Celebrating the UVM Larner College of Medicine Community

On January 22, the Larner College of Medicine Office of Inclusive Excellence hosted the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Health Equity Lecture with a presentation by Carla Carten, Ph.D., senior vice president and chief diversity and inclusion officer for the University of Vermont Health Network. In this conversation, Dr. Carten explores diversity, equity, and inclusion in health care, reflects on her career, and reminisces about meeting with “Look at Larner” students.

Read more about Dr. Carten

Brain health research projects led by early-career investigators Kathryn Morelli, Ph.D., Masayo Koide, Ph.D., M.S., and James Stafford, Ph.D., were selected to receive grant funding from the Vermont Center for Cardiovascular and Brain Health. These pilot grants aim to advance the researchers’ skills in study design, epidemiology, translational research, and using pioneering technologies.

Read more about Larner brain health research

As the subject of almost unrelenting hype, artificial intelligence (AI) is arguably the hottest technology of our time. In the past few years, AI has evolved from a futuristic concept into an inescapable juggernaut of innovation emerging from technology companies that impacts many facets of our lives—including patient care, biomedical research, and health care systems.

Read more about AI in medicine in Vermont Medicine

VOICES OF THE COLLEGE

“This experience has inspired me to continue my path in medicine, striving to improve the lives of patients like my father, whose battle with kidney disease has taught me more about life, health, and the gift of organ donation than I could have imagined.” — Jennifer Chen, Class of 2025

ACCOLADES AND ACCOMPLISHMENTS

For January Cervical Cancer Awareness Month, the January 27 episode of the University of Vermont’s Across the Fence program features Kate Tracy, Ph.D., senior associate dean for research at the Robert Larner, M.D. College of Medicine and director of research for the UVM Health Network. Tracy was highlighted in the Fall 2024 issue of Vermont Medicine magazine.

Three Aequitas Health Honor Society Fellows in the Larner medical Class of 2025 have been honored for projects that showcase innovative approaches to addressing health equity. Jasmine Bazinet-Phillips, M.S.Ed., was awarded a 2024–25 Chapter Project Grant for her project to improve pediatric vision care access, and Adaugo Chikezie and Karena Nguyen were recognized as finalists for the Fellow Project Grant.

Assisted by faculty advisor Santana VanDyke, M.D., and UVM dermatology residents Mark Derbyshire, M.D., and Sheridan Joseph, M.D., Larner Class of 2027 medical students Claire Baptiste, M.P.H., and Amir Zafaranian, co-leaders of the Dermatology Student Interest Group, organized free skin cancer screenings for the South Burlington Fire Department on Saturday, January 11.

Effective July 1, Toshiko Uchida, M.D., from Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine, has been appointed associate dean for curriculum at the Larner College of Medicine. In this role, she will oversee the ongoing development of the curriculum, mentor both students and faculty, and help further establish Larner as a national leader in medical research and education.

Last month, Larner data scientists presented at the Data and Open Science Summit at the University of Vermont. Patrick Payne, M.P.H., clinical data analyst in anesthesiology, discussed “R for Reproducible Scientific Analysis.” Emily Curd, Ph.D., bioinformatics analyst, and Princess Rodriguez, Ph.D., assistant professor of microbiology and molecular genetics, co-led a “Data Visualization in Metagenomics” workshop.

SAVE THE DATE

National Wear Red Day Photo, 10 a.m., Given Courtyard (1st floor). Dean Page invites the Larner community to celebrate “Go Red for Women” as a reminder of women’s cardiovascular health during Heart Month.

Zoom talk 12–1 p.m. by P. Preston Reynolds, M.D., Ph.D., of the University of Virginia School of Medicine: “The Federal Government’s Efforts to Racially Integrate Hospitals Under Medicare, 1963-1967.”

Frymoyer Scholars Program application deadline. Open to physicians and nurses actively engaged in teaching UVM medical and nursing students, for up to $25,000 a year for two years toward education-related innovation.

LARNER IN THE NEWS

WCAX-TV
Bell Interviewed About Sudden Unexpected Infant Death Risk in Vermont

VERMONT PUBLIC
Gennari Discusses Importance of Advance Health Care Directive

PUBLISHED RESEARCH

Adrianzen-Herrera DA, Strumlowska A. Role of Population Based Studies in Advancing our Knowledge of Myelodysplastic Syndromes. Curr Hematol Malig Rep. 2025 Jan 17;20(1):6. doi: 10.1007/s11899-025-00750-5. PMID: 39821758.

Barsha RAA, Assari S, Byiringiro S, Michos ED, Plante TB, Miller HN, Himmelfarb CR, Sheikhattari P. Motivation to Clinical Trial Participation: Health Information Distrust and Healthcare Access as Explanatory Variables and Gender as Moderator. J Clin Med. 2025 Jan 14;14(2):485. doi: 10.3390/jcm14020485. PMID: 39860491; PMCID: PMC11766055.

Bather JR, Mautner Wizentier M, Cowan SK, Peipert JF, Furr-Holden D, Goodman MS. Age-specific trends in pregnancy-associated suicide and homicide rates by race/ethnicity, 2005-2021. Am J Obstet Gynecol MFM. 2025 Jan 9;7(2):101607. doi: 10.1016/j.ajogmf.2025.101607. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 39798600.

Burch R. Chronic Migraine in Adults. JAMA. 2025 Jan 9. doi: 10.1001/jama.2024.26818. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 39786752.

Charpignon ML, Matos J, Nakayama LF, Gallifant J, Alfonso PGI, Cobanaj M, Fiske AM, Gates AJ, Ho FDV, Jain U, Kashkooli M, Link N, McCoy LG, Shaffer J, Celi LA. Diversity in the medical research ecosystem: a descriptive scientometric analysis of over 49 000 studies and 150 000 authors published in high-impact medical journals between 2007 and 2022. BMJ Open. 2025 Jan 22;15(1):e086982. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2024-086982. PMID: 39843370; PMCID: PMC11759198.

Cheung KL, Renteria MA, Callas PW, Tamura MK, Gutierrez OM, Cushman M, LaMantia M. Kidney Function, Cognitive Impairment, and Trajectories: A Longitudinal Biracial Study. J Gen Intern Med. 2025 Jan 22. doi: 10.1007/s11606-025-09366-0. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 39843671.

Cupertino RB, Medland SE, Ottino-Gonzalez J, Cao Z, Juliano A, Pancholi D, Banaschewski T, Bokde ALW, Desrivières S, Flor H, Grigis A, Gowland P, Heinz A, Brühl R, Martinot JL, Martinot MP, Artiges E, Nees F, Orfanos DP, Lemaitre H, Paus T, Poustka L, Hohmann S, Fröhner JH, Smolka MN, Walter H, Whelan R, Schumann G, Conrod P, Callas P, Garavan H, Mackey S; IMAGEN Consortium. Impulsivity behaviors and white matter mediate the relationship between genetic risk for cannabis use disorder and early cannabis use in adolescents. Addiction. 2025 Jan 10. doi: 10.1111/add.16750. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 39789945.

Haxel CS, Wang A, Levine JC, Drucker N, Hart MR, Glatz JA, Ferdman D, Karnik R, Tsirka A, Arya P, Doherty M, Laraja K, Hagenbuch S, Rotondo KM. Prenatal Diagnosis of Congenital Heart Disease in Liveborn Infants in the New England Region. Pediatr Cardiol. 2025 Jan 23. doi: 10.1007/s00246-025-03778-9. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 39849107.

Huang SY, Ge YJ, Ren P, Wu BS, Gong W, Du J, Chen SD, Kang JJ, Ma Q, Bokde ALW, Desrivières S, Garavan H, Grigis A, Lemaitre H, Smolka MN, Hohmann S; IMAGEN Consortium; Feng JF, Zhang YR, Cheng W, Yu JT. Genome-wide association study unravels mechanisms of brain glymphatic activity. Nat Commun. 2025 Jan 13;16(1):626. doi: 10.1038/s41467-024-55706-9. PMID: 39805841; PMCID: PMC11730627.

McEntee RK, Hitt J, Sieja A. Taking a Team Approach: Keep up with the EHR with a Training and Optimization Program. Appl Clin Inform. Published online October 9, 2024. doi:10.1055/a-2437-0185.

Michaeli N, Beck A, De Luca G, Gitau M, Lubetkin D, Ochieng D, Wanjiku GW, Myers JG. A prospective, longitudinal, comparative analysis of the World Health Organization / International Committee of the Red Cross Basic Emergency Care Course on emergency medicine knowledge and confidence among recent medical school graduates. Int J Emerg Med. 2025 Jan 8;18(1):8. doi: 10.1186/s12245-024-00797-w. PMID: 39780101; PMCID: PMC11708296.

Roginski MA, Atchinson PRA, Esteves AM, Lentz SA, Fjeld KJ, Markwood JM, Lauria MJ, Bernardoni B. Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome: Updates for Critical Care Transport. Air Med J. 2024 Nov-Dec;43(6):566-571. doi: 10.1016/j.amj.2024.09.005. Epub 2024 Oct 10. PMID: 39632039.

Sorkow N, Lauf C, Berns SH. The Strength of a Story: Partnering With a Community Organization to Destigmatize Substance Use Disorder. MedEdPORTAL. 2025 Jan 24;21:11487. doi: 10.15766/mep_2374-8265.11487. PMID: 39867641; PMCID: PMC11759220.

WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU!

Published by the Office of Medical Communications © 2025

Privacy Policy | Accessibility