Celebrating the UVM Larner College of Medicine Community

The American Council on Education has announced that UVM has earned the prestigious Research 1 (R1) designation—the highest research classification in the Carnegie system. More than $101.5 million of the over $260 million in extramural funding that led to UVM’s R1 designation is due to Larner researchers like Xin Rui Lim, Ph.D., post-doctoral associate in the Harraz lab (pictured above).

Read more about UVM’s R1 designation

Love is more than a matter of the heart, according to research on the neurobiology of relationships, the roles of hormones in pair-bonding, and the effects of sensory information in partner selection. Science aside, five couples—Karena Nguyen ’25 and Tin Nguyen ’25, Audree Baroni ’25 and Tanner Baroni ’27, Chellie Nayar ’25 and Tyler McGuire ’25, Jonathan Palmer ’27 and Marissa Birne, and Delia Horn, M.D.’13, and Tobey Horn, M.D.—share their stories of Love at Larner.

Read more about Love at Larner

UVM’s Supportive Services for Veteran Families (SSVF) program, funded since 2013 by a Veterans Affairs grant to Larner Professor of Psychiatry Thomas Simpatico, M.D., helps very-low-income veteran families who are homeless or imminently at risk of homelessness gain and retain stable housing. The program at UVM is led by Simpatico and UVM SSVF Program Director Rebecca Brown-Gural.

Read more about UVM’s SSVF program

On February 12, the Office of Inclusive Excellence at the Larner College of Medicine hosted a Black HEALTHstory Month lecture presented virtually by Pamela Preston Reynolds, M.D., Ph.D., of the University of Virginia School of Medicine. Reynolds’s talk, titled “The Federal Government’s Efforts to Racially Integrate Hospitals Under Medicare, 1963–1967,” explored racial integration in American medicine.

Read more about the Black HEALTHstory Month lecture

IN MEMORIAM

Larner Professor Emeritus of Radiology John Tampas, M.D.’54, B.S.’51, died on December 6, 2024, at age 95. Tampas joined the UVM College of Medicine faculty in 1962 and later served as chair of radiology for 26 years. His extraordinary professional life was balanced by a deep commitment to his family, his faith, and his love of the arts and medicine. Read Dr. Tampas’s obituary at Legacy.com

ACCOLADES AND ACCOMPLISHMENTS

Heidi Schumacher, M.D., assistant professor of pediatrics at the Robert Larner, M.D. College of Medicine and a member of Larner’s Vermont Child Health Improvement Program team (VCHIP), has been awarded a $250,000 implementation grant from the UVM Leahy Institute for Rural Partnerships to leverage cross-sector partnerships to advance health and educational equity across rural Vermont.

A new minimally invasive heart valve repair procedure called tricuspid transcatheter edge-to-edge repair (TEER) brings leading-edge cardiac care closer to home for older patients in Vermont and northern New York—and the University of Vermont Medical Center (UVMMC) is the only hospital in the state that offers it. Rony Lahoud, M.D., and colleagues performed the first TEER at UVMMC last year.

In January, the Larner community gathered to celebrate at the Class of 2027 Public Health Poster Session. Each year, with help from longtime partner United Way of Northwest Vermont, 16 groups of medical students in the Public Health Projects course—including, this year, Erin Manogaran ’27 (left) and Arya Kale ’27—work with local organizations to address public health needs.

UVM’s Gund Institute for Environment has announced a $100,000 Joint Catalyst Award for a research project led by Principal Investigator Christine Vatovec, Ph.D., M.S., research assistant professor of biochemistry at the Larner College of Medicine, to develop resources for primary care clinicians to address patients experiencing climate change–related health challenges in northern New England.

A recent paper published in Nature Communications co-authored by cellular, molecular, and biomedical sciences Ph.D. candidate Cameron Cordero and his advisor, Steven Roberts, Ph.D., associate professor of microbiology and molecular genetics, and colleagues has been included on the journal’s Editors’ Highlights page. Cordero studies DNA damage and repair in cancer.

SAVE THE DATE

Larner’s Celebration of Gender Equity in Medicine and Science and Gender Equity Awards, with featured speaker Vermont Attorney General Charity Clark, will be held on Thursday, March 6, 12:00–1:30 p.m. at MedEd 200.

Register today for the 2025 Inclusive Excellence Symposium, “Healing Through Hope,” at UVM’s Davis Center and virtually. Scholars, performers, and multimedia educators will explore ways to find hope and resilience in tumultuous times.

Match Day 2025—with the theme “Lights/Camera/Match Day!”—is on Friday, March 21, beginning at 11:45 a.m. in the Hoehl Gallery. Larner’s Class of 2025 will learn where they will begin their residencies after graduation. The event will be livestreamed.

LARNER IN THE NEWS

HEALTHDAY
Madsen Quoted in Story on Beta Blocker Lowering Women’s Migraine Stroke Risk

VERMONT PUBLIC
Vermont Health Commissioner Dr. Mark Levine Retiring in March

PUBLISHED RESEARCH

Baker MB, Binda DD, Nozari A, Kennedy JM, Dienes E, Baker WE. Quantitative Analysis of Propofol Dosage in Cannabis Users: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. J Clin Med. 2025 Jan 28;14(3):858. doi: 10.3390/jcm14030858. PMID: 39941531; PMCID: PMC11818839.

Balasubramanian A, Mysior CR, So N, Zhu AC. Peripheral Nerve Stimulation and Improved Functional Outcomes in a Prosthetic User: A Case Report. A A Pract. 2025 Feb 3;19(2):e01916. doi: 10.1213/XAA.0000000000001916. PMID: 39898545.

Gebo C, Hardy CSC, McElvany BD, Graham NR, Lu JQ, Moradpour S, Currier JR, Friberg H, Gromowski GD, Thomas SJ, Chan GC, Diehl SA, Waickman AT. B cell receptor dependent enhancement of dengue virus infection. PLoS Pathog. 2024 Oct 31;20(10):e1012683. doi: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1012683. PMID: 39480886; PMCID: PMC11556684.

Hart WK, Klick JC, Tsai MH. Efficiency, Safety, Quality, and Empathy: Balancing Competing Perioperative Challenges in the Older Adults. Clin Geriatr Med. 2025 Feb;41(1):117-130. doi: 10.1016/j.cger.2024.03.010. PMID: 39551537.

Jonk Y, O'Connor H, DeAngelis T, Jewell C, Ziller E. Social Vulnerability of Pediatric Populations Living in Ambulance Deserts. Pediatr Clin North Am. 2025 Feb;72(1):85-92. doi: 10.1016/j.pcl.2024.07.039. Epub 2024 Sep 14. PMID: 39603728.

MacLehose RF, Ahern TP, Collin LJ, Li A, Lash TL. CYP2D6 Phenotype and Breast Cancer Outcomes: A Bias Analysis and Meta-Analysis. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2025 Feb 6;34(2):224-233. doi: 10.1158/1055-9965.EPI-24-0755. PMID: 39540781; PMCID: PMC11802319.

Mysior C, Walch N, Gargya A. Peripheral Nerve Stimulator for Pain After Surgery for Ulnar Neuropathy at the Elbow. Cureus. 2023 Apr 8;15(4):e37297. doi: 10.7759/cureus.37297. PMID: 37168195; PMCID: PMC10166575.

Rahawi AH, He F, Fang J, Calhoun SL, Vgontzas AN, Liao D, Bixler EO, Younes M, Ricci A, Fernandez-Mendoza J. Association of Novel EEG Biomarkers of Sleep Depth and Cortical Arousability with Cardiac Autonomic Modulation in Adolescents. Sleep. 2025 Jan 31:zsaf018. doi: 10.1093/sleep/zsaf018. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 39887059.

Soll RF, Edwards EM. Safety and Efficacy of Probiotics for Preterm Infants. Pediatrics. 2025 Feb 12:e2024069450. doi: 10.1542/peds.2024-069450. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 39933577.

Stephens KA, van Eeghen C, Zheng Z, Anastas T, Ma KPK, Prado MG, Clifton J, Rose G, Mullin D, Chan KCG, Kessler R. Intervention Stage Completion and Behavioral Health Outcomes: An Integrated Behavioral Health and Primary Care Randomized Pragmatic Trial. Ann Fam Med. 2025 Jan 27;23(1):35-43. doi: 10.1370/afm.230576. PMID: 39870540; PMCID: PMC11772036.

Strother C, Bouffard N, Smolynets O, Graham NR, Elko EA, Sabundayo B, Durbin AP, Whitehead SS, Taatjes DJ, Kirkpatrick BD, Greene L, Pierce KK, Diehl SA. Localized Inflammation in Dengue Vaccine-Induced Skin Rash Is Not Associated with Continuous Presence of Dengue Virus Genome. J Invest Dermatol. 2024 Dec 27:S0022-202X(24)03037-9. doi: 10.1016/j.jid.2024.11.015. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 39733933.

Tarbi, E. C., Ambrose, N., Anderson, E. C., Hutchinson, R. N., Han, P. K., Reblin, M., & Gramling, R. (2025). “It's hard to talk to a computer, I get it”: An exploratory analysis of clinician connection-building communication practices in rural telepalliative care encounters. PEC Innovation, 100377.

Weisman AK, Lentz SA, Vieth JT, Kennedy JM, Bounds RB. Preparation for Rural Practice with a Multimodal Rural Emergency Medicine Curriculum. West J Emerg Med. 2025 Jan;26(1):62-65. doi: 10.5811/westjem.18573. PMID: 39918143.

Wohlford L, Bounds R. Gastric Outlet Obstruction as a Result of an Inguinal Hernia. Clin Pract Cases Emerg Med. 2025 Jan;9(1):123-124. doi: 10.5811/cpcem.35395. PMID: 39903641.

Youth B, O'Dea CL, Rinehart J. Preparing Residents for Rural Practice and Advocacy: The Experiences of Three Residency Training Programs in the Northeast United States (2009-2023). Pediatr Clin North Am. 2025 Feb;72(1):151-164. doi: 10.1016/j.pcl.2024.07.029. Epub 2024 Aug 26. PMID: 39603723.

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