Office of Medical Communications

(FEBRUARY 1, 2024) UVM Medical Center President and Chief Operating Officer Stephen Leffler, M.D.’90, M.H.C.D.S., professor of emergency medicine, commented about a new UVMMC program announced on the first day of Black History Month that’s aimed at closing the patient inequity gap when it comes to patient hair care, NBC5 reported.

(JANUARY 31, 2024) Rebecca Bell, M.D., associate professor of pediatrics, a pediatric critical care physician at UVM Children’s Hospital, spoke to Vermont Public about the Vermont Department of Health’s goal to provide every K–12 school in the state with free naloxone, as well as virtual trainings.

(JANUARY 30, 2024) Laura McCray, M.D., M.S.C.E., professor and chair of family medicine, is among four new appointees to the University of Vermont Home Health and Hospice Board of Trustees, according to the Barre-Montpelier Times Argus.

(JANUARY 29, 2024) Shana Adise, Ph.D., postdoctoral fellow in psychiatry, led a study that is the first to show that children who have greater brain responses to food compared to money rewards are more likely to overeat when appealing foods are available, Modern Nurse reported.

(JANUARY 29, 2024) Endocrinologist Matthew Gilbert, D.O., M.P.H., professor of medicine, was quoted in a News Net Daily story on the prevalence of prescriptions for Ozempic across the United States.

(JANUARY 24, 2024) CMB Ph.D. candidate Paola Peña García is lead author of a study showing that bariatric surgery triggers “substantial weight loss and improves lung function,” Medical Dialogues reported.

(January 24, 2024) Robert Shapiro, M.D., Ph.D., professor emeritus of neurological sciences, was interviewed by WCAX-TV about his new study on stigma surrounding migraine.

Medical students, faculty, physicians, and hospital staff stepped up to the microphone on January 18 to tell true stories about their most humbling moments at the sixth annual StorySlamRx: Voices in Medicine. Alpha Omega Alpha and Gold Humanism Honor Society members organized and hosted the event, held in the Hoehl Gallery. Inspired by The Moth live storytelling, story slam provides a safe space to share personal experiences and connect with others over shared emotions. For people in the medical community, telling and listening to each other’s stories facilitates wellness and quells burnout.

Each January, the Larner community gathers for the Teaching Academy’s Snow Season Education Retreat, an annual event lifting up the work of our medical education community and honoring outstanding educators among our faculty and leaders. Highlights of the two-day event include the Teaching Academy Induction and Award Ceremony, a plenary session, an in-person poster session, workshops, and oral abstract presentations. This year’s retreat was held January 17–19.

Elizabeth Blasberg, M.D., a 2014 graduate of the Larner College of Medicine, and her colleague, former UVMMC general surgery resident Ryan Kunkel, M.D., both facial plastic surgeons, are gearing up for a medical mission to the Ruth Paz Foundation Hospital for Burned Children and Pediatric Surgery in San Pedro Sula, Honduras, in Fall 2024. The mission, sponsored by the Angeles Para Honduras (APH) foundation, aims to address cleft palates and other childhood disfiguring conditions.

(JANUARY 22, 2024) Robert Shapiro, M.D., Ph.D., professor emeritus of neurological sciences, commented about a study he co-authored focusing on stigma surrounding migraine, and related health outcomes, Safety+Health reported.

(JANUARY 18, 2024) Nephrologist Marios Prikis, M.D., associate professor of medicine, and transplant surgeon Jaime Pineda, M.D., assistant professor of surgery, commented to WCAX for a story on living donors for kidney transplants.

(JANUARY 12, 2024) Pediatric pulmonologist L. E. Faricy, M.D., and Vermont State Health Commissioner Mark Levine, M.D., commented on a bill currently making its way throughout the statehouse that would ban all forms of flavored tobacco products, WPTZ-TV reported.

(JANUARY 11, 2024) L. E. Faricy, M.D., assistant professor of pediatrics, was quoted in a Bennington Banner article about 50 Vermont organizations’ support for ending the sale of flavored tobacco.

(JANUARY 10, 2024) The University of Vermont Medical Center is reviving its mask mandate for staff who work with patients. Stephen Leffler, M.D., president and chief operating officer of the hospital and professor of emergency medicine, says masking is a “simple step that we can take to keep our patients safe,” VT Digger reported.

(JANUARY 8, 2024) Ann Guillot, M.D., professor emerita of pediatrics and surgery, and Elizabeth McGee, M.D., professor of obstetrics, gynecology, and reproductive sciences, are among five new trustees appointed to the UVM Medical Center board of trustees, WVNY-TV reported.

(JANUARY 5, 2024) Pediatric pulmonologist L. E. Faricy, M.D., assistant professor of pediatrics, urged Vermont State legislators to support a bill to end the sale of all flavored tobacco products in Vermont when they convene next month, according to VT Digger.