Office of Medical Communications

A study authored by Hugh Garavan, Ph.D., professor of psychiatry, and former UVM postdoctoral fellow Catherine Orr, Ph.D., focused on the impact of even small amounts of cannabis on the adolescent brain, was recently published in the Journal of Neuroscience and has gained mass international attention from multiple news outlets.

At a time when several states are moving to legalize recreational use of marijuana, new research shows that concerns about the drug’s impact on teens may be warranted. The study, published in The Journal of Neuroscience, shows that even a small amount of cannabis use by teenagers is linked to differences in their brains.

Bruce J. Leavitt, M.D., UVM professor of surgery and chief of the Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery, has been selected by the University of Maine Alumni Association to receive the Bernard Lown '42 Humanitarian Award

UVM's 2019 MLK Celebration and Learning Series included a Health Equity Lecture at the College of Medicine featuring Herman A. Taylor, Jr., M.D., director, Cardiovascular Research Institute, at the Morehouse School of Medicine, on January 23.

David Fassler, M.D., UVM Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, who presented at the Interim Meeting of the American Medical Association (AMA) House of Delegates at National Harbor in Washington, D.C., was featured in a meeting recap article in Psychiatric News.

The January 2019 issue of Business People Vermont features a photo of University of Vermont Health Network CEO and Professor of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences John Brumsted, M.D., and cover story on the UVM Health Network.

Four Larner College of Medicine faculty were honored recently at the Vermont Medical Society’s annual meeting, including Stephen Leffler, M.D., Frank Ittleman, M.D., Barbara Frankowski, M.D., M.P.H., and Eliot Nelson, M.D. ​

Doctoral student Leslie Sepaniac and medical student Hyunsoo No have benefitted from world-class research, a collaborative community, mentorship and a level of support that’s ensuring they can help cancer patients from the bench and at the bedside for years to come.

A press conference announcing a $1 million lead gift from the New England Federal Credit Union to support a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) at the UVM Children’s Hospital garnered coverage in several regional news outlets.

WPTZ NBC5 News highlighted remarks made by Jan Carney, M.D., M.P.H., UVM associate dean for public health at a December 11 vigil organized by Gun Sense Vermont. Rebecca Bell, M.D., UVM assistant professor of pediatrics also spoke at the event, which was held in remembrance of all the people whose lives have been changed by gun violence in all of the 50 states.

Jim Hudziak, M.D., UVM professor and chief of child psychiatry, was featured on "CBS This Morning" to discuss the UVM Wellness Environment (WE) program.

The Public Health Projects course is 15 years old! Since it first launched in 2004, Larner College of Medicine students have completed 233 projects in partnership with the United Way of Northwest Vermont and dozens of community collaborators and published a total of nine papers and 123 peer-reviewed abstracts, including presentations at the American Public Health Association annual meeting.

On the fourth floor of the Given Building at the Larner College of Medicine, Adam Atherly, Ph.D., surveys the space outside of his newly-painted office. Two adjacent doors open into rooms with empty desks. A common area includes space for a few more cubicles with top-notch views of the Green Mountains. In one corner, a coat rack hangs on otherwise empty walls. Outside the glass door, a sign reads: UVM Center for Health Services Research. Although the offices may be a work-in-progress, the mission for the new center is clear: Foster cutting-edge research that improves the delivery of healthcare, leading to better population health in Vermont and across the country.

On June 29, 2018, medical students Katherine Callahan '21 and Christina Dawson '21 arrived in Kampala, Uganda, not quite sure what to expect. They returned to Vermont six weeks later with a deeper understanding of medicine across cultures, and what it means to be a physician.

This year our department piloted two forms of youth community outreach. On April 6th, staff members conducted a field trip to Williston Central School for lab science education. The team consisted of Tyler Sanville from Microbiology, Tim Brodsky from Phlebotomy, Eleanor Fortner-Buczala from Autopsy (now Cytopathology), Ellen Riley from Cytopathology, and Kayla O’Toole from Chemistry.

On September 7, 2018, the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine hosted its first Research Day under the direction of Vice Chair for Research Yvonne Janssen-Heininger, Ph.D., Assistant Professor Nels Olson, Ph.D., and Dermatopathology Fellow Tom S. Rogers, D.O. The organizing committee had three main goals: Highlight the ongoing research in the department; allow trainees and junior faculty an opportunity to publicly discuss their work; and explore areas for collaboration within the department.

Anne Dougherty, M.D.’09, M.A., assistant professor of obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive sciences, has been appointed as Gender Equity Liaison in the Office of Diversity and Inclusion (ODI) at the Larner College of Medicine at the University of Vermont.

On December 11, 2018 at the University of Vermont Medical Center, former patients of the UVM Children’s Hospital Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU), their families, clinicians and hospital leaders, gathered to celebrate a $1 million donation from New England Federal Credit Union. The donation kicks off a project to renovate the UVM Children’s Hospital’s NICU.

University of Vermont biomedical scientists Mary Cushman, M.D., M.Sc., Richard Page, M.D., and Russell Tracy, Ph.D., are among the most Highly Cited Researchers in 2018, according to a recently-released report compiled by Clarivate Analytics.