Department of Pharmacology

The University of Vermont and Larner College of Medicine hosted a ceremonial groundbreaking to celebrate the four-story, 62,500-square-foot Firestone Medical Research Building currently under construction at the College of Medicine on September 30, 2021.

Not only is Vermont small and rural, but it’s also old. Currently, the state is ranked fourth in the nation for the relative number of residents over 65 years old – a whopping nearly 20 percent of Vermont’s population and rising. And with that status comes a disproportionately large share of heart disease, as well as blood vessel diseases and brain circulation problems that can lead to dementia and Alzheimer’s disease.

UVM and University of Maryland researchers have shown how the brain communicates to blood vessels when in need of energy, and how these blood vessels respond to direct blood flow to specific brain regions -- information that can help determine what goes wrong in conditions like Alzheimer’s disease and dementia, where faulty blood flow is a predictor for cognitive impairment.

Eleven scientists leading the way in stroke research, including University of Vermont Professor of Neurological Sciences Marilyn Cipolla, Ph.D., were recognized for their exceptional achievements during the American Stroke Association’s International Stroke Conference 2021 on March 17-19.

Members of the Larner College of Medicine’s medical Class of 2023, leaders, medical educators, and staff gathered virtually January 28 to celebrate the students’ achievements and recognize the faculty and staff who have supported them during an online Foundations Celebration event.

The Vermont Academy of Science and Engineering formally inducted Larner College of Medicine Dean and Professor of Medicine Richard L. Page, M.D., Professor of Pharmacology Frances Carr, Ph.D., and Professor of Biochemistry Christopher Francklyn, Ph.D., at the Academy's annual meeting on October 26, 2020.

On Sunday, May 17, University of Vermont President Suresh Garimella conferred degrees to 40 graduate students from the Larner College of Medicine. Included were two graduates from the Cellular, Molecular, and Biomedical Sciences Ph.D. program; one graduate from the Master of Medical Science program; nine from the Master of Science in Pharmacology program; and 28 from the Master of Public Health program.

On May 11, awardees from the Larner College of Medicine Class of 2020, faculty and staff were recognized through an online Honors Celebration featuring remarks from Dean Page and videotaped presentations of each award.

The Larner College of Medicine's fourth annual "Celebrating Excellence in Research" series featured two days of presentations and recognition designed to highlight research performed by junior faculty, senior faculty, postdoctoral trainees, and graduate students at the College.

(JUNE 11, 2019) University Distinguished Professor and Chair of Pharmacology Mark Nelson, Ph.D., was interviewed on Vermont Public Radio about his recent election to the National Academy of Sciences and his research in vascular blood flow.

On April 30, 2019, UVM Distinguished Professor and Chair of Pharmacology Mark Nelson's achievements in original research were recognized with his election to membership in the prestigious National Academy of Sciences.

More than a dozen Larner College of Medicine faculty and scientists were recognized during the awards portion of the 14th annual Invention to Venture (I2V) conference April 5, 2019.

University of Vermont (UVM) Distinguished Professor and Chair of Pharmacology Mark Nelson, Ph.D., has been awarded a prestigious $6.45 million dollar Outstanding Investigator Award (OIA) from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI) at the National Institutes of Health. The award will provide support for Nelson’s research program, titled “Capillaries as a Sensory Web that Controls Cerebral Blood Flow in Health and Disease,” for seven years.

On July 18, 2018, UVM Larner College of Medicine clinical department chairs issued a letter to the community.

Karen Lounsbury, Ph.D., professor of pharmacology, has been appointed Director of Foundations in the Office of Medical Student Education at the Larner College of Medicine at the University of Vermont, effective May 1, 2018.

In this broadcast of Vermont Edition, Karen Lounsbury, Ph.D., professor of pharmacology at the UVM Larner College of Medicine, speaks with Vermont Public Radio's Ric Cengeri about the science of addiction and what triggers it. ​

Benedek Erdos, M.D., Ph.D., an assistant professor in the Department of Pharmacology at the Robert Larner, M.D. College of Medicine at the University of Vermont, was invested in a formal ceremony on July 31 as the inaugural Martin E. Bloomfield ’56 M.D.’60 and Judith S. Bloomfield ’59 Early Career Professor in Cardiovascular Research.

On July 21, 2017, UVM Professor of Pharmacology, Karen Lounsbury, Ph.D. spoke with Forbes about the United States' first-ever 'higher learning' course on medicinal marijuana "Pharm 200: Cannabis, Past, Present and Future" - a course that she co-designed.

During Tonic, a Vice digital channel's, "Weed Week," UVM Larner College of Medicine spoke with reporter AC Shilton about recreational marijuana and medical marijuana research.

A “Medical News & Perspectives” article in the April 5, 2017 Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) mentions the medical cannabis science course launched by the Department of Pharmacology in spring 2016 and faculty members Kalev Freeman, M.D., Ph.D., assistant professor of surgery and pharmacology, and Mark Nelson, Ph.D., chair of pharmacology.