VCCBH News

  • Cushman and Colleagues Find Social Disparities in Treatments and Outcomes for Pulmonary Embolism
    December 20, 2022
    Racial minorities and people with lower incomes or who are insured by Medicare or Medicaid are significantly less likely to receive the most advanced therapies and more likely to die after suffering a pulmonary embolism, according to a new analysis conducted by University of Vermont Professor of Medicine Mary Cushman, M.D., M.Sc., and colleagues.
  • 2022 Pilot Grant Award Recipients
    December 6, 2022
    These awards, supported wholly by funds from UVM entities, provide $200,000 over 2 years to fund meritorious research from early career faculty. We are very grateful to Deans from the Colleges of Medicine, Nursing & Health Sciences, Arts & Sciences, Engineering & Mathematical Sciences, and the Graduate College, as well as the Cardiovascular Research Institute of Vermont, for their support of this program. In addition, we would like to acknowledge matching fund support from the Departments of Molecular Physiology and Biophysics and Medicine.
  • Celebrating Larner’s Newest Facility: The Firestone Medical Research Building
    October 28, 2022
    On October 27, 2022, the UVM Larner College of Medicine held a grand opening and dedication of the newest addition to the medical campus: the Firestone Medical Research Building.
  • VCCBH Symposium Highlights Early Career Investigators, Innovative Multidisciplinary Research
    June 29, 2022
    More than 100 in-person and dozens of virtual participants attended the second annual Vermont Center for Cardiovascular and Brain Health (VCCBH) Symposium, held at the University of Vermont’s Davis Center June 2 to 3, 2022. The VCCBH, one of three National Institutes of Health Center of Biomedical Research Excellence-funded programs at UVM, is co-directed by Mary Cushman, M.D., M.Sc., professor and vice chair for emerging researchers in the Department of Medicine, and Mark Nelson, Ph.D., University Distinguished Professor and chair of the Department of Pharmacology.
  • UVM Hosts Second Symposium for Heart and Brain Health
    June 2, 2022
    The Vermont Center for Cardiovascular and Brain Health's annual symposium was featured in a news story on ABC22 and Fox44. on June 1.
    Read full story from mychamplainvalley.com
  • VCCBH Symposium Presenters Interviewed for Local ABC22/Fox44 Story
    June 2, 2022
    (JUNE 2, 2022) Assistant Professor of Rehabilitation and Movement Science Denise Peters, PT, D.P.T., Ph.D., was among those interviewed for a segment on the second annual VCCBH symposium that aired on Local ABC22/Fox44.
  • Johnson Awarded R01 NIH Grant
    April 7, 2022
    Congratulations to Abbie Chapman Johnson, Ph.D., for receiving her first R01 grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) and the NIH National Institute on Aging.
  • Pipeline Investigator Receives Two-year Postdoctoral Fellowship Grant
    January 14, 2022
    Debora Kamin Mukaz, Ph.D., postdoctoral associate in medicine and a researcher in the Laboratory for Clinical Biochemistry Research, has received a two-year Postdoctoral Fellowship Grant from the American Heart Association. The grant will support her research in the REasons for Geographic and Racial Differences in Stroke (REGARDS) national longitudinal cohort study, which has followed 30,239 Black and white adults since 2003 in an effort to determine why Black Americans and those living in the Southeast have higher stroke mortality.
  • Emmett Whitaker, M.D. Receives Mentored Research Training Grant
    October 29, 2021
    Congratulations to Dr. Emmett Whitaker for being awarded a 2021 Foundation for Anesthesia Education and Research Mentored Research Training Grant (MRTG).
  • Pilot Grant Award Recipients 2021
    October 1, 2021
    It is with great pleasure that we announce the recipients of our inaugural Vermont Center for Cardiovascular and Brain Health Pilot Grant Award, Drs Yangguang Ou and David Punihaole.
  • Hearts & Brains: UVM’s Newest COBRE Hits Its Stride at One-Year Anniversary
    July 22, 2021
    Not only is Vermont small and rural, but it’s also old. Currently, the state is ranked fourth in the nation for the relative number of residents over 65 years old – a whopping nearly 20 percent of Vermont’s population and rising. And with that status comes a disproportionately large share of heart disease, as well as blood vessel diseases and brain circulation problems that can lead to dementia and Alzheimer’s disease.
  • Research Team Uncovers Unexplored Universe of Calcium Signals in the Brain
    July 21, 2021
    UVM and University of Maryland researchers have shown how the brain communicates to blood vessels when in need of energy, and how these blood vessels respond to direct blood flow to specific brain regions -- information that can help determine what goes wrong in conditions like Alzheimer’s disease and dementia, where faulty blood flow is a predictor for cognitive impairment.
  • Cushman & Colleagues' Study Shows Benefits of Early Anticlotting Therapy in Moderate COVID-19
    July 13, 2021
    New trial results from the University of Vermont and an international team of researchers show that administering a full dose of a standard blood thinner early to moderately ill hospitalized patients with COVID-19 could reduce the risk of severe disease and death.
  • TGIR Research Slam Highlights Progress One Year into Pandemic
    April 7, 2021
    On March 18, 2021, researchers from across UVM came together via Zoom for the second edition of the Translational Global Infectious Diseases Research Center's COVID-19 research slam, titled “UVM Tackles COVID-19: Research Progress and Perspectives One Year into the Pandemic.”
  • Wilcock & Harvard Colleagues’ Study Shows Telestroke Improves Outcomes
    March 4, 2021
    A new study shows that individuals who receive stroke care at facilities that offer consults via stroke telemedicine, known as telestroke, fare better than patients who get stroke care at places without such services, according to researchers from the University of Vermont and the Blavatnik Institute at Harvard Medical School.

Recent Stories and Publications Featuring VCCBH Members

Target ALS LinkedIn Post Featuring Research by Dr. Kathryn H. Morelli, PhD

Posted January 4, 2025

"ALS is a devastating disease, but researchers like Kathryn H. Morelli, Ph.D., a Target ALS Springboard Fellow and now an assistant professor at the University of Vermont, are driving innovations that bring us closer to effective treatments. Focused on developing RNA-targeted therapies for C9orf72 ALS, one of the most common genetic causes of the disease, Kathy’s work showcases the critical importance of collaboration, cutting-edge tools, and determination..."

Advancing ALS Research with Stem Cell Resources and Targeted Reagents: The Role of Target ALS in the Quest for Effective Treatment

Posted January 4, 2025

"ALS is a devastating neurodegenerative disease, and while there is no cure, ongoing research continues to offer hope for more effective treatments. An individual at the forefront of these efforts is Dr. Kathryn Morelli, an assistant professor in the Department of Neurological Sciences at the University of Vermont’s Larner College of Medicine, whose research aims to address the complex challenges of ALS, building on work she did with her postdoctoral mentor Dr. Gene Yeo. Working closely with Abby Kirch, a PhD student in her lab, Kathy and her team are focused on developing RNA-targeted therapies for ALS, particularly for the C9ORF72 mutation, one of the most common genetic causes of the disease..."

Larner College of Medicine Dean's Newsletter, Accolades and Accomplishments

Posted December 4, 2024

"On November 16, Larner Assistant Professor of Medicine Debora Kamin Mukaz, Ph.D., M.S., moderated a panel on science policy advocacy titled “How can we engage scientists from historically underrepresented backgrounds in policymaking and advocacy?” at the American Heart Association’s Scientific Sessions 2024 conference in Chicago. The panelists were AHA President Keith Churchwell, M.D.; past AHA President Michelle Albert, M.D., M.P.H.; Emelia Benjamin, M.D., Sc.M., associate provost and professor of medicine and epidemiology at Boston University; and Carl Streed, Jr., M.D., M.P.H., associate professor of medicine at Boston University..."

Research on spider brain leads to groundbreaking Alzheimer’s discovery

Posted December 3, 2024

"Neurodegeneration in spider brain leads Vermont neuroscientists to groundbreaking discovery in Alzheimer’s-affected human brains 
Vermont Business Magazine Researchers from Saint Michael’s College and the University of Vermont have made a groundbreaking new discovery that provides a better understanding of how Alzheimer’s disease develops in the human brain..."

Larner College of Medicine Dean's Newsletter, Accolades and Accomplishments

Posted October 23, 2024

"In a recent paper published in Nature Communications titled “Endothelial Piezo1 Channel Mediates Mechano-Feedback Control of Brain Blood Flow,” Osama Harraz, Ph.D., Bloomfield Early Career Professor in Cardiovascular Research and assistant professor of pharmacology at the Robert Larner, M.D. College of Medicine, and his team of researchers from American and European institutions reveal that Piezo1, a lesser-understood protein, acts as a “brake” system, helping blood flow return to normal after neural activity..."

The association of leptin and incident hypertension in the reasons for geographic and racial differences in stroke (REGARDS) cohort

Posted October 23, 2024

"Leptin is an adipokine associated with obesity and with hypertension in animal models. Whether leptin is associated with hypertension independent of obesity is unclear. Relative to White adults, Black adults have higher circulating leptin concentration..."

Assessing prenatal and early childhood social and environmental determinants of health in the HEALthy Brain and Child Development Study (HBCD)

Posted October 23, 2024

"The HEALthy Brain and Child Development (HBCD) Study, a multi-site prospective longitudinal cohort study, will examine human brain, cognitive, behavioral, social, and emotional development beginning prenatally and planned through early childhood..."

Health Watch: UVM researchers unlock secrets of brain blood flow in cognitive health

Posted October 16, 2024

"Osama Harraz, Ph.D and his team of researchers at the University of Vermont’s Larner College of Medicine have made a breakthrough that could help in the effort to better understand the causes of dementia and how to stop it..."