Office of Medical Communications

During its 2016 annual meeting, the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons announced that David Halsey, M.D., UVM associate professor of orthopaedics and rehabilitation and director of the UVM Medical Center’s adult reconstruction service, who currently holds the title of second vice president, will assume the role of president in 2018. Read the full announcement in Orthopedic Design & Technology.

The University of Vermont Board of Trustees recently appointed three new members including UVM College of Medicine student Soraiya Thura ‘18, who succeeded UVM class of 2016 undergrad student Samantha Lucas, and will be serving a two-year term. The announcement was mentioned in Noodls, VT Digger, US News Hub and Vermont Business Magazine.

UVM College of Medicine faculty members Thomas Simpatico, M.D., professor of psychiatry and chief medical officer for the Department of Vermont Health Access; Sandra Steingard, M.D., clinical associate professor of psychiatry and chief medical officer at the Howard Center; and Jaskanwar Batra, M.D., assistant professor of psychiatry and medical director at the Department of Mental Health, are featured in an article about the disputes over force-medicating psychiatry patients for Seven Days.

UVM College of Medicine faculty members James Hudziak, M.D., professor of psychiatry, pediatrics and medicine and director of the Vermont Center for Children, Youth & Families, and Jon Porter, M.D., clinical assistant professor of family medicine and director of the UVM Center for Health & Wellbeing, are featured in an article about UVM’s Wellness Environment (WE) program on NBCNews.com.

The ALS Center at UVM Medical Center, led by Rup Tandan, M.D., F.R.C.P., professor of neurological sciences, recently received a $37,500 grant from the ALS Association of Northern New England to support patients and families struggling with Lou Gehrig’s disease, which was mentioned in Vermont Business Magazine.

UVM Professor of Pediatrics Barbara Frankowski, M.D., comments on the long-term use of over-the-counter lice treatment products creating a resistance to lice for a story on the hype surrounding a new “mutant” strain of lice resistant to usual, inexpensive treatments for a story on CNN and NBC affiliate KFOR Newschannel 4.

The Big Change Roundup, an annual change collection campaign that raises funds for the University of Vermont Children's Hospital programs and services in Burlington, made a stop at the local Wal-Mart in Malone on February 27, 2016, where UVM Professor and Chair of Pediatrics Lewis First, M.D., M.S., helped to count change collected for the campaign.

Beth Robbins, Psy.D., UVM clinical associate professor of psychiatry and clinical director of the Seneca Mood and Anxiety Disorders Clinic at The UVM Medical Center, was interviewed live on WCAX-TV Channel 3’s morning news, discussing the topic of her March 1 Community Medical School presentation, “All Stressed Out: Symptoms, Physiology and Approaches for Relief.”

Patricia Fisher, M.D., UVM assistant professor of family medicine, was featured in a story on local CBS affiliate WCAX-TV about the struggles recovering opiate addicts in Vermont face in finding aftercare treatment.

University of Vermont pediatric cardiologist Niels Giddins, M.D., is featured in a news story about the American Heart Association's February 2016 "Little Hats, Big Hearts" campaign to increase awareness about congenital heart defects in newborns. Giddins, an associate professor of pediatrics, commented that structural problems in the heart can often appear following a seemingly healthy and normal birth. The story's video footage, taken at the UVM Medical Center's Mother-Baby Unit, also featured Molly Rideout, M.D., associate professor of pediatrics.

James Hebert, M.D., UVM professor of surgery, authored an editorial discussing the gross underfunding of Medicaid in the state of Vermont and a newly-proposed 2.35 percent tax on independent physicians, which threatens to put non-hospital employed doctors “out of business and leave some Vermonters without care.”

An editorial in the Salt Lake City, Utah Deseret News about sentences for juveniles features comments from David Fassler, M.D., clinical professor of psychiatry and Burlington, Vt. child and adolescent psychiatrist.

On September 21, 2016, the National Institutes of Health announced $157 million in awards in fiscal year 2016 to launch a seven-year initiative called Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO). The ECHO program will investigate how exposure to a range of environmental factors in early development — from conception through early childhood — influences the health of children and adolescents.

The University of Vermont announced today an estate commitment with an estimated current market value of $66 million from UVM dual-degree alum and Vermont native Robert Larner ’39, M.D.’42, and his wife, Helen. The commitment to donate – the largest gift ever to a public university in New England – caps decades of philanthropic support from the Larners, whose lifetime giving now will likely reach $100 million.

Recruitment for the largest long-term study of brain development and child health in the United States – the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) study – launched September 13, 2016.

The Clinical Simulation Laboratory at the University of Vermont has announced the appointment of Vincent Miller, M.D., assistant professor of anesthesiology, as interim director of clinical simulation, effective September 1, 2016. Miller succeeds Ted James, M.D., who served as director of clinical simulation from July 2012 through June 2016.

Winooski, Vt.-based BioTek Instruments announced August 31, 2016 that University of Vermont graduate student Christopher Ziegler is the recipient of the 2016 Norman R. Alpert Research Prize.

The University of Vermont Cancer Center is hosting two events as part of the Waldron Lecture series on Tuesday, September 13 and Wednesday September 14, 2016 featuring Maureen Connor, R.N., M.P.H., an oncology nurse and leader in the field of patient- and family-centered care.

When University of Vermont Class of 2019 medical student Jacob Reibel and the six other classmates in his group selected their public health project earlier this year, they wanted to get out of the classroom and into the field – literally – to talk to Vermonters about their health concerns.

University of Vermont College of Medicine Human Resources Administrator Karmen Swim is the new president of the UVM Staff Council for the next two years. She was elected in May 2016 and began officially serving in her new role on July 1.