Office of Medical Communications

(JANUARY 21, 2025) Marjorie Meyer, M.D., professor of obstetrics, gynecology, and reproductive sciences and division chief of maternal fetal medicine, commented to WCAX-TV on Vermont being the only U.S. state to receive an “A” grade on the annual March of Dimes Report Card for maternal and infant health care.

(JANUARY 20, 2025) In a recent opinion piece in VTDigger, David Schneider, M.D., Larner professor of medicine and UVMHN director of cardiovascular services, takes issue with a Green Mountain Care Board recommendation that “we should reduce time spent on activities not directly related to patient care.”

(JANUARY 17, 2025) Bronwyn Kenny, M.D., assistant professor of obstetrics, gynecology, and reproductive sciences, spoke to Vermont Public about the possibility of Medicaid coverage for doula services in Vermont.

(JANUARY 17, 2025) Neonatologist and Larner Associate Professor of Pediatrics Deirdre O’Reilly, M.D., M.P.H., was quoted in a Burlington Free Press article about Vermont’s “A” grade for maternal and infant health on the 2024 March of Dimes Report Card.

Tyler Erath, Ph.D., Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry, has received a K01 award from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). This K01 award is designed to provide Dr. Erath with mentored training in implementation science to become an independent investigator focused on advancing the implementation of evidence-based treatments for stimulant use disorder (StimUD) and other substance use disorders (SUDs) in harm reduction and other community treatment and recovery settings. The proposed research plan seeks to develop hands-on experience and skills in implementation science advancing the use of contingency management, an evidence-based treatment for StimUD, in community harm-reduction settings using syringe service programs (SSPs) as a model.

Brain health research projects led by early career investigators Kathryn Morelli, Ph.D., Masayo Koide, Ph.D., M.S., and James Stafford, Ph.D., were selected to receive grant funding from the Vermont Center for Cardiovascular and Brain Health. These pilot grants aim to advance the researchers’ skills in study design, epidemiology, translational research, and using pioneering technologies.

(JANUARY 16, 2025) Amelia Gennari, M.D., Larner associate professor of geriatric medicine and associate chief for clinical affairs for the Division of Geriatrics at the University of Vermont Medical Center, spoke with Vermont Public about the importance of having an Advance Health Care Directive.

(JANUARY 15, 2025) Melissa Houser, M.D.’12, a neurodivergent family physician specializing in providing primary care to neurodivergent children and entire families, spoke with Seven Days about their medical practice, All Brains Belong VT.

(JANUARY 13, 2025) The Sector reported that new work led by Larner Professor of Psychiatry William Copeland, Ph.D., challenges the narrative that children are inherently resilient beings—that they can recover from tragedy or difficulties with ease and without consequence.

(JANUARY 13, 2025) In a recent commentary in VTDigger, Steven Lidofsky, M.D., Ph.D., Larner professor of medicine and pharmacology and director of hepatology at the UVM Medical Center, says “the value of work performed by clinicians cannot be quantified as goods and services.”

Vermont has earned an extraordinary distinction for its commitment to maternal and infant health, becoming the only state in the nation to receive an “A” grade on the 2024 March of Dimes Report Card. This achievement reflects the state’s ongoing efforts to improve outcomes for birthing parents and babies, setting a new standard for quality care across the country.

(JANUARY 13, 2025) Hematologist Mary Cushman, M.D., M.Sc., University Distinguished Professor of Medicine and Pathology & Laboratory Medicine at the Larner College of Medicine and medical director of the Thrombosis and Hemostasis Program at the University of Vermont Medical Center, spoke with Woman’s World about deep vein thrombosis (DVT).

The prevalence of current posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is many-fold higher in individuals with opioid use disorder (OUD) than in the general population. This study demonstrates that participants receiving MOUD who receive Prolonged Exposure (PE) tend to experience improvements in their PTSD symptoms without relapsing to substance use when they receive a sufficient “dose” of PE.

(JANUARY 8, 2025) Roz King, M.S.N., RN, CNL, division chief of emergency medicine research at the University of Vermont, spoke with WCAX-TV about research into setting up telehealth services in rural libraries.

(JANUARY 8, 2025) Clinical breast oncologist and cancer geneticist Kara Landry, M.D., assistant professor of medicine at the Larner College of Medicine and a medical oncologist at UVMMC, spoke with NBC5 for a story about a breast cancer survivor’s visit to Vermont.

(JANUARY 7, 2025) Vermont Health Commissioner Mark Levine, M.D., and Rup Tandan, M.D., professor of neurological sciences, commented for a Vermont Public story about the number of Vermonters with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, or ALS.

(JANUARY 6, 2025) HealthTree Foundation reported on a presentation by Mansour Gergi, M.D., assistant professor of medicine, at the 2024 American Society of Hematology annual conference.

(JANUARY 3, 2025) Vermont Public’s Vermont This Week podcast featured an expert panel—including Vermont Health Commissioner Mark Levine, M.D., professor of medicine, and Steven Schlozman, M.D., associate professor of psychiatry and chief of the Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry—discussing the state of youth mental health in the state. Vermont’s latest statewide survey of middle and high school students has intensified concerns about the issue.

A team of UVM scientists led by University Distinguished Professor and Chair of Pharmacology Mark Nelson, Ph.D., from the Larner College of Medicine at the University of Vermont, has uncovered a novel mechanism that reshapes our understanding of how blood flow is regulated in the brain. The study was published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), a high-impact, peer-reviewed journal of the National Academy of Sciences.