Office of Medical Communications

Class of 2025 medical students Liz Kelley and Jessie Lucas are recipients of the Ignat Scholars Incentive Scholarship/Loan Forgiveness Program, which will forgive their medical school loans if they return to Vermont within one year of completing their medical training.

(November 21, 2024) Erika Ziller, Ph.D., director of Larner’s Health Services Research Center, will use a $2.8 million grant from the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy to establish a new research center to study the effect of federal policy on rural health care, WCAX-TV reports.

(NOVEMBER 20, 2024) NBC5 featured Lindsay Smith, M.D., M.A., director of the UVM Medical Center’s Antimicrobial Stewardship Program, and John Ahern, Pharm.D., clinical associate professor of medicine, discussing the importance of using antibiotics and antifungal medications correctly.

(NOVEMBER 19, 2024) Members of a working group studying the use of psychedelics to improve mental health—including Vermont Health Commissioner and Larner Professor of Medicine Mark Levine, M.D.—are not ready to endorse a state program at the moment but have their sights set on the future, the Brattleboro Reformer reported.

(NOVEMBER 19, 2024) UVM Medical Center President and COO Stephen Leffler, M.D., was featured on WAMC Northeast Public Radio’s Roundtable in a discussion about recently announced cuts to patient services by the University of Vermont Health Network.

(NOVEMBER 14) Stephen Leffler, M.D.’90, president and chief operating officer of the UVM Medical Center, commented to Seven Days on the University of Vermont Health Network’s recent announcement of sweeping service cuts—which the network blames on recent regulatory decisions.

(NOVEMBER 12, 2024) Infectious disease specialist W. Kemper Alston, M.D., M.P.H., professor of medicine, was quoted in a Public News Service article on so-called superbugs.

Many people note that a silver lining of the COVID-19 pandemic is that it forced people to collaborate remotely, accelerating innovations in teamwork and problem-solving. This is evident within the UVM Children’s Hospital and the pediatrics department at the Larner College of Medicine.

During their first year of medical school, Class of 2025 medical students Lindsay Aldrich and Richard Vuong won a competitive fellowship from the Arnold P. Gold Foundation to develop an idea: They envisioned bringing the doctor’s office to new mothers and infants in rural regions of Vermont via a mobile health clinic.

Since the Global Health Program’s inception, more than 120 medical students from the Larner College of Medicine have participated—most recently: Uganda (Sarah Chiavacci ’27, Annie Lindholm ’27, and Ben Sebuufu ’27); Vietnam (Martin Briche ’27, Max Pendleton ’27, Curtis Plante ’27, and Eunice Suberu ’27); and the Dominican Republic (Arya Kale ’27 and Estefania “Stefa” Obando ’27).

(NOVEMBER 7, 2024) A North Country man says lung cancer screening saved his life, WVNY-TV reported. Beth Zigmund, M.D., associate professor of radiology, a diagnostic radiologist with the UVM Cancer Center said only 10 percent of Vermonters at high risk of cancer are being screened.

(NOVEMBER 3, 2024) In a VT Digger article on helping kids navigate election stress, Steven Schlozman, M.D., associate professor of psychiatry, shared advice for parents.

(NOVEMBER 1, 2024) UVM Health Network Chief Medical Officer David Clauss, M.D., commented in a Saint Albans Messenger article on how the IV fluid shortage is impacting Franklin County medical services.

(OCTOBER 31, 2024) Larner social scientist Matt Dugan, M.A., was quoted in a Manchester (Vt.) Journal article about AI-generated text.

(OCTOBER 30, 2024) Linda Klumpers, Ph.D., M.Sc., research assistant professor of pharmacology, spoke to a Cannabis Control Board working group about Vermont’s medical cannabis program, according to Green Mountain Vermont Cannabis News.