Celebrating the UVM Larner College of Medicine Community

Last week, the Larner College of Medicine held the Dean’s Celebration of Excellence in Research, an annual event highlighting the research being conducted by junior faculty, senior faculty, postdoctoral trainees, and graduate students at Larner. The week included student poster displays, a research rally, and a Larner alumni awards presentation and culminated with a speaker panel discussing the new UVM–BioLabs partnership, which will create a life sciences incubator as part of UVM’s research enterprise.

Read more about the Dean’s Celebration of Excellence in Research

“The chance to be creative and at the same time be a scientist, clinician, teacher, and compassionate caregiver is why I chose a career in pediatrics,” says Lewis First, M.D., M.S. As he marks his 30th year as chair of pediatrics at the University of Vermont and chief of pediatrics at the UVM Children’s Hospital, First reflects on his career journey and the legacy he continues to build.

Read more about Dr. First

Pediatric care and nursery services at the UVM Children’s Hospital have blossomed into a cohesive academic network across the six UVM Health Network hospitals and five outpatient pediatric primary care sites in Vermont and New York. Providers connect regularly to learn from each other, share best practices, and solve problems in patient care and population health.

Read more about the pediatrics network

Art Papier, M.D.’88, was a first-year medical student when he attended a lecture on the advantages of keeping detailed, shareable medical records to improve patient care. Fascination with this topic led Papier to create VisualDx, a clinical decision tool that visually describes and categorizes thousands of diseases and brings public health to the point of care.

Read more about Papier and his VisualDx tool

MEET THE STAFF

Meet longtime Standardized Patient (SP) educator Shirley McAdam, who joined Larner’s Clinical Simulation Laboratory in 2004. McAdam hires and educates SPs who participate in the Larner foundations-level courses and clerkship rotations. “I have loved teaching since childhood and am moved when learners experience ‘aha!’ moments,” said McAdam. Aside from teaching, she also loves day-hiking, yoga, and swing dancing.

Read more about Shirley McAdam

ACCOLADES AND ACCOMPLISHMENTS

The Dean’s Celebration of Excellence in Research, showcasing the exceptional research endeavors of faculty, research fellows, and graduate students, was held at the Larner College of Medicine September 23–27. In addition to an awards ceremony celebrating the outstanding dedication of Larner and UVM researchers to advancing medicine and science, the Distinguished Graduate Alumni Award was presented to Jennifer Musa, Ph.D.’94.

On September 10, the college recognized students, faculty, and medical residents as they were inducted into the Aequitas Health Honor Society, the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society, and the Gold Humanism Honor Society. These societies honor those in the Larner community who have demonstrated such core principles as professionalism, leadership, education, scholarship, and service.

Investigators at the Larner College of Medicine have received a $10.1 million multi-year grant from the National Institutes of Health to continue their work on the REGARDS project. The purpose of the project is to understand why those in some U.S. regions develop more strokes and Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementia than others, and why Black people develop more strokes than white people.

A team of scientists 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. The study, “Whole-brain annotation and multi-connectome cell typing of Drosophila,” was recently published in Nature.

2024–25 Hedwig van Ameringen Executive Leadership in Academic Medicine fellows Rebecca Aslakson, M.D., Ph.D., and Kristen Pierce, M.D., as well as 2024–25 Executive Leadership in Health Care fellow Danielle Ehret, M.D., M.P.H., attended the Executive Leadership in Academic Medicine (ELAM) and Executive Leadership in Health Care fall session in Philadelphia in September.

Check out the new Larner College of Medicine website! Last week marked the launch of the first tier of the Larner College of Medicine websites on the Drupal 10 platform, showcasing a fresh style, improved accessibility, responsive design, and enhanced user experience. Marian Miller, web content manager in Larner’s Office of Medical Communications, is spearheading the migration, which aligns the college’s web presence with UVM’s ongoing One UVM rebranding efforts. The next phase of Larner website migrations will encompass many major departmental sites.

SAVE THE DATE

The investiture of William G. Tharp, M.D., Ph.D., as the inaugural holder of the Michael O’Reilly, M.D., M.S., Green and Gold Professorship in Anesthesiology will be held on Friday, October 4, at 10:00 a.m. in the Hoehl Gallery at the Larner College of Medicine. Tharp is an associate professor of anesthesiology.

The investiture of Robert H. Millay, M.D., as the inaugural holder of the Green and Gold Professorship of Ophthalmology will be held on Monday, October 7, at 4:00 p.m. in the Hoehl Gallery at the Larner College of Medicine. Millay is a professor of surgery in the Division of Ophthalmology.

The investiture of Patrick M. Forgione, M.D., M.A., as the inaugural holder of the Green and Gold Professorship of General Surgery will be held on Thursday, October 10, at 4:00 p.m. in the Hoehl Gallery at the Larner College of Medicine. Forgione is an associate professor of surgery in the Division of General Surgery.

The investiture of Donald R. Laub, M.D., M.S., as the inaugural holder of the Linda A. and David W. Leitner Green and Gold Professorship of Plastic Surgery and the investiture of Michelle M. Sowden, D.O., as the inaugural holder of the Green and Gold Professorship of Surgical Oncology will be held on Monday, October 14, at 4:00 p.m. in the Hoehl Gallery at the Larner College of Medicine. Laub is a professor of surgery in the Division of Plastic, Reconstructive, and Cosmetic Surgery. Sowden is an associate professor in the Division of Surgical Oncology.

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PUBLISHED RESEARCH

Baker MB, Liu EC, Bully MA, Hsieh A, Nozari A, Tuler M, Binda DD. Overcoming Barriers: A Comprehensive Review of Chronic Pain Management and Accessibility Challenges in Rural America. Healthcare (Basel). 2024 Sep 4;12(17):1765. doi: 10.3390/healthcare12171765. PMID: 39273789; PMCID: PMC11394986.

Bruckner TA, Bustos B, Dodge KA, Lansford JE, Odgers CL, Copeland WE. Intergenerational effects of a casino-funded family transfer program on educational outcomes in an American Indian community. Nat Commun. 2024 Sep 17;15(1):8168. doi: 10.1038/s41467-024-52428-w. PMID: 39289361; PMCID: PMC11408487.

Habel N, Infeld M, Lustgarten D, Meyer M. The Atrial Fibrillation and Heart Failure with Preserved Ejection Fraction "Twindemic" - Shared Root Causes and Treatment Targets. Heart Rhythm. 2024 Sep 6:S1547-5271(24)03290-9. doi: 10.1016/j.hrthm.2024.08.064. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 39245253.

Hua LH, Solomon AJ, Tenembaum S, Scalfari A, Rovira À, Rostasy K, Newsome SD, Marrie RA, Magyari M, Kantarci O, Hemmer B, Hemingway C, Harnegie MP, Graves JS, Cohen JA, Bove R, Banwell B, Corboy JR, Waubant E. Differential Diagnosis of Suspected Multiple Sclerosis in Pediatric and Late-Onset Populations: A Review. JAMA Neurol. 2024 Sep 16. doi: 10.1001/jamaneurol.2024.3062. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 39283621.

Luke MJ, Darko O, Vasan A. Using Insights from Families to Improve Social Needs Screening and Support Community Resource Connection. Acad Pediatr. 2024 Sep 16:S1876-2859(24)00499-6. doi: 10.1016/j.acap.2024.09.004. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 39293563.

Ma W, MacLehose RF, Lash TL, Collin LJ, Tuo Y, Ahern TP. Non-differential misclassification of outcome under (near)-perfect specificity: a simulation study. Am J Epidemiol. 2024 Sep 5:kwae328. doi: 10.1093/aje/kwae328. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 39245702.

Nielsen WW, Geeslin AG. Knee Posterolateral Corner Reconstruction Shows Low Failure and Complication Rates. Arthroscopy. 2024 Sep 11:S0749-8063(24)00674-1. doi: 10.1016/j.arthro.2024.09.010. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 39271086.

Pal R, Le J, Rudas A, Chiang JN, Williams T, Alexander B, Joosten A, Cannesson M. A review of machine learning methods for non-invasive blood pressure estimation. J Clin Monit Comput. 2024 Sep 21. doi: 10.1007/s10877-024-01221-7. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 39305449.

Shahib AK, Rastegar M, van Wijnen AJ, Davie JR. Neurodevelopmental functions and activities of the KAT3 class of lysine acetyltransferases. Biochem Cell Biol. 2024 Sep 18. doi: 10.1139/bcb-2024-0156. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 39293094.

Sico JJ, Anthony SE, Phadke M, Wang K, Skanderson M, Ney JP, Seng EK, Shapiro RE, Sandbrink F, Scholten JD, Graham GD, Martini SR, Fenton BT. Open Burn Pit Exposure in Headache Disorder and Migraine. JAMA Netw Open. 2024 Sep 3;7(9):e2431522. doi: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2024.31522. PMID: 39230902; PMCID: PMC11375476.

Vinekar K, Qasba N, Reiser H, Banks E, Arora KS, Edmonds BT, George K. Segregation by Payer in Obstetrics and Gynecology Residency Ambulatory Care Sites. JAMA Netw Open. 2024 Sep 3;7(9):e2434347. doi: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2024.34347. PMID: 39292456; PMCID: PMC11411379.

Zürrer WE, Cannon AE, Ilchenko D, Gaitán MI, Granberg T, Piehl F, Solomon AJ, Ineichen BV. Misdiagnosis and underdiagnosis of multiple sclerosis: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Mult Scler. 2024 Sep 8:13524585241274527. doi: 10.1177/13524585241274527. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 39246018.

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