa. He serves as the inaugural Executive Director of the Atlantic Fellows for Equity in Brain Health program at UCSF and Trinity College Dublin. This program trains the next generation of leaders aiming to protect the worlds aging population from threats to brain health. To date, they have trained 86 Atlantic Fellows from 29 different countries. Valcour is driven to work for prevention and awareness strategies with an emphasis on underserved populations.

2018 Service to Medicine and Community Award Recipients

Dr. CohenPhilip Cohen, M.D. '73
Assistant Clinical Professor, Voluntary Faculty, University of South Florida School of Medicine
Retired Ob/Gyn, Private Practice

Philip Cohen, M.D. ’73 is an obstetrician and gynecologist in Winter Park, Florida, and Jackson Hole, Wyoming. In the late 1970s, he introduced evolving minimally invasive gynecologic surgery techniques and advances in infertility treatment to the growing medical community in central Florida. Unfortunately, a medical condition forced him to cease performing surgeries and delivering infants, so he devoted his knowledge and time to volunteer work, providing outpatient gynecology care for indigent patients at government clinics. For the past 22 years, he has served as an Assistant Clinical Professor on the voluntary faculty at the University of South Florida School of Medicine. From 2005 to the present, Dr. Cohen has served as a Standard of Care Consultant for the Medical Quality Assurance Division of the State of Florida Department of Professional Regulation.

Dr. HarropPamela Harrop, M.D. '83
Clinical Associate Professor, Warren Alpert School of Medicine
Physician, Active Staff, Department of Medicine, Rhode Island Hospital

Dr. Harrop is a third-generation primary care doctor.  She is the President and Chief Medical Officer of Medical Associates of Rhode Island and an Associate Clinical Professor of Medicine at the Warren Alpert School of Medicine at Brown University.  She is a member of the Board of Directors of Lifespan Health System, the largest health system in Rhode Island and has served on the Boards of Directors of Community Physician Partners, an independent physician association consisting entirely of primary care doctors, and of the Woman’s Resource Center. Dr. Harrop was the President of the Staff Association at Rhode Island Hospital from 2016-2018.

The Rhode Island Medical Women’s Association honored her as their Woman of the Year in 2016 for her contributions to primary care medicine in Rhode Island.  She is most proud of her work with uninsured and marginalized populations which started in 1986 working with the Traveler's Aide free medical van, and continues through her position as volunteer Associate Medical Director of Clinica Esperanza, a free clinic in Providence which provides culturally attuned medical care to uninsured adults, many of whom are undocumented citizens.  She continues  to promote the work of primary care physicians and the health care of the uninsured as one of the founding members of Health Care Revolt, an organization whose mission is to help create a health care system for Rhode Island and Rhode Island's communities that is personal, affordable, rational and just.

Dr. RooksVeronica Rooks, M.D. '93
Chief, Pediatric Radiology, Tripler Army Medical Center
Retired Colonel, US Army

Roni Rooks, M.D. ’93 is the Chief of Pediatric Radiology at Tripler Army Medical Center. She is a retired colonel in the United States Army, previously serving as Chief of the Department of Radiology at Tripler Army Medical Center in Hawai’i. In that capacity, she also led the Army’s radiology efforts for the entire Pacific region. Furthermore, Dr. Rooks oversaw the radiology residency program at Tripler. Between July and November, 2006, she was the sole radiologist in Mosul, Iraq during active combat engagement. Dr. Rooks is a member of numerous committees and editorial boards, the winner of numerous professional, research, and teaching awards, and the author or co-author of more than 30 publications.

2017 Service to Medicine and Community Award Recipients

Dora Anne MillsDora Anne Mills, M.D. ’87, MPH, FAAP
Vice President for Clinical Affairs and Interim Vice President for Research, University of New England (UNE), Portland, ME and Director of UNE Center for Excellence in Health Innovation

Dr. Mills, a pediatrician, focuses on implementing clinical interprofessional education, public health programs, and the nexus between public health, health care, and health professions education in her role as Director of the UNE Center for Excellence and Health Innovation. She served as the State Health Officer and Director of Maine CDC for 15 years, including time spent as State Epidemiologist during the H1N1 pandemic in 2009 and 2010. Her service to Maine is extensive, and her global service includes clinical and teaching experience in Africa, Mexico, Nepal, and Alaska.

O'RourkeWilliam O’Rourke, M.D. ’57
Professor, Department of Anesthesiology
Retired; Internal Medicine and Infectious Disease physician, Rutland Regional Medical Center and Physician, Rutland Free Clinic

Dr. O'Rourke is a retired internal medicine physician in Rutland, Vermont. After completing his first residency at UVM, he enlisted as a Captain in the US Air Force, and was the Chief Medical Officer at the Robins Air Force Hospital in Warner Robins, Georgia. He completed his second residency and an infectious disease fellowship at Georgetown University Hospital, then returned to his hometown of Rutland to practice in 1963. He has served as President of the Hospital staff, the Rutland County Medical Society, and the Vermont Heart Association, and was a member of the Vermont Medical Society Council and Medical Practice Board. For 32 years he was the athletic physician at the Mt. St. Joseph Academy, and was the City of Rutland’s health officer for eight years. He now practices medicine part time at a weekly clinic.

SolomonKerry Solomon, M.D. ’87
Co-Founder, Operation Sight; Private practice ophthalmologist; Former Chair of Storm Eye Institute at the Medical University of South Carolina, President of the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgeons.

Dr. Solomon is a cataract, LASIK and advanced vision correction specialist at Carolina Eyecare Physicians; director of the Carolina Eyecare Research Institute; Clinical Professor of Ophthalmology at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) and is the 2016 President of the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgeons (ASCRS). He was Professor of Ophthalmology at the Medical University of South Carolina where he practiced for 17 years. He co-founded Operation Sight, an organization that provides free cataract surgery to people in need. Started in South Carolina, Operation Sight has been adopted by numerous practices and institutions nationwide.

2016 Service to Medicine and Community Award Recipients

Glicksman_100x160_000Roslynn S. Glicksman, M.D. '81
Medical Director for Primary Care, Project Renewal Inc., New York, NY

Dr. Glicksman’s entire career has focused on improving health care for underserved population. In her almost eight years at Project Renewal, a New York City-based non-profit organization, Dr. Glicksman has expanded the project’s services for homeless patients, offering treatment through three mobile medical vans and one mobile mammography van in addition to care in six shelter-based facilities. She has also implemented many quality improvement initiatives and expanded access to specialty care. In 2015, she received the Philip W. Brickner National Leadership Award from the National Healthcare for the Homeless Council.

McQueen_Kelly_100x160_000K A Kelly McQueen, M.D. '91, M.P.H.
Professor, Department of Anesthesiology
Professor, Department of Surgery
Director, Vanderbilt Anesthesia Global Health & Development
Director, Vanderbilt Global Anesthesia Fellowship
Affiliate Faculty, Vanderbilt Institute for Global Health
Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN

Dr. McQueen is a leader in the global anesthesia and surgery communities. The Global Surgical Consortium, the 501c3 charity she formed in 2010, provides accurate data on the global anesthesia and surgical unmet needs and workforce crises in low income countries. At the request of the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative, she is developing best practice standards of care for anesthesia delivery in humanitarian settings. Dr. McQueen serves as chair of the Committee on Global Humanitarian Outreach for the American Society of Anesthesiologists, and played a key leadership role for the Alliance for Surgery and Anesthesia Presence, a multidisciplinary professional society that has produced more than 30 peer reviewed articles in the last five years.

Millard_Peter_100x160_000Peter S. Millard, M.D. '81, Ph.D.
Medical Director of Seaport Community Health Center, Belfast, Maine.

Dr. Millard is a family physician and epidemiologist who has practiced medicine both in Maine and in Sub-Saharan Africa, where he cared for some of the neediest patients at ground zero of the AIDS epidemic. He and his wife, Emily, a UVM nursing graduate, recently returned from five years in Mozambique, where he taught epidemiology, directed the medical school teaching clinic, and conducted clinical research at the Catholic University of Mozambique in Beira. His current area of research is male circumcision to prevent female-to-male HIV transmission, and his team recently developed a new minimally invasive technique for voluntary male circumcision which they expect to facilitate the World Health Organization’s plan to circumcise 20 million men in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Wilk_Peter_100x160_000Peter D. Wilk, M.D. '76
Psychiatrist, Portland, Maine and Former Executive Director of Physicians for Social Responsibility

Dr. Wilk has been active for the past 30 years in public health advocacy organizations and medical organizations concerned with preventing nuclear war, moderating climate change, reducing pollution, and phasing out nuclear reactors. In 2009, he was named executive director of Physicians for Social Responsibility, after serving as a PSR board member for many years and as PSR’s president in 1995 and 2000. Dr. Wilk has also held leadership positions with International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, acting as the co-vice president for North America from 1996 to 2000 and Speaker of the International Council from 2004 to 2008.

2015 Service to Medicine and Community Award Recipients

Bolduc_Allyson 100x160Allyson M. Bolduc, M.D. '95

Dr. Bolduc has routinely delivered a high level of service to the UVM Department of Family Medicine and her community. She was integrally involved in collaborating with the Vermont Blueprint for Health; she has obtained a grant to do research in ovarian cancer, and directed and grew the important Family Medicine Review Course for several years. Dr. Bolduc has served on numerous committees including Quality, Search Committees, CME, Faculty Senate, and the Postgraduate Medical Education committee. Most recently she moved to state-wide delegate work through the Vermont Medical Society and has just finished a two-year term as the President of the Vermont Academy of Family Physicians, during which she was the VTAFP delegate to the American Academy of Family Physicians. Under her leadership, the VTAFP flourished by becoming more academic, more involved with advocacy, and more supportive of multiple important health initiatives statewide including universal lead screening, improving transitions of care to adult providers and ensuring access to Primary Care. Above and beyond her extensive faculty activity, Dr. Bolduc has done impressive community service as a Board member for the Lund Home, First Night Burlington, and the United Way.

Dicker_Rochelle 100x160Rochelle A. Dicker, M.D. '95

Dr. Dicker is a distinguished leader in the field of trauma surgery and violence prevention. She is known nationally and internationally for her work in the complex care of trauma patients, public health, and advocating for the underserved. Ten years ago, Dr. Dicker founded the Wraparound Project, a program designed to shut the revolving door of violent injury by providing culturally competent case management beginning at the bedside, shepherding clients to risk reduction resources, and providing long-term follow up. The injury recidivism rate has fallen from 16% to 4% in San Francisco. Dr. Dicker and her team are helping to build a network of hospital based violence prevention programs around the country. When praised for her efforts, Dr. Dicker always points to the team around her, many of whom are past victims of interpersonal violence who have joined her efforts at bettering their community. Recognized as a true public servant by her community, she was named one of the “Annual Heroes” by the San Francisco General Hospital Foundation in 2013, and received the UCSF Chancellor’s Award for Public Service. Dr. Dicker is a Co-Director of the Center for Global Surgical Studies at UCSF which focuses on research and education for capacity building with partners in low and middle income countries to address the burden of injury and surgical disease globally. She is an active educator in UCSF medical school and residency programs and mentor for those fortunate enough to work alongside her.

Durham Bull 100x160John W. Durham, M.D. '85

Chosen for his outstanding record of community-oriented medical service, Dr. John “Bull” Durham is a testament to how compassion for others can truly make a difference in the world. Dr. Durham is a board certified orthopaedic hand surgeon, with specialized training in trauma and fracture care and reconstructive techniques of the upper and lower extremities. Regarded highly by his peers for his knowledge, expertise and positive outcomes; his true skill lies in the care and compassion he provides patients from throughout Northern Arizona. Compassion is what influenced Dr. Durham’s quest to improve lives outside of Arizona too. After the 2010 Haitian earthquake, Dr. Durham felt a burning desire to help those affected by the destruction. A true pioneer in the efforts, Dr. Durham was among the first medical crews to arrive in Haiti after the disaster and was shocked by the devastation and suffering; and by how ill-equipped Haiti’s few hospitals were to treat even the most basic injuries. That first trip spawned 16 additional trips focused on facilitating medical care, implementing hospital infrastructure and supporting the orphanages that swelled after the quake. Today, Dr. Durham leads efforts with Northern Arizona Volunteer Medical Corps, a medical volunteer group founded in 1995 to help those in need all over the world. It is the people of Haiti, however, who still hold a very dear place in Dr. Durham’s heart — so much so, he recently adopted a child left orphaned from the deadly event of 2010.

Long_Jack100x160Jack G. Long, M.D. '75

In 1983 Dr. Long was introduced to Hôpital Albert Schweitzer in Haiti. Subsequently, he and his wife, Delight Wing, volunteered annually to work on the in- and out-patient pediatric service. In 2012, after over 32 years in pediatric practice in Vermont, they “retired” to work in Haiti with Partners in Health and their sister organization, Zanmi Lasante, in the Central Plateau of Haiti. As “accompagnateurs” they work with their Haitian colleagues to improve pediatric care at 11 clinical sites in the region. They provide direct care and support efforts to improve longitudinal programs such as malnutrition, HIV, neonatology and chronic diseases. With the recent opening of a new 300 bed teaching hospital they have been engaged with the development of a pediatric residency program.

Wing_Delight100x160Delight A. Wing, M.D. '75

With her husband, Jack Long, Dr. Wing spent her career as a general pediatrician in a practice in South Burlington, Vermont. As a member of the part-time UVM medical faculty she had the opportunity to work with medical students and pediatric residents, including serving, along with her husband, as UVM advisor for the New Hampshire-Vermont Albert Schweitzer Fellowship. In the medical community, Dr. Wing enjoyed a long partnership in many advisory roles with the Division of Family and Children’s Services VNA of Chittenden and Grand Isle Counties. In 1983, inspired by College of Medicine faculty members Charles Houston, M.D., and Renée Bergner, M.D., Dr. Wing and her husband began a 30-year relationship with the Hôpital Albert Schweitzer in Deschapelles, Haiti. In 2012, they retired from their practice in Vermont to devote more time to practice and teach in Haiti, where they work with Partners in Health and its Haitian partner institution, Zanmi Lasante, spending six months a year accompanying colleagues at the new University Hospital of Mirebalais and 10 other sites co-administered with the Haitian Ministry of Health.

2014 Service to Medicine and Community Award Recipients

Koplewitz_Martin100x160Martin J. Koplewitz, M.D. '52

Dr. Koplewitz graduated from the University of Vermont College of Medicine cum laude in 1952 and was a charter member of the (AOA) Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society. Following a rotating internship at Beth Israel Hospital in New York he entered military service. He served at Fairchild Air Force Base in Spokane, Washington, for two years as Officer in Charge of the Surgical Wards and Acting Chief of the Surgical Service. He subsequently returned to Vermont, where he finished his surgical residency in 1959. After private practice in surgery in St. Albans, Vermont, and in partnership with one of his mentors, Arthur Gladstone, M.D., Chief of Surgery at the DeGoesbriand Hospital, he joined the faculty of the University of Vermont in April of 1973 and was rapidly promoted to Associate Professor with tenure.  Dr. Koplewitz quickly became an exemplary role model for students and residents alike during his more than three decades of clinical teaching.  The compassionate way he cared for his patients and colleagues is considered legendary. 

Upton_Michael100x160Michael D. Upton, M.D. '94

Celebrating his 20th reunion, Dr. Michael Upton completed his psychiatric residency at Dartmouth and returned to Burlington to begin his psychiatric practice in 1998. A native Vermonter, his family includes four generations of UVM College of Medicine graduates dating back to the 1890s.  Currently, Dr. Upton is a CAPS (Counseling and Psychiatry Services) staff Psychiatrist who has worked at the Center for Health and Wellbeing at UVM since 2004. His clinical interests include diagnostic evaluation, medication management and brief psychotherapy models. He has worked in a number of settings including inpatient psychiatry, substance abuse treatment centers and community mental health. For over ten years Dr. Upton has been a faculty member on the college’s student wellness committee-a confidential peer support system for medical students.  Dr. Upton is a co-faculty advisor of the GSA (Gay-Straight Alliance) at the College of Medicine who has been a valued team member helping to guide this group.  Pamela Gibson, M.D. ’89, Dr. Upton’s co-faculty advisor on the GSA describes Dr. Upton as  “a compassionate listener who seeks to improve the visibility and acceptance for all underrepresented in the medical community including students, faculty, staff and patients.”  His approach, says Gibson, “is thoughtful and inclusive.”