Office of Medical Communications

(NOVEMBER 9, 2019) A study led by John McPartland, D.O., M.S., clinical assistant professor of family medicine, suggests that while cannabis is generally believed to have evolved in Asia and later dispersed to Europe by people, the plant was most likely indigenous to Europe long before humans were present.

A study that evaluated opioid prescribing patterns at the University of Vermont Medical Center (UVMMC) before and after state-mandated regulations went into effect was presented by UVM Larner College of Medicine Clinical Instructor of Surgery Mayo Fujii, M.D., M.S., at the American College of Surgeons Clinical Congress 2019.

On October 25, 1976, Mike Cross joined UVM’s custodial services team, working alongside his father in the College of Medicine’s Given Building. As a young man, Mike Cross says he was shy. That characterization might come as a surprise to the hundreds of Larner College of Medicine students, faculty, staff, and alumni who have come to call the longtime University of Vermont staffer their friend over the past 43 years.

The Larner College of Medicine's fourth annual "Celebrating Excellence in Research" series featured two days of presentations and recognition designed to highlight research performed by junior faculty, senior faculty, postdoctoral trainees, and graduate students at the College.

Once a week, second-year medical students Noorin Damji and Kristina Valentine drive north to rural communities in Franklin County, Vt., in a well-stocked mobile outreach van to deliver free packs of sterile hypodermic syringes, fentanyl testing strips, and Narcan to people who inject drugs. This effort is known in public health as harm reduction.

Steve Firestone, M.D.’69, has been an annual donor to the University of Vermont’s Larner College of Medicine since the 1970s, and in the early 2000s, donated artwork to help enhance the students’ learning environment. When plans began to take shape for a new biomedical research facility at the College, Firestone was inspired to step forward with his first major gift to the University. And, as over two hundred attendees learned in a ceremony held at the Larner College of Medicine earlier this month, that gift is an important one.

Anne Dixon, M.A., BM BCh, professor of medicine and division chief of pulmonary disease & critical care medicine at the Larner College of Medicine at the University of Vermont, has been named the new director of the Vermont Lung Center.

It was a beautiful fall day of education and inspiration at the 22nd annual Women’s Health and Cancer Conference. More than 800 patients, providers, exhibitors and family members took part in this one-day, free event.

New Guidelines for Long-Term Use of Opioids

(OCTOBER 15, 2019) Several news outlets recently covered a research study on flavored e-cigarettes and asthma published in Nature Scientific Reports by Larner faculty and trainees, including senior author and Professor of Medicine Charles Irvin, Ph.D. The study was funded through UVM's Tobacco Center on Regulatory Science (TCORS) grant.

(OCTOBER 7, 2019) A story about the University of Vermont’s Conversation Lab, “which uses machine learning to develop algorithms designed to optimize clinician-patient discussions of serious illness, palliative care and end-of-life care," led by Robert Gramling, M.D., associate professor of family medicine and Miller Chair in Palliative Medicinewas featured in Hospice News.

(OCTOBER 7, 2019) Coverage of recommendations from an Endocrine Society-convened panel of diabetes experts published in the Journal of the Endocrine Society and led by Professor of Medicine and Director of Endocinology, Diabetes & Metabolism John Leahy, M.D., received coverage in several media outlets.

The first week of October saw milestones for both the newest students at the UVM Larner College of Medicine, and graduates stretching back eight decades. The College's Class of 2023 celebrated their White Coat Ceremony on Friday, October 4; and from Friday morning through the weekend, Larner graduates from as far back as the Class of 1944 returned to the campus where their medical careers began for Reunion 2019.

Award-winning, mixed heritage, Asian American, transgender writer, public health consultant, and cultural competency trainer Willy Wilkinson, M.P.H., presented the 2019 Vito Imbasciani, Ph.D., M.D.'85 and George DiSalvo LGBTQ Health Equity Lecture, titled “Advancing Trans-Affirming Care in a Changing Healthcare Landscape,” on October 3.

Neil Zakai, M.D., associate professor in the Division of Hematology/Oncology, is principal investigator for an R01 grant from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute for “Thrombosis and Bleeding Risk Assessment in Medical Inpatients.” Mary Cushman, M.D., M.Sc., professor in the Division of Hematology/Oncology, is co-investigator.

The Larner College of Medicine Gender Equity Initiative in the Office of Diversity and Inclusion held the first event in the Gender Equity Education Series - "Town Hall: Gender Equity at the Larner College of Medicine" - on September 25, 2019.

The Larner College of Medicine Global Health Program hosted three events during the week of September 23 that focused on the topic of migrant healthcare. Presenters included Jonathan Melk, M.D., CEO and chief medical officer for the Chiricauhua Community Health Centers in Douglas, Ariz., Darlene Melk, M.D., medical director of the Southern Arizona Children's Health Project and director of community pediatrics, and Naomi Wolcott-Maccausland, migrant health coordinator of Bridges to Health in UVM Extension.