Division of General Internal Medicine

Department of Medicine

More than 250 University of Vermont Medical Center staff members, Larner College of Medicine students and leaders gathered June 5 at 1 p.m. for a silent demonstration of support for racial justice in honor of George Floyd and others who have died due to racism and police brutality.

(JUNE 11, 2020) Adam Atherly, Ph.D., professor of medicine and director of the Center for Health Services Research, is quoted extensively in a Healthcare Innovation article, titled “Are Vermont’s Global Budgets, Community Health Teams Improving Outcomes?”

On May 29, 2020, Dean Richard L. Page, M.D., announced the names of the recipients of the inaugural Dean’s Awards for Professionalism. Jennifer Gilwee, M.D., assistant professor of medicine and chief of of the Division of Internal Medicine, received the Faculty Award for Professionalism. Eric Gagnon, director of facilities administration and projects, received the Staff Award for Professionalism. Isaac de la Bruere, medical student in the Class of 2022, received the Student Award for Professionalism.

On May 11, awardees from the Larner College of Medicine Class of 2020, faculty and staff were recognized through an online Honors Celebration featuring remarks from Dean Page and videotaped presentations of each award.

UVM Professor Harold Dauerman, M.D., and other representatives of the American College of Cardiology, American College of Emergency Physicians and Society of Cardiovascular Angiography & Interventions, issued guidlines to help clinicians make decisions about treatment alternatives for heart attack patients in the environment of the novel coronavirus pandemic.

Often-deadly blood clots are a common complication of cancer care, yet less than five percent of patients receive education on how to prevent them. A team of clinician-researchers at the UVM Cancer Center have published an evidence-based prevention “roadmap” found to reduce blood clots by 38 percent in the highest-risk patients.

(APRIL 12, 2020) Jason Bates, Ph.D., Sc.D., professor of medicine, discussed a low-cost ventilator option for treating COVID-19 patients called the Vermontilator during "You Can Quote Me" on local CBS affiliate WCAX-TV Channel 3. Bates described the potential uses, how the Vermontilator works, and why it is different from other ventilators.

Over the last three weeks, a team of scientists, engineers and doctors at the University of Vermont, including Professor of Medicine Jason Bates, have developed a new design—and built a working model—for a simple, inexpensive ventilator.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

​The Teaching Academy at the Larner College of Medicine at the University of Vermont held its annual Snow Season Education Retreat on January 15-16, 2020 in the College’s Medical Education Center and UVM Davis Center. Highlights included an Induction Ceremony for 2019 new members and advanced members, the presentation of the annual Teaching and Education Awards, and the first annual Snow Season Debate, moderated by Professor and Chair of Pediatrics Lewis First, M.D.

(DECEMBER 4, 2019) A study published in JAMA Network Open last week and coauthored by Timothy Plante, M.D., Asst. Prof of Medicine, and Daniel Silverman, M.D., cardiology fellows, has been covered fairly widely in the media, including U.S. News & World Report, HealthDay News and Breitbart.

A new publication by UVM Clinical Instructor in Medicine Daniel Silverman, M.D., and Assistant Professor of Medicine Timothy Plante, M.D., M.H.S., in JAMA Network Open links use of beta-blockers to heart failure hospitalizations among those with this common “stiff heart” heart failure sub-type.