Office of Medical Communications

(DECEMBER 6, 2022) In an opinion piece in VT Digger, John Dunn, M.D., assistant professor of family medicine and a doctor at the UVM Urgent Care Center, focused on the need for more primary care doctors in Vermont—and what needs to change before that can happen.

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.

A new online ranking of the top female scientists in the United States conducted by Research.com includes three members of the University of Vermont faculty. Mary Cushman, M.D., M.Sc., professor of medicine, was ranked 124th nationally and 193rd in the world. Jane Lian, Ph.D., professor of biochemistry, was ranked 194th nationally and 305th in the world. Janet Stein, Ph.D., professor of biochemistry, was ranked 265th nationally and 430th in the world.

(DECEMBER 2, 2022) Research by Professor of Medicine Neil A. Zakai, M.D., and colleagues shows that increased coronary heart disease risk in White but not Black adults is associated with lower levels of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, according to HealthDay News.

(DECEMBER 2, 2022) Clinical Professor of Psychiatry David Fassler, M.D., commented in a Washington Post article about a study showing that the stress of pandemic lockdowns prematurely aged the brains of teenagers by at least three years, and in ways similar to changes observed in children who have faced chronic stress and adversity.

(NOVEMBER 29, 2022) Assistant Professor of Medicine Timothy Plante, M.D., is a co-author of a new study comparing the effects of three different eating patterns on cardiovascular disease, according to Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) News.

Each year, Larner College of Medicine second-year medical students participate in a nurse-shadowing activity during the advocacy module in the Professionalism, Communication and Reflection (PCR) course. For future doctors, shadowing nurses at UVM Medical Center provides the opportunity to gain insight on how nurses advocate for their patients in a busy clinical environment.

(NOVEMBER 23, 2022) Pediatric critical care physician Rebecca Bell, M.D., associate professor of pediatrics, has a message for people visiting infants over the holidays that is going to be difficult to hear: “Admire the baby from afar,” VTDigger reported.

(NOVEMBER 22, 2022) A study by Professor of Medicine Neil A. Zakai, M.D., Professor of Medicine Mary Cushman, M.D., and colleagues found that lower levels of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) are associated with increased coronary heart disease (CHD) risk in White but not Black adults, and higher levels of HDL-C are not protective for either group, HealthDay News reported.

The Dean's Celebration of Excellence in Research is an annual three-day event highlighting the research being conducted by junior faculty, senior faculty, postdoctoral trainees, and graduate students at the University of Vermont and the University of Vermont Larner College of Medicine.

The University of Vermont Cancer Center recently announced the names of the inaugural Juckett Scholars. The award program is part of the new Clinician Investigator Development Initiative and is supported by the Juckett Foundation.

(NOVEMBER 18, 2022) WVNY-TV interviewed Vermont Health Commissioner Mark Levine, M.D., professor of medicine and associate dean for graduate medical education, and Rebecca Bell, M.D., associate professor of pediatrics, about a "triple threat" of serious viruses that could impact the upcoming holiday season, as the flu, Covid-19, and the respiratory virus RSV can spread easily in close contact. (Click on headline for more.)

(NOVEMBER 18, 2022) Associate Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine Christina Wojewoda, M.D., who is the director of clinical microbiology at the UVM Medical Center and chairs the Microbiology Committee for the College of American Pathologists, commented for a Georgia Public Broadcasting story on monkeypox in that state. (Click on headline for more.)

Located in a rural state with a population among the oldest in the nation, the Larner College of Medicine has long been committed to finding innovative ways to provide and improve access to health care for not only the elderly, but also all residents, regardless of location or socioeconomic status. Several research initiatives at the college focus on new approaches to help patients in these regions.

(NOVEMBER 17, 2022) Infectious disease specialist Louis Polish, M.D., associate professor of medicine, and Pamela Gibson, M.D., professor of pathology and laboratory medicine, were among the co-authors of a letter in the New England Journal of Medicine describing two human cases in Vermont of a rare parasitic disease, according to a HealthDay News story.

Stephen Higgins, PhD, Director of the VCBH, presented a plenary lecture at Brown University School of Public Health on November 4, 2022. The presentation, "Leveraging the Reinforcement Process to Improve Health," is now available for viewing on YouTube.

(NOVEMBER 16, 2022) Professor of Medicine David Kaminsky, M.D., was interviewed by WCAX-TV for a story about a Vermont family’s search for answers following the death of 27-year-old Charles Vallee, who suffered from so-called Long Covid. (Click on headline for more.)