Office of Medical Communications

More than 75% of women with Opioid Use Disorder report having had an unintended pregnancy, but they are less likely to use effective contraception compared to women who do not use drugs. Results from a multi-year trial led by UVM Professor Sarah Heil found that a two-part intervention featuring co-located contraceptive services in opioid treatment programs and financial incentives could offer an effective solution.

(AUGUST 4, 2021) A MedPageToday article focused on a JAMA Psychiatry article by Professor of Psychiatry Stephen Higgins, Ph.D., and colleagues that examined the effectiveness of using contingency management to address comorbid behaviors like cigarette smoking in patients receiving medication for opioid use disorder.

A systematic review and meta-analysis of “Contingency Management for Patients Receiving Medication for Opioid Use Disorder” and accompanying podcast appear today in JAMA Psychiatry. Led by the Vermont Center on Behavior and Health (VCBH) at the University of Vermont’s Larner College of Medicine, the podcast features VCBH Director Stephen T. Higgins, PhD discussing the examination, completed by first author Hypatia Bolívar, PhD and the VCBH team, of the utility of the behavioral intervention contingency management (CM) for addressing key clinical problems common among patients enrolled in MOUD.

The Clinical Research ECHO will focus on developing all types of clinical research including investigator-initiated projects.

Not only is Vermont small and rural, but it’s also old. Currently, the state is ranked fourth in the nation for the relative number of residents over 65 years old – a whopping nearly 20 percent of Vermont’s population and rising. And with that status comes a disproportionately large share of heart disease, as well as blood vessel diseases and brain circulation problems that can lead to dementia and Alzheimer’s disease.

UVM and University of Maryland researchers have shown how the brain communicates to blood vessels when in need of energy, and how these blood vessels respond to direct blood flow to specific brain regions -- information that can help determine what goes wrong in conditions like Alzheimer’s disease and dementia, where faulty blood flow is a predictor for cognitive impairment.

The trial, led by Sarah Heil, Ph.D., professor of psychiatry at the Vermont Center on Behavior and Health at the University of Vermont’s Larner College of Medicine, tested a novel two-component intervention informed by behavioral economics that combined contraceptive services co-located with an opioid treatment program with financial incentives for attending follow-up visits in an effort to increase initiation and continuation of prescription contraceptive use

New trial results from the University of Vermont and an international team of researchers show that administering a full dose of a standard blood thinner early to moderately ill hospitalized patients with COVID-19 could reduce the risk of severe disease and death.

Investigators from across the globe came together virtually July 12-15, 2021 for the University of Vermont-hosted ninth biennial "Stem Cells, Cell Therapies, and Bioengineering in Lung Biology" conference to share the latest research in the field and set priorities for their work in the future.

Understanding what happens during important conversations between seriously ill people, their families and palliative care specialists – and how they vary by cultural, clinical, and situational contexts – is essential to guide healthcare communication improvement efforts. A new computer model developed by a team of UVM researchers offers an automated and valid tool for conducting large-scale scientific analyses of these conversations.

(JUNE 24, 2021) The UVM End-of-Life Doula Professional Certificate program, as well as comments from Francesca Arnoldy, program director, are featured in a New York Times article, titled "‘Death Doulas’ Provide Aid at the End of Life."

Northern New England Clinical & Translational Research Network Investigators Awarded $9 Million Grant to Study Epigenetics in Breast Cancer

Thanks to health outreach groundwork laid prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, farm worker communities across Vermont had access to on-site vaccine clinics through a partnership between UVM Extension, the Vermont Department of Health, UVM College of Nursing and Health Sciences, UVM Larner College of Medicine and UVM Medical Center.

The American Cancer Society awards research grants and fellowships to promising scientists early in their careers who have unique hypotheses for cancer prevention and study, fostering the next generation of cancer research and creating a strong foundation of preliminary evidence to make scientific advancements. The Society also sponsors grants that support training for health professionals seeking to develop their clinical expertise and/or their ability to conduct independent research.

On Friday, June 11, 2021, Phil Ades, MD, associate director of VCBH and director of cardiac rehabilitation in the Division of Cardiovascular Medicine at the UVM Medical Center, received the UVM Larner College of Medicine's Department of Medicine’s Distinguished Mentor Award.