Collage shows UVM Larner Med medical students at commencement, on their first day of medical school, doing clinical rotations, during their White Coat Ceremony, and participating in COVID-19 volunteer opportunities.

This year, more than any other in recent memory, our global community has been reminded of the importance of highly-trained and compassionate medical and scientific professionals and the need to ensure the continued strength and growth of our science and healthcare communities. 

Throughout the pandemic, our country and society have also grappled with economic uncertainty, political upheaval, and a long-overdue social reckoning with systemic racism.  

Through it all, University of Vermont Larner College of Medicine faculty physicians and scientists have worked tirelessly to track, understand, protect against, treat, and stop the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus and COVID-19 infection. Our medical and graduate students continued, in an uncertain environment and using different modes of learning, to work to become the next generation of physicians and scientists, following in the footsteps of those who acted as beacons of hope and heroes for the world throughout this dark year. 

Medical and graduate school is already an incredible challenge and the wellness of students relies heavily on the financial support of generous donors from within and outside of the community who give to the Larner College of Medicine Fund. This fund not only supports the creation and continuation of scholarships, but also helps to support research grants, ever-evolving technology needs, and student wellness initiatives.  

Recent Larner alumna Jennifer Morris, M.D.’20, graduated at the height of the first wave of the pandemic. “I am extremely grateful for UVM's focus on mental wellbeing,” says Morris. “I am particularly thankful for the student-led Wellness Committee, funded with gifts to the College of Medicine Fund. The committee was an invaluable resource to me and my classmates when the pandemic first hit, and I know they continue to help students each day.”  

As the College, Vermont, our country, and the globe look with renewed hope toward next year, we know that our students’ needs will grow. “I am asking that we focus on student wellness and equitable support for all,” says Dean Richard L. Page, M.D., noting that financial gifts to the College are necessary for the continued growth of “ongoing initiatives, including: enhanced wellness activities; providing enhanced tutoring; advising; peer support; focus on diversity, equity and inclusion; and psychological services.”

To support students with a gift today, please visit http://go.uvm.edu/givemed. For more information email medical.giving@uvm.edu or visit the Development and Alumni Relations web page.

(Adapted from Dean Page and Omar Khan’s recent appeals to UVM Larner College of Medicine alumni.)