Office of Medical Communications

(AUGUST 19, 2022) State Health Commissioner Mark Levine, M.D., professor of medicine, was quoted in a True North Reports article covering Gov. Phil Scott’s press conference, which focused on drug abuse and addiction.

(AUGUST 18, 2022) “Cigarette smoking — that’s the largest killer in terms of tobacco products,” Stephen Higgins, Ph.D., professor of psychiatry and psychological science and director of UVM’s Vermont Center on Behavior and Health (VCBH), told WCAX-TV Channel 3.

(AUGUST 17, 2022) Ob-Gyn professor Elizabeth McGee, M.D., told Forbes that while tracking basal body temperature can be a helpful tool for charting ovulation phases, this shouldn’t be the only method used to prevent pregnancy or to get pregnant.

Beginning in the fall, acupuncture will be provided at no cost to inpatient hematology and oncology patients at the University of Vermont (UVM) Medical Center, thanks to a new grant to the UVM Cancer Center from the Victoria Buffum Fund.

(AUGUST 12, 2022) In response to the news that polio virus has been detected in New York City wastewater, infectious disease specialist Tim Lahey, M.D., M.M.Sc., professor of medicine, told WVNY-TV ABC22 that vaccination is the best protection.

(AUGUST 12, 2022) Infectious disease specialist Tim Lahey, M.D., M.M.Sc., professor of medicine, spoke to WCAX-TV about what actions people — and public health officials — can take to help keep COVID case rates down in Vermont and Northern New York despite the increased transmissibility of the BA-5 variant.

Class of 2026 medical students start their journeys toward becoming physicians during Orientation.

(AUGUST 11, 2022) A $20 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to the New England Clinical and Translational Research Network (NNE-CTR) will allow NNE-CTR members from UVM, MaineHealth Institute for Research, and the University of Southern Maine to address chronic and life-threatening diseases in northern New England, VermontBiz reports.

The Northern New England Clinical and Translational Research Network has received a $20 million-dollar renewal grant from the National Institutes of Health to continue work to ensure residents in Vermont and Maine – and particularly the elderly, New American and Indigenous populations – receive greater support to address chronic and life-threatening diseases.

(AUGUST 9, 2022) Five high school students from Bennington County recently completed a MedQuest 2.0 program designed and delivered by first-year medical students from the Robert Larner College of Medicine to gain a richer understanding of health careers available to them in Vermont.

For students pursuing a degree in medicine, there’s no off-season. During a two-month break between their first and second years, many Larner College of Medicine medical students tackled projects to address unmet health needs, practice clinical skills, and immerse themselves in specialty clerkships with physician preceptors.

(AUGUST 5, 2022) A new survey by UVM’s Center on Rural Addiction — which is headed by Stacey Sigmon, Ph.D., professor of psychiatry — working with the University of Southern Maine’s Cutler Institute highlights challenges in access to medication-assisted treatment for opioid use disorders in Maine’s rural areas.

Emergency medicine is relatively new; it began to take shape in the mid- to late-1960s, when the American Medical Association established an emergency medicine committee and the American College of Emergency Physicians was founded. However, it wasn’t until 1979 that the American Board of Medical Specialties finally recognized the field as a specialty.

Jason Botten, Ph.D., professor of medicine and associate director of the Vermont Biomedical Research Network, received a University of Vermont SPARK-VT grant to help commercialize his work to develop broad-spectrum antiviral therapeutics, following a faculty pitch competition held in June 2022.

University of Vermont Associate Professor of Psychiatry Robert Althoff, M.D., Ph.D., has been appointed chair of the Department of Psychiatry and health care service leader for psychiatry, effective August 1, 2022.

(AUGUST 1, 2022) After the World Health Organization declared monkeypox a global health emergency and the first case of the virus was recently confirmed in Vermont, Tim Lahey, M.D., M.M.Sc., professor of medicine, spoke with Vermont Public about what we need to know about the virus, and who’s at highest risk.

(AUGUST 1, 2022) Karen Lounsbury, Ph.D., professor of pharmacology and director of foundations and preclinical assessment, is quoted in an article in “Social Work Today” on integrating service delivery by medical or physical health providers, behavioral health providers, and social service providers.

(JULY 31, 2022) In response to statistics showing that lung cancer kills more Vermonters than breast, prostate, and colorectal cancers combined, family medicine professor John King, M.D., and colleagues at the UVM and Dartmouth Cancer Centers are spearheading a new community education program called Vermonters Taking Action Against Cancer, the (Nashua, N.H.) Telegraph reported.