Office of Medical Communications

Since it began its rapid spread in December 2019, the SARS-CoV-2 virus has altered the landscape of nearly every enterprise in the world; higher education, including medical education, has not been spared. As the pandemic continues, Larner College of Medicine faculty and staff continue to rise to the occasion – making improvements to the curriculum and learning environment based on student feedback, data collection, and guidance from local, regional, and national authorities.

In late March, Professor of Surgery Gary An, M.D., and Assistant Professor of Surgery R. Chase Cockrell, Ph.D., joined an international coalition of virologists, pharmacologists, and mathematicians to help build a computer model of SARS-CoV-2 tissue that simulates the changing behavior of the virus once it enters the body.

A team of faculty members in the Department of Neurological Sciences has been transforming their popular hands-on summer Human Gross Anatomy course into a comprehensive, inclusive online curriculum featuring pre-recorded lectures, gross anatomy lab dissection videos, a 3D anatomy app, and live online discussions.

UVM Vermont Center on Behavior & Health faculty members Allison N. Kurti, Ph.D., and Stephen Higgins, Ph.D., discuss how to manage the natural urge to socialize, how to understand our reactions and feelings, and how to establish new, healthy routines to help us cope with our “new normal” and help keep our communities safe.

A new study from researchers at the Vermont Center on Behavior and Health suggests that, for some, knowledge of COVID-19 is associated with a reduction in cigarette and e-cigarette use, as well as an increase in motivation to quit.

Class of 2002 UVM alumnus Ben Katz is a detective in the Vermont State Police’s major crimes unit whose work to investigate homicides, process crime scenes and interview witnesses has changed in the world of COVID-19. His wife, Megan Malgeri, a Class of 2012 alumna of the Larner College of Medicine and family medicine specialist, now sees most of her patients via telehealth visits. They are working to safely balance their roles as professionals and parents of two young children during the pandemic.

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to bear down on the world, University of Vermont Larner College of Medicine alums are at the front line treating patients and protecting public health.

UVM Professor Harold Dauerman, M.D., and other representatives of the American College of Cardiology, American College of Emergency Physicians and Society of Cardiovascular Angiography & Interventions, issued guidlines to help clinicians make decisions about treatment alternatives for heart attack patients in the environment of the novel coronavirus pandemic.

We’ve seen the images: an elderly nursing home resident on the far side of a window, looking out at family members, hands pressed to the glass the only means of contact.

For first-year students, the COVID-19 pandemic has meant the interruption of active learning sessions on campus as well as the suspension of the Doctoring in Vermont course that sends students into primary care offices throughout Vermont. Karen Lounsbury, Ph.D., director of the Foundations level of the Vermont Integrated Curriculum, says faculty have stepped up to the challenge the pandemic has presented.

The "COVID-19: The Larner Community Responds" series highlights stories about Larner College of Medicine students, faculty and staff who are answering the call for help during the COVID-19 pandemic.

At businesses and locations around Vermont that are currently closed or operating at a reduced level, personal protective equipment (PPE) is sitting unused. It’s in short supply around the country in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, and Vivek Chittineni, M.D., along with three University of Vermont (UVM) Larner College of Medicine students, are spearheading a drive to stockpile PPE, some of it for UVM Medical Center (UVMMC).

On March 13, amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, Vinh Le walked out of the University of Vermont’s Larner College of Medicine, uncertain about when he and his classmates would be returning. Two weeks later, Le’s Medical Student COVID-19 Action Network (MSCAN) emerged as a map of how medical students across the nation have met that challenge posed by the pandemic.

Over the last three weeks, a team of scientists, engineers and doctors at the University of Vermont, including Professor of Medicine Jason Bates, have developed a new design—and built a working model—for a simple, inexpensive ventilator.

Over the past few weeks, Larner College of Medicine students have sought out and initiated impactful volunteer projects to help address a growing variety of needs presented by the novel coronavirus pandemic. Seeing the need for a centralized model to coordinate these various efforts, Christa Zehle, M.D., senior associate dean for medical education, and Nathalie Feldman, M.D., director of the learning environment, convened the LCOMCares Service Corps – COVID-19 Task Force.

A new app developed by UVM faculty called PanicMechanic, may be a resource for panic attack sufferers facing new anxieties in light of the COVID-19 crisis. The app, which adapts biofeedback-like monitoring so it can be used on a mobile phone, works at any time and in any location, and is the first technology to do so for panic.

As president and CEO of a Delaware organization that includes major health systems and research universities, UVM medical alum and family physician Omar Khan, M.D. ’03, is at the frontlines of the COVID-19 response. He and his team are working to ramp up testing and treatment, source PPE for healthcare workers, and keep the community informed.

When commercial flight cancellations jeopardized the transport of COVID-19 specimens - and same-day test results for patients - from Burlington to Mayo Clinic Laboratories, a group of fast-acting health care administrators and business leaders sprang into action to find a solution.