Office of Medical Communications

James Hebert, M.D., UVM professor of surgery, authored an editorial discussing the gross underfunding of Medicaid in the state of Vermont and a newly-proposed 2.35 percent tax on independent physicians, which threatens to put non-hospital employed doctors “out of business and leave some Vermonters without care.”

An editorial in the Salt Lake City, Utah Deseret News about sentences for juveniles features comments from David Fassler, M.D., clinical professor of psychiatry and Burlington, Vt. child and adolescent psychiatrist.

On September 21, 2016, the National Institutes of Health announced $157 million in awards in fiscal year 2016 to launch a seven-year initiative called Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO). The ECHO program will investigate how exposure to a range of environmental factors in early development — from conception through early childhood — influences the health of children and adolescents.

The University of Vermont announced today an estate commitment with an estimated current market value of $66 million from UVM dual-degree alum and Vermont native Robert Larner ’39, M.D.’42, and his wife, Helen. The commitment to donate – the largest gift ever to a public university in New England – caps decades of philanthropic support from the Larners, whose lifetime giving now will likely reach $100 million.

Recruitment for the largest long-term study of brain development and child health in the United States – the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) study – launched September 13, 2016.

The Clinical Simulation Laboratory at the University of Vermont has announced the appointment of Vincent Miller, M.D., assistant professor of anesthesiology, as interim director of clinical simulation, effective September 1, 2016. Miller succeeds Ted James, M.D., who served as director of clinical simulation from July 2012 through June 2016.

Winooski, Vt.-based BioTek Instruments announced August 31, 2016 that University of Vermont graduate student Christopher Ziegler is the recipient of the 2016 Norman R. Alpert Research Prize.

The University of Vermont Cancer Center is hosting two events as part of the Waldron Lecture series on Tuesday, September 13 and Wednesday September 14, 2016 featuring Maureen Connor, R.N., M.P.H., an oncology nurse and leader in the field of patient- and family-centered care.

When University of Vermont Class of 2019 medical student Jacob Reibel and the six other classmates in his group selected their public health project earlier this year, they wanted to get out of the classroom and into the field – literally – to talk to Vermonters about their health concerns.

University of Vermont College of Medicine Human Resources Administrator Karmen Swim is the new president of the UVM Staff Council for the next two years. She was elected in May 2016 and began officially serving in her new role on July 1.

With the temperatures beginning to cool and the return of students to the University of Vermont campus, it's time for the launch of Community Medical School's Fall 2016 series!

Vermont electrophysiologist Peter Spector, M.D., has uncovered a wealth of new information about why the heart’s electrical system works the way it does – or goes awry. And like a guy with a great joke, he feels compelled to share it with others.

A number of common conditions are mistaken for multiple sclerosis (MS), a disabling central nervous system disease, say researchers at four academic medical centers across the U.S in a study published online today in the journal Neurology.

University of Vermont College of Medicine Associate Dean for Diversity & Inclusion Margaret A. Tandoh, M.D., recently announced that Michael Upton, M.D., assistant professor of psychiatry, has joined the Office of Diversity & Inclusion as faculty development liaison. Upton is continuing his clinical and service responsibilities while taking on this additional new role supporting the development, implementation and assessment of diversity and inclusion initiatives for faculty development.

New research provides insight into a long-observed, but little-understood connection between chronic pain and anxiety and offers a potential target for treatment. The study’s findings, published as an Article in Press in Biological Psychiatry, show that increased expression of PACAP – a peptide neurotransmitter the body releases in response to stress – is also increased in response to neuropathic pain and contributes to these symptoms.

Innovation in healthcare begins and ends with the patient,” says University of Vermont medical student Alexander Marchese ’19, who adds that “although technologies are developed in the lab, they are often conceived in the clinic and can only be fully appreciated once they reach the patient.”

In conjunction with the launch of the “Move Mountains” campaign in October 2015, the University of Vermont Foundation set new records in its fundraising activities on behalf of the university during fiscal year 2016, surpassing historic milestones reached a year ago for both commitments and receipts from donors.

Last summer, after graduating from the University of Vermont College of Medicine, Eric Chang, M.D.’15, saw first-hand how an elderly man struggling to care for his sick wife could get so tired and distracted that he would forgot to take his blood-pressure medication.

Boston Scientific Corporation co-founder and medical device pioneer John Abele will present the inaugural Stetson Technological Advances in Medicine Lecture on Tuesday, August 23, 2016, at noon in Carpenter Auditorium in the Given Building at the University of Vermont College of Medicine. His lecture, titled “The Law of Accelerating Returns,” will focus on the challenges facing the medical field as a result of the exponential acceleration of promising technological developments.