Celebrating the UVM Larner College of Medicine Community

Against a backdrop of vibrant autumn leaves on October 18, the Larner College of Medicine’s Class of 2028 assembled at the University of Vermont’s historic Ira Allen Chapel to receive their first white coats. This significant ceremony marks their formal entry into the medical profession, highlighting the responsibilities they assume as they wear the iconic physician’s white coat. Members of the class each have their unique story of what brought them to study medicine.

Read more about the Larner Class of 2028’s White Coat Ceremony

As reported in the New York Times, the Washington Post, Discover Magazine, and many other national and international publications, a team of researchers—including Davi Bock, Ph.D., associate professor of neurological sciences—recently made a substantial advancement in neurobiological research by successfully mapping the entire brain of Drosophila melanogaster, more commonly known as the fruit fly. This milestone will set the stage for future large-scale brain mapping projects in other species, including humans.

Read more about Dr. Bock’s fruit fly brain mapping

The UVM Cancer Center’s Hannah Perry, M.D., division chief and medical director of breast imaging at the UVM Medical Center, recently partnered with Community Health Centers (CHC) to address low breast cancer screening rates among non-English-speaking patients, particularly Nepali women. Perry has collaborated with CHC as a key member of their Mammogram Task Force, aiming to overcome barriers to patient care in the New American community.

Read more about UVMCC’s partnership with Community Health Centers

VOICES OF THE COLLEGE

“When I am not studying, you can find me in the pottery studio … and giving back to my community by volunteering with Feeding Chittenden.”
—Michael Greenberg, Class of 2027

ACCOLADES AND ACCOMPLISHMENTS

The Jandl ’79 and Parker ’73 Endowments with the Larner Wellness Committee, the music student interest group, and The Red Wheelbarrow presented Larner’s annual Student Performance Night October 4. The UVM community and friends filled the Hoehl Gallery, as the audience enjoyed the sights and sounds of talented participants through song, instrument, and the spoken word.

Socioeconomic disadvantages have long hindered educational success, particularly in underserved communities. A study co-led by William Copeland, Ph.D., professor of psychiatry, titled “Intergenerational effects of a casino-funded family transfer program on educational outcomes in an American Indian community,” published in Nature Communications, found that financial support can help close these gaps.

For the fifth consecutive year, the University of Vermont has achieved a new record for research funding, attracting $266 million in external support for the 2024 fiscal year. Researchers at UVM’s Larner College of Medicine—traditionally a top-performing pillar of UVM’s research enterprise—were awarded more than $100 million in support, a 7.6 percent increase over last fiscal year.

This month, five individuals at the Larner College of Medicine were honored with endowed professorships in their respective departments: William G. Tharp, M.D., Ph.D., Robert H. Millay, M.D., Patrick M. Forgione, M.D., M.A., Donald R. Laub, M.D., M.S., and Michelle M. Sowden, D.O. Endowed chairs and professorships are among the highest academic honors that UVM can bestow on a faculty member.

A recent paper co-authored by Robert Gramling, M.D., D.Sc., professor and vice chair for research in the Department of Family Medicine and head of the Vermont Conversation Lab, examines the use of AI for clinical recordings. The paper, published in NEJM AI, explores the benefits, challenges, and ethical considerations of ambient recording technology in patient care.

SAVE THE DATE

Join Senior Associate Dean for Research Kate Tracy, Ph.D., UVM Foundation Corporate and Foundation Relations Assistant Vice President Jay Caporale, and UVM Foundation Corporate and Foundation Relations Director Emily Lappat on Thursday, October 24, at 4:30 p.m. in the Hoehl Gallery for “Unlocking Medical Frontiers: Advancing Research Potential Though Philanthropy.” This second installment in the Research Spotlight Series will focus on how to work with the UVM Foundation to identify potential funding opportunities for research.

The Vermont Dementia and Brain Health Symposium, featuring keynote speaker Stephen Salloway, M.D., on the latest developments in dementia detection, treatment, and risk reduction, will be held on Friday, November 1, 8:30 a.m.–noon, at the Waterbury State Complex, 2nd Floor Main Conference Rooms. RSVP here.

November 4 is the deadline to submit posters for the Teaching Academy’s 2025 Snow Season Education Retreat, scheduled for Thursday, January 16, and Friday, January 17, 2025. Featuring a plenary, poster session, and workshops, the retreat is open to all Larner faculty, students, and staff at all teaching sites in the UVM Health Network and the Clinical Branch Campus/Nuvance Health in Connecticut.

LARNER IN THE NEWS

THE WASHINGTON POST
'Nobel Worthy' Fruit Fly Brain Mapping by Bock et al.

NBC5
Leahy Comments on Expanding Vt.-N.Y. Mental Health Resources

PUBLISHED RESEARCH

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Cecchini MJ, Borowitz MJ, Glassy EF, Gullapalli RR, Hart SN, Hassell LA, Homer RJ, Jackups R Jr, McNeal JL, Anderson SR. Harnessing the Power of Generative Artificial Intelligence in Pathology Education. Arch Pathol Lab Med. 2024 Sep 30. doi: 10.5858/arpa.2024-0187-RA. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 39343982.

Cioffredi LA, Yerby LG, Burris HH, Cole KM, Engel SM, Murray TM, Slopen N, Volk HE, Acheson A; HBCD Social and Environmental Determinants Working Group. Assessing prenatal and early childhood social and environmental determinants of health in the HEALthy Brain and Child Development Study (HBCD). Dev Cogn Neurosci. 2024 Oct;69:101429. doi: 10.1016/j.dcn.2024.101429. Epub 2024 Aug 21. PMID: 39208687; PMCID: PMC11399805.

Correale J, Solomon AJ, Cohen JA, Banwell BL, Gracia F, Gyang TV, de Bedoya FHD, Harnegie MP, Hemmer B, Jacob A, Kim HJ, Marrie RA, Mateen FJ, Newsome SD, Pandit L, Prayoonwiwat N, Sahraian MA, Sato DK, Saylor D, Shi FD, Siva A, Tan K, Viswanathan S, Wattjes MP, Weinshenker B, Yamout B, Fujihara K. Differential diagnosis of suspected multiple sclerosis: global health considerations. Lancet Neurol. 2024 Oct;23(10):1035-1049. doi: 10.1016/S1474-4422(24)00256-4. PMID: 39304243.

Degli Esposti M, Pulcini CD, Fleegler EW, Weigend Vargas E, Vargas L, Yock- Corrales A, Hargarten S. Youth Firearm Mortality in the Americas From 2015 to 2022. JAMA Netw Open. 2024 Oct 1;7(10):e2437395. doi: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2024.37395. PMID: 39356508; PMCID: PMC11447584.

Dorkenwald S, Matsliah A, Sterling AR, Schlegel P, Yu SC, McKellar CE, Lin A, Costa M, Eichler K, Yin Y, Silversmith W, Schneider-Mizell C, Jordan CS, Brittain D, Halageri A, Kuehner K, Ogedengbe O, Morey R, Gager J, Kruk K, Perlman E, Yang R, Deutsch D, Bland D, Sorek M, Lu R, Macrina T, Lee K, Bae JA, Mu S, Nehoran B, Mitchell E, Popovych S, Wu J, Jia Z, Castro MA, Kemnitz N, Ih D, Bates AS, Eckstein N, Funke J, Collman F, Bock DD, Jefferis GSXE, Seung HS, Murthy M; FlyWire Consortium. Neuronal wiring diagram of an adult brain. Nature. 2024 Oct;634(8032):124-138. doi: 10.1038/s41586-024-07558-y. Epub 2024 Oct 2. PMID: 39358518; PMCID: PMC11446842.

Ingimarsdóttir IJ, Vishram-Nielsen JKK, Einarsson H, Goldfeder S, Mewton N, Barasa A, Basic C, Oerlemans MIFJ, Niederseer D, Shchendrygina A, Gustafsson F, Ruschitzka F, Kida K, Mohty D, Rakotonoel RR, Tun HN, Hrafnkelsdóttir TJ, Saldarriaga C. Diagnostic and therapeutic practice for HFpEF across continents and regions: An international survey. ESC Heart Fail. 2024 Oct 1. doi: 10.1002/ehf2.15084. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 39351634.

Katz-Wise SL, Godwin EG, Medzhitova Y, Moore LBM, Parsa N, Hill A, Oparah N, Bogart LM, Rosal MC, Pullen Sansfaçon A, Ehrensaft D, Nishman MM, Austin SB. Development of a family-level intervention for families with transgender and/or nonbinary youth: Lessons and recommendations. J Fam Psychol. 2024 Oct;38(7):995-1006. doi: 10.1037/fam0001262. Epub 2024 Aug 12. PMID: 39133597; PMCID: PMC11442118.

Lim XR, Abd-Alhaseeb MM, Ippolito M, Koide M, Senatore AJ, Plante C, Hariharan A, Weir N, Longden TA, Laprade KA, Stafford JM, Ziemens D, Schwaninger M, Wenzel J, Postnov DD, Harraz OF. Endothelial Piezo1 channel mediates mechano- feedback control of brain blood flow. Nat Commun. 2024 Oct 7;15(1):8686. doi: 10.1038/s41467-024-52969-0. PMID: 39375369; PMCID: PMC11458797.

Merhar SL, Hu Z, Devlin LA, Ounpraseuth ST, Simon AE, Smith PB, Walsh MC, Lee JY, Das A, Higgins RD, Crawford MM, Rice W, Paul DA, Maxwell JR, Telang SD, Fung CM, Wright T, Reynolds AM, Hahn D, Ross J, McAllister JM, Crowley M, Shaikh SK, Christ L, Brown J, Riccio J, Wong Ramsey K, Braswell EF, Tucker L, McAlmon K, Dummula K, Weiner J, White JR, Howell MP, Newman S, Snowden JN, Young LW; Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Neonatal Research Network National Institutes of Health Environmental Influences on Child Health Outcomes Program Institutional Development Award States Pediatric Clinical Tri; Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Neonatal Research Network National Institutes of Health Environmental Influences on Child Health Outcomes Program Institutional Development Award States Pediatric Clinical Trials Network. Infant Feeding and Weight Trajectories in the Eat, Sleep, Console Trial: A Secondary Analysis of a Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA Pediatr. 2024 Oct 1;178(10):976-984. doi: 10.1001/jamapediatrics.2024.2578. PMID: 39133505; PMCID: PMC11320328.

Miglioretti DL, Abraham L, Sprague BL, Lee CI, Bissell MCS, Ho TH, Bowles EJA, Henderson LM, Hubbard RA, Tosteson ANA, Kerlikowske K. Association Between False-Positive Results and Return to Screening Mammography in the Breast Cancer Surveillance Consortium Cohort. Ann Intern Med. 2024 Oct;177(10):1297-1307. doi: 10.7326/M24-0123. Epub 2024 Sep 3. PMID: 39222505.

Repp AB, Sparks AD, Wilkinson K, Roetker NS, Schaefer JK, Li A, McClure LA, Terrell DR, Ferraris A, Adamski A, Smith NL, Zakai NA. Factors associated with venous thromboembolism pharmacoprophylaxis initiation in hospitalized medical patients: the Medical Inpatients Thrombosis and Hemostasis study. J Thromb Haemost. 2024 Sep 12:S1538-7836(24)00502-6. doi: 10.1016/j.jtha.2024.08.016. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 39260742.

Schlegel P, Yin Y, Bates AS, Dorkenwald S, Eichler K, Brooks P, Han DS, Gkantia M, Dos Santos M, Munnelly EJ, Badalamente G, Serratosa Capdevila L, Sane VA, Fragniere AMC, Kiassat L, Pleijzier MW, Stürner T, Tamimi IFM, Dunne CR, Salgarella I, Javier A, Fang S, Perlman E, Kazimiers T, Jagannathan SR, Matsliah A, Sterling AR, Yu SC, McKellar CE; FlyWire Consortium; Costa M, Seung HS, Murthy M, Hartenstein V, Bock DD, Jefferis GSXE. Whole-brain annotation and multi-connectome cell typing of Drosophila. Nature. 2024 Oct;634(8032):139-152. doi: 10.1038/s41586-024-07686-5. Epub 2024 Oct 2. PMID: 39358521; PMCID: PMC11446831.

Sherman SE, Stoutenburg E, Long DL, Juraschek SP, Cushman M, Howard VJ, Tracy RP, Judd SE, Kamin Mukaz D, Zakai NA, Plante TB. The association of leptin and incident hypertension in the reasons for geographic and racial differences in stroke (REGARDS) cohort. J Hum Hypertens. 2024 Oct 1. doi: 10.1038/s41371-024-00963-w. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 39354067.

Taylor KD, Wood AC, Rotter JI, Guo X, Herrington DM, Johnson WC, Post WS, Tracy RP, Rich SS, Malik S. Metagenomic Study of the MESA: Detection of Gemella Morbillorum and Association With Coronary Heart Disease. J Am Heart Assoc. 2024 Oct;13(19):e035693. doi: 10.1161/JAHA.124.035693. Epub 2024 Sep 30. PMID: 39344648.

Yaghy A, Perera DC. RBMS1: Shedding light on ocular melanoma’s dark prognosis. Exp Eye Res. 2024 Oct;247:110058. doi: 10.1016/j.exer.2024.110058. Epub 2024 Aug 22. PMID: 39181227.

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