LCOM & Department News

2019 Frymoyer Scholar Recipients and Projects Announced

June 24, 2019 by Jennifer Nachbur

Teaching Academy Director Kathryn Huggett, Ph.D., and the Frymoyer Scholars Program Review Committee have announced that five faculty projects were selected to receive 2019 Frymoyer Scholarship funding.

Clockwise from top left: Bronwyn Bryant; Richard Wasserman and Rebecca Bell; Rebecca Wilson; Leah Pryor, Christina Harlow, and Rebecca Nagle; and Iris Toedt-Pingel and Stephen Berns.

Investing in outstanding medical education and promoting teaching that emphasizes the art of patient care is what the Frymoyer Scholars Program is all about. Recently, Teaching Academy Director Kathryn Huggett, Ph.D., and the Frymoyer Scholars Program Review Committee announced that five faculty projects were selected to receive 2019 Frymoyer Scholarship funding.

The Frymoyer Scholars Program is funded through the John W. and Nan P. Frymoyer Fund for Medical Education, which supports physicians and nurses who are actively engaged in teaching University of Vermont medical and nursing students and who embody the best qualities of the clinician teacher. The program is an investment in outstanding medical education and promotes teaching that emphasizes the art of patient care.

2019 Scholars and their respective projects include

  • Department of Pediatrics faculty members Rebecca Bell, M.D., M.P.H., Thomas Delaney, Ph.D., and Richard "Mort" Wasserman, M.D., received a Frymoyer Scholarship for their project proposal, titled “Firearm Injury Prevention Screening and Counseling.” The group aims to develop and assess innovative active learning modules to increase health care providers’ knowledge and confidence in screening and counseling patients and their families on firearm safe storage and firearm injury prevention.
  • Bronwyn Bryant, M.D., assistant professor of pathology and laboratory medicine, received a Frymoyer Scholarship for her proposal, titled “Validating Entrustable Professional Activity-Based Assessment to Determine On-Call Competency in Pathology Residents,” which aims to implement and validate Entrustable Professional Activity (EPA) -based assessments to help train pathology residents in their common On-Call duties. EPA-based assessments are a step towards competency-based training, providing opportunities for true graduated responsibilities for pathology residents, as well as training in providing timely and individual care to their patients. 
  • Department of Surgery residents Fuyuki Hirashima, M.D., Nicholas Bedrin, M.D., Serena Murphy, M.D., and Stephen Ranney, M.D., along with surgical intensive care nurse Rebecca Wilson, R.N., were selected to receive a Frymoyer Scholarship for their proposal, titled “Establishing UVMMC as a Training Institute & Center of Excellence for Cardiac Surgery Unit Advance Life Support.” This team’s goal is to train surgical staff to be cardiac surgical unit advanced life support (CSU-ALS) certified and to eventually become a training center for other hospitals across the Northeast. CSU-ALS expands upon and tailors the American Heart Association’s Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS) algorithms to provide best practice resuscitation specifically for arrest in post-cardiac surgery patients.
  • Rebecca Nagle, M.S.N., A.P.R.N., clinical instructor in nursing; Christina Harlow, D.N.P., FNP-BC, A.P.R.N., clinical assistant professor of nursing; Leah Pryor of the University of Vermont Medical Center’s food services program; Emily Clairmont, R.D., clinical nutritionist at the UVM Medical Center; and Jana Lichtenfeld, M.D., assistant professor of pediatrics, received a 2019 Frymoyer Scholarship for their proposal, titled “Integrative Nutrition Teaching Kitchen and Inter-professional Community Service Learning Curriculum.” The program aims to provide graduate nursing students with a connection to food and health, and help them address the barriers patients and families face when adopting healthy eating habits for prevention of disease. The project will also provide the students with interprofessional community service learning opportunities.
  • Iris Toedt-Pingel, M.D., assistant professor of pediatrics; Kaitlin Ostrander, M.D., clinical instructor in pediatrics; and Stephen Berns, M.D., assistant professor of family medicine, were awarded a scholarship for “TalkVermontPEDS: Creating an Interprofessional Pediatric Advanced Communication Course.” This project will create an innovative pediatric version of the TalkVermont advanced communication skills program. The evidence-based and nationally renowned VitalTalk program, on which TalkVermont andTalkVermontPEDS are founded, trains providers in a method that is culturally sensitive, interprofessional, and oriented around patient values using engaging, hands-on teaching methods. The goal is to improve outcomes for seriously ill pediatric patients and their families as well as to increase provider satisfaction and well-being.

Learn more about the Frymoyer Scholarship.

(Content for this article was provided by the Teaching Academy at the Larner College of Medicine at the University of Vermont.)

 

Past Department Highlights

Congratulations to the following individuals on their promotions effective July 1, 2024. Robert Wildin, M.D., promoted to Professor, Joanna Conant, M.D., promoted to Associate Professor, and  Amer Abu Alfa, M.D., promoted to Associate Professor. (6/2024)

Congratulations to Lisa Kapoor on 40 years of service to the pathology department. (6/2024)

Bronwyn Bryant, M.D., Associate Professor, Department of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine, is featured on the People of Pathology Podcast- Episode 181: Redefining Pathology Training With Entrustable Professional Activities. (6/2024)

Pathology resident, Alayna Westcom, M.D., received the Distinguished Medical Student Award from The College of American Pathologists. The award recognizes a fourth-year medical student committed to pursuing pathology residency. (5/2024)

Sharon Mount, M.D., Professor, Department of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine, presented a talk: “Autopsy in the USA: An update and interesting cases from the University of Vermont” at the University of Padua in Padua, Italy on April 22, 2024. (5/2024)Sharon-Padua

Congratulations to Anne Stowman, M.D., assistant professor of pathology and laboratory medicine, on accepting the position as Network Vice Chair for Anatomic Pathology. (3/2024)  

Congratulations to Ashley Volaric, M.D., assistant professor of pathology and laboratory medicine, on receiving a Physician-Scientist Pilot Award through the Translational Global Infectious Disease Research (TGIR Group) for her research on Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) epigenetics of diffuse large B-cell lymphomas in sub-Saharan Africa. (3/2024)

Congratulations to Rebecca Wilcox, M.D., associate dean for faculty affairs, and professor of pathology and laboratory medicine, on receiving The Polaris Award for Outstanding Mentorship, and Dr. Yvonne Janssen-Heininger, Ph.D., on receiving the Gender Equity Outstanding Achievement in Medicine & Science Award at the 5th Annual Celebration of Gender Equity in Medicine and Science Awards. This award honors a Larner College of Medicine faculty or staff member who provides outstanding formal or informal mnetorship for women or gender diverse** college community members. Dr. Wilcox was nominated by Andrea Green, Julie Dumas, Alexandra Kalof, and LE Faricy. (2/2024) **Gender diverse refers to those who identify with a gender outside of the she/her, he/him binary   

Congratulations to Dr. Brian Cunniff, Ph.D., assistant professor of pathology and laboratory medicine, the team in the Cunniff Lab, and industry partner , RS Oncology, on having their novel therapy enter Phase 2 Clinical trials. Read more here Milestone for UVM-developed cancer drug. (2/2024)

During the annual Larner College of Medicine's Foundations Award Celebration, Amer Abu Alfa, M.D., assistant professor of pathology and laboratory medicine received The Dean Warshaw Integration Award recognizing the faculty member whose teaching best captured the spirit of the Vermont Integrated Curriculum. Congratulations. Christina Wojewoda, M.D., professor of pathology and laboratory medicine and vice chair for education pathology, presented the Ephraim Woll Award for Excellence in General Pathology to John Rustad. (2/2024) 

Congratulations Dr. Bei Zhang, M.D., M.S., Ph.D., MLS(ASCP)CM, on January 17, 2024, is to receive the Educational Scholarship Award from the Teaching Academy Awards for Teaching and Educational Excellence. This award recognizes an individual who has demonstrated a record of Quality, Quantity, and Engagement in medical education scholarship. Dr. Zhang, M.D., M.S., Ph.D., MLS(ASCP)CM, has been advanced to Distinguished Educator by the Teaching Academy at LCOM. Congratulations also to Bronwyn Bryant, M.D., for advancing to the level of Master Teacher and Agnes Balla, M.D., on being inducted as a Member. (1/2024)

Congratulations to University Scholar Mary Cushman, M.D., M.Sc., professor of medicine and pathology and laboratory medicine, on being ranked #90 in the U.S. and #144 in the world as one of the Best Female Scientists in the World, by Research.com. Also, Dr. Cushman, M.D., M.Sc., recently delivered the Robert Reneman Lecture at the Cardiovascular Research Institute Maastricht (CARIM)'s 2023 symposium in The Netherlands. The tile of her talk was "Stroke and Cognitive Impairment in a Biracial U.S. Cohort: The REGARDS Study." (1/2024)

In a recent Nature Methods paper, Doug Taatjes, Ph.D., Director of the Microscopy Imaging Center, and the Center for Biomedical Shared Resources at the Larner College of Medicine, together with colleagues from the international consortium QUAREP-LiMi, proposed a set of standardized community-developed checklists to assist researchers, reviewers, and journal editors with the goal of increasing the clarity and reproducibility of image figures and their analyses. The hope is that many journals will adopt these guidelines as part of their “Instructions for Authors”—providing a succinct and easy to use checklist for authors when compiling images for reproduction and descriptions of image analyses performed. (11/2023) (from the LCOM Newsletter)

Congratulations to some of our residents and our fellowship student on having their abstracts accepted for the upcoming 2024 USCAP annual meeting in March. "Unexpected Cardiac Amyloidsis: Demographics, Histology, Distribution and Clinical Significance: A Review of 15 Autopsy Cases." (Jesse Mostoller, Neel Hedge, Nick Taylor). "GATA3 Positive Malignant Spindle Cell Neoplasm Involving the Liver Diagnosed as Metastatic Sarcomatoid Chromophobe Renal Cell Carcinoma at Autopsy." (Rae Nusapan). "Long Term Outcome in a Case of Tetralogy of Fallot Surgically Treated with Palliative Shunts: Findings from an Adult Autopsy." (Dore Guptil, Heather Giguere). (11/2023)

Mark_FungCongratulations to Dr. Mark Fung, M.D., PhD., Professor Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, on receiving the 2023 College of American Pathologists (CAP) Lifetime Achievement Award. Dr. Fung is a nationally recognized expert in transfusion medicine. (10/2023) 

Congratulations to Jessica Crothers, M.D., Assistant Professor Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, on achieving the Notice of Special Interest Team Science award from NIAID for: "Effects of the gut microbiota on oral vaccine response in adults and children." (10/2023)

Nicole BouffardCongratulations to Nicole Bouffard on being awarded the "Scientific Research Staff Award" for 2023. This was presented to Nicole at the September 21, 2023, LCOM Research Excellence Award Ceremony. This is a great honor for Nicole and the Department of Pathology and recognizes her contributions and importance to the department and MIC. (10/2023)

Congratulations to Brian Cunniff, Ph.D., Assistant Professor Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, on being awarded a $1.6 million R01 grant by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences to study the role of mitochondrial trafficking in regulating cell migration, a key feature of metastatic tumors. (9/2023)

Congratulations to Yvonne Janssen-Heininger, Ph.D., Professor Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, on becoming a University of Vermont Cancer Center Program Co-Leader, Cancer Cell. (9/2023)

Congratulations to the following pathology members on receiving research support funds in April 2023. Recipients were: John Kennedy, M.D., $6520 for morphologic and immunohistochemical re-evaluation of renal cell carcinomas exhibiting papillary architecture, with emphasis on tumors demonstrating "type 2" morphology. Yvonne Janssen-Heininger, Ph.D., $15,000 for a joint initiative between RBP, UVM Cancer Center, and faculty in the Department of Chemistry. Megan Tarte $745 for Stem Cells, Cell Therapies, and Bioengineering in Lung Biology and Disease Conference. Albert van der Vliet, Ph.D., $14,400 for Redox processes in macrophage activation in IPF. (9/2023)

Congratulations to the following faculty members on their promotions: Vikas Anathy, Ph.D., to Professor with tenure, Bronwyn Bryant, M.D., to Associate Professor, John DeWitt, M.D., Ph.D., to Associate Professor, Sarah Nowak Ph.D., to Associate Professor, and Christi Wojewoda, M.D., to Professor. (6/2023)

Bei Zhang, M.D., M.S., Ph.D., MLS(ASCP), associate professor of pathology and laboratory medicine, did an educational scholarship session titled "Activate Students Learning Outside Classroom." at the 8th International meeting of the Association of Biochemistry Educators. Dr. Zhang also conducted two additional workshops with other ABE members titled "Linking Clinical Presentations to Their Biochemistry: A novel ABE Clinical-Biochemistry Curricular Treat Mapping Educational Tool.", and "Getting to Clerkship and Beyond: Crafting Biochemistry Learning Objectives that Connect and Integrate Basic Science Concepts with Clinical Application." (5/2023)

Congratulations to Dr. Maureen Harmon, M.D., associate professor of pathology and laboratory medicine, and Dr. Amer Abu Alfa, M.D., assistant professor of pathology and laboratory medicine for being recognized by medical students for their professionalism. Dr. Harmon was recognized for social responsibility and Dr. Abu Alfa was recognized for compassion. (5/2023)

Congratulations to Mary Cushman, Ph.D., M.Sc., professor of medicine and pathology and laboratory medicine, on being named a University Distinguished Professor of Medicine, Hematology/Oncology Division, and  Pathology and Laboratory Medicine. (5/2023)

View the story Mammograms of a study by Sarah Nowak, Ph.D., assistant professor of pathology and laboratory medicine, and researchers at the UVM Cancer Center showing data that fewer women being screened for breast cancer. (4/2023)

vandervliet-habibovic420x280A new study by Albert van der Vliet, Ph.D., professor of pathology and laboratory medicine, and a team of University of Vermont (UVM) researchers is honing in on why people with asthma often have worse symptoms if they are obese. This new research demonstrates that the gene DUOX1 likely contributes to the connection between obesity and asthma.  The research was published ahead of print in the American Journal of Physiology-Lung Cellular and Molecular Physiology and was highlighted as an APSselect article for March 2023. Albert van der Vliet, Ph.D., was the senior author on the paper, along with department of pathology and laboratory medicine coauthors Aida Habibovic, lab research technician; Litiele Cruz, Ph.D., visiting scholar; Vikas Anathy, Ph.D., associate professor; University Distinguished Professor Yvonne Janssen-Heininger, Ph.D.; and additional team members and authors from UVM. Read the full LCOM News story LCOM News (4/2023)

Congratulations to Bronwyn Bryant, M.D., Assistant Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, for having your proposal, Consequential Validity of Entrustable Professional Activities in Pathology Residency Training selected to receive a Frymoyer Scholars Program project of $48,000 to be funded July 1, 2023 through June 30, 2025. (4/2023)

Congratulations to Martin Chang, M.D., Ph.D., on accepting the new role as Vice Chair for Faculty Affairs. (4/2023)

Congratulations to Joanna Conant, M.D., on becoming the new Pathology Student Fellowship Director starting July 1, 2023. (4/2023)

Congratulations to The Cunniff Lab, on receiving funding to support research focused on malignant mesothelioma. The funding was from The Butler Family Foundation Fund for Cancer Research at the University of Vermont Cancer Center. The Butler Fund was established by the Butler family in memory of two loved ones lost to mesothelioma. (03/2023)