Office of Medical Communications

The phrase “keep your distance” has taken on a whole new and deeply important meaning in the era of COVID-19 and even Match Day, the annual senior medical student rite of passage, was not “immune” to honoring this behavior. On March 20, 2020, members of the Larner College of Medicine at the University of Vermont’s Class of 2020 went virtual to ensure social distancing while celebrating the news of where they will be spending the next three to seven years training as residents following graduation.

As this unprecedented pandemic unfolds, I want to provide this update and word of thanks to all of you.

(MARCH 13, 2020) Majid Sadigh, M.D., Director of the Global Health program at the University of Vermont Larner College of Medicine was quoted in a Fox News article regarding the recent coronavirus outbreak and the importance of people following best practices put forth by the CDC and local officials.

(MARCH 12, 2020) The University of Vermont Medical Center held a press conference on March 12 regarding its first presumptive positive case of COVID-19, which was widely covered by local and regional media.

Richard L. Page, M.D., Dean of the Robert Larner, M.D. College of Medicine at The University of Vermont, has announced that, following a national search, Christa Zehle, M.D., has accepted the position of Senior Associate Dean for Medical Education at the College. Dr. Zehle, who has served as Interim Senior Associate Dean for Medical Education at Larner since January 2019, assumes the new role effective immediately.

The Larner College of Medicine at the University of Vermont held its first-ever event to celebrate and recognize achievements in gender equity on March 4, 2020. Governor Madeleine Kunin provided a keynote address, followed by an awards ceremony at which Ramsey Herrington, M.D., Mary Cushman, M.D., M.Sc., Debra Leonard, M.D., Ph.D., and Lauren Elizabeth Faricy, M.D., were recognized.

(MARCH 10, 2020) Tim Lahey, M.D., professor of medicine in the Division of Infectious Disease at the UVM Larner College of Medicine and director of clinical ethics at the UVM Medical Center, is featured in a WCAX news story about UVM Medical Center actions and preparations for dealing with the coronavirus.

​Charles Irvin, Ph.D., received the inaugural W. Fred Taylor PhD Award in recognition of his significant contributions to enhance the impact of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Institutional Development Award (IDeA) Program at the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR)/Institutional Development Award (IDeA) Coalition and Foundation Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C. on February 24, 2020.

From the tiniest ticks of genetic expression to the sweep of organ systems, medical students gain a deep understanding of human body function. They spend hundreds of hours learning how to use tools and technologies, from stethoscopes to point of care ultrasound, to deliver the best patient care they can. However, when it comes to thorny societal issues like the intersection of race and class in medicine, unequal access to health care, and the outsized toll chronic disease can take on marginalized populations, medical students have historically had little opportunity to engage.

Find a comprehensive archive of the NNE-CTR & UVMCC Seminar Series, plus links to recorded programs of interest to the IDeA community.

With new funding from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, UVM Associate Professor of Medicine Halle Sobel, M.D., and Elly Riser, M.D., UVM clinical instructor in medicine, are working to bring training on treating opioid use disorder as a chronic condition to physicians at the beginning of their careers – during medical school.

Jill Jemison has been named assistant dean for technology/chief information officer for the UVM Larner College of Medicine.

With an aim to highlight the work of promising early-career scientists, the Cardiovascular Research Institute of Vermont (CVRI) held the first annual “Viridis Montis Early Career Investigator Challenge in Cardiovascular Disease” competition on February 5, 2020. Four finalists delivered oral abstract presentations before a panel of five invited judges, including University of Vermont Provost Patty Prelock, Ph.D., and distinguished cardiovascular researchers from the Larner College of Medicine faculty.

University of Vermont scientists, physicians, and students gathered at the Larner College of Medicine February 6 for the first-ever on-campus “virus slam” hosted by the Translational Global Infectious Diseases Research Center. At the event, some twenty experts, from five UVM colleges and institutes, gave five-minute mini-talks that ranged from explaining the biochemistry of the virus’ interaction with the human immune system to interpreting the latest data from the World Health Organization.

Mary Cushman, M.D., M.Sc., UVM professor of medicine and director of the Thrombosis and Hemostasis Program at the UVM Medical Center, commented on an Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology study on the potential increased risk of blood clots in people with blood types A and B in U.S. News & World Report.

In Ethiopia, 28 of every 1,000 babies die within their first 28 days of life, a stark contrast to an infant mortality rate in the United States and other high-income countries of about four deaths for every 1,000 live births. The Ethiopian Pediatric Society and the country’s Ministry of Health want to cut those infant death rates to 12 per 1,000 by 2030 to reach the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, and they have turned to the Vermont Oxford Network (VON) for help. VON, based in Burlington, collects data from neonatal intensive care units to find ways to improve the quality of care for newborns.

The Larner College of Medicine biomedical research enterprise received another boost on January 31 when the members of the University of Vermont Board of Trustees voted unanimously to approve construction of the Firestone Medical Research Building.

Glenn Goldman, M.D., professor of medicine and chief of dermatology, was invested as the inaugural Rogers and Nancy Follansbee Professor of Dermatology during a formal ceremony held February 3, 2020 at the Larner College of Medicine at the University of Vermont.

Larner College of Medicine medical students who are interested in taking a deeper dive into research have a new opportunity: The College's Medical Student Research Fellowships. Announced January 31, the program offers two one-year research fellowships to be conducted between the third and fourth years of medical school. Applications are due by no later than March 20, 2020 at 5:00 p.m.