Office of Medical Communications

(DECEMBER 28, 2022) Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine Christian Pulcini, M.D., M.Ed., M.P.H., an attending physician in pediatric emergency medicine at the UVM Medical Center and Children’s Hospital, published a commentary titled “We Can Prevent Firearm Tragedies — a Call to Action” in VTDigger.

(DECEMBER 27, 2022) UVM’s Clinical Simulation Laboratory was profiled in a story broadcast on WCAX-TV about how the Larner College of Medicine ensures that students filling emergency departments or doctors’ offices are trained to the highest potential before being put into the real world. UVM medical residents Berna Buyukozturk, M.D., and Carolina Jirka, M.D., as well as Sim Lab specialist Jim Court, were quoted in the piece. (Click on headline for more.)

(December 26, 2022) THINKMD, founded in 2014 by Professor of Pediatrics Barry Finette, M.D., Ph.D., and Professor of Pediatrics Emeritus Barry Heath, M.D., has received a $1.5 million federal grant to further study the effectiveness of its mobile app–based digital “clinical intelligence” tool, WCAX reports.

(DECEMBER 25, 2022) Research by Mary Cushman, M.D., M.Sc., professor of medicine, and colleagues found inequities in treatments and outcomes for pulmonary embolism, The ASCO Post reports.

(DECEMBER 24, 2022) The Green Mountain Mahler Festival, founded in 2002 by pulmonologist Daniel Weiss, M.D., Ph.D., professor of medicine, continued what has become an annual New Year’s tradition with a performance of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony on January 1 at the Elley-Long Music Center in Colchester, the Barre–Montpelier Times Argus reported.

Albert van der Vliet, Ph.D., professor of pathology and laboratory medicine, participated in a six-week Invited Fellowship at Tohoku University in Sendai, Japan, engaging in research on environmental medicine and molecular toxicology. The fellowship coincided with a medley of scientific meetings and symposia that brought together leading scientists from around the world in the specific research fields of nitric oxide biology. Dr. van der Vliet, Yvonne Janssen-Heininger, Ph.D., and Brian Cunniff, Ph.D. participated as invited speakers. Additional Japanese federal funding supports the exchange of invited researchers, graduate students and post-doctoral scholars to collaborate on research.

(DECEMBER 22, 2022) Critical care physician Rebecca Bell, M.D., associate professor of pediatrics, spoke to the Burlington Free Press for an article on Vermont truancy policies in the face of COVID and other sick-day absences.

University of Vermont Professor of Pediatrics Barry Finette, M.D., Ph.D., and Professor of Pediatrics Emeritus Barry Heath, M.D., spent three years developing and testing a mobile app-based digital tool designed to bring physician-based knowledge to the hands of minimally skilled health workers. In 2014, they founded THINKMD™.

Kelly McQueen, M.D., a medical alumna from the University of Vermont Larner College of Medicine Class of 1991, recently established the Kelly McQueen, M.D.’91, Endowment for Global Health Education to support international clinical rotations for Larner medical students and the Global Health Program curriculum.

The November 2022 Special Issue of Preventive Medicine is now available. The ninth in a series that focuses on behavior change, health, and health disparities, this issue includes select research in the field of tobacco control and regulatory science. VCBH Director Stephen Higgins, PhD organized the selection of papers and acted as guest editor.

Racial minorities and people with lower incomes or who are insured by Medicare or Medicaid are significantly less likely to receive the most advanced therapies and more likely to die after suffering a pulmonary embolism, according to a new analysis conducted by University of Vermont Professor of Medicine Mary Cushman, M.D., M.Sc., and colleagues.

(DECEMBER 17, 2022) Neuropsychologist Sharon Leach, Ph.D., and child psychiatrist Feyza Basoglu, M.D., both clinical assistant professors of psychiatry, will challenge participants to diagnose psychiatric or neurological disorders as part of the 14th annual Vermont Brain Bee neuroscience competition to be held at the Larner College of Medicine on February 11, Seven Days reports.

(DECEMBER 16, 2022) A Pfizer RSV vaccine for pregnant women is in phase 3 trial, with the potential to help infants cope with the sometimes serious illness, according to WCAX-TV. “If infants can be born with some immunity,” says pediatric critical care physician Rebecca Bell, M.D., associate professor of pediatrics, “even if it’s short-lived, even if it’s six months or one year, that can make a huge difference in terms of kids’ health.” (Click headline for more.)

(December 15, 2022) At Vascular InterVentional Advances 2022 in Las Vegas, Daniel Bertges, M.D., professor of surgery, presented promising interim data from a study of the effectiveness of the IN.PACT Admiral drug-coated balloon in treating femoropopliteal in-stent restenosis.

(DECEMBER 11, 2023) Barre internal medicine specialist Priscilla Carr, M.D., clinical instructor of medicine, wrote a commentary in VT Digger about Vermonters’ limited access to treatment for obesity.

(DECEMBER 10, 2022) Keith Collins, M.D., clinical assistant professor of family medicine, was interviewed by the Lockport Union-Sun & Journal about rising virus numbers locally.

(DECEMBER 10, 2022) Trial investigator Mary Cushman, M.D., professor of medicine, presented study findings on social determinants of health [SDOH] and pulmonary embolism treatment and mortality at the American Society of Hematology Annual Meeting, Pharmacy Times reported.

(DECEMBER 8, 2022) Associate Professor of Pediatrics Rebecca Bell, M.D., M.P.H., head of the Vermont chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, spoke to the News & Citizen about the importance of getting a seasonal flu shot, and about RSV.

(DECEMBER 8, 2022) Joseph Kennedy, M.D., assistant professor of emergency medicine and director of toxicology education, was quoted in a WVNY-TV story on a new tool firefighters can use to save lives—the Cyanokit.

(DECEMBER 7, 2022) Maureen Leahy, M.Ed., director of psychiatry and neurology health care services for the UVM Health Network, and Sara Pawlowski, M.D., primary care mental health integration division chief and assistant professor of psychiatry, spoke with WCAX-TV about the UVM Health Network’s launch of a new collaborative care model.