In conjunction with the 2016 Medical Alumni Reunion, the University of Vermont College of Medicine’s Medical Alumni Association recognized three Distinguished Academic Achievement award recipients, among other honorees, at the Celebration of Achievements event on June 10, 2016, in the Davis Auditorium at the UVM Medical Center

Established in 1985, the Distinguished Academic Achievement Award recognizes outstanding scientific or academic achievement.

The 2016 award recipients include:

Jeffrey J. Pomerance, M.D. ’66, M.P.H., a professor emeritus in pediatrics at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA in Los Angeles, Calif., has helped to shape the field of neonatology through his decades of work as a clinician, scholar and leader. He worked at institutions including Cedars Sinai Medical Center, where he served as director of the Division of Neonatology for 23 years, Greater Baltimore Medical Center, Maryland School of Medicine and The Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. Pomerance is author of the seminal textbook Interpreting Umbilical Cord Blood Gases: For Clinicians Caring for the Fetus or Newborn.

Kristen A. Atkins, M.D.’96, associate professor of pathology and residency program director at the University of Virginia School of Medicine in Charlottesville, Va., is a world-renowned pathologist. She is a co-author of a textbook on breast pathology, has published numerous peer-reviewed articles, and is conducting leading-edge research on radiology and pathology correlations to aid in better triaging women with in determinant risk breast lesions for surgery or observation.

Lisa B. Bergersen, M.D.’96, M.P.H., associate professor of pediatrics at Harvard Medical School, is an interventional cardiologist at Boston Children’s Hospital, Boston, Mass. A pioneer in her field, Bergersen has published more than 40 manuscripts in peer-reviewed journals, with a particular focus on quality initiatives to improve the outcomes of interventional procedures in children.