Department of Medicine

Twenty years ago, a small local chapter of the American Lung Association took on the daring task of bringing an Airways Clinical Research Center (ACRC) to Vermont. On February 28, clinicians, patients, donors, staff and board members gathered to celebrate two decades of lung disease treatment research in the only ACRC in a rural area - the Vermont Lung Center at UVM's ACRC, part of the nation’s largest not-for-profit network of clinical research centers dedicated to asthma and COPD treatment.

On the fourth floor of the Given Building at the Larner College of Medicine, Adam Atherly, Ph.D., surveys the space outside of his newly-painted office. Two adjacent doors open into rooms with empty desks. A common area includes space for a few more cubicles with top-notch views of the Green Mountains. In one corner, a coat rack hangs on otherwise empty walls. Outside the glass door, a sign reads: UVM Center for Health Services Research. Although the offices may be a work-in-progress, the mission for the new center is clear: Foster cutting-edge research that improves the delivery of healthcare, leading to better population health in Vermont and across the country.