Department of Surgery

(SEPTEMBER 3, 2024) HealthDay featured a study by Brian Sprague, Ph.D., professor of surgery, et al. investigating the effect of false-positive mammogram results on women’s willingness to return for future screening.

(AUGUST 23, 2024) Christopher Brady, M.D., M.H.S., associate professor of surgery, commented to Healio about his research on the use of large language models (LLMs) in generating scientific abstracts.

(AUGUST 6, 2024) Researchers led by Brian Sprague, Ph.D., professor of surgery, biochemistry, and radiology, found that ultrasound detects more cancers in high-risk women with dense breasts, according to AuntMinnie.com.

Professor of Surgery Gary An, M.D., has been invested as the inaugural holder of the Department of Surgery’s Green and Gold Professorship of Trauma and Critical Care.

(APRIL 5, 2024) Brian Sprague, Ph.D., M.S., professor of surgery, was quoted in an article in Radiology Business about a historic low in mammography screening in Vermont.

(MARCH 6, 2024) Ophthalmologist Jessica McNally, M.D., assistant professor of surgery, emphasized to NBC5 the importance of using the correct protective eyewear when viewing the April 8 solar eclipse.

(February 29, 2024) Orthopedic surgeon Sara Graves, M.D., M.S., clinical assistant professor of surgery, spoke with WCAX-TV about a new robotic surgery system at the Central Vermont Medical Center.

(JANUARY 18, 2024) Nephrologist Marios Prikis, M.D., associate professor of medicine, and transplant surgeon Jaime Pineda, M.D., assistant professor of surgery, commented to WCAX for a story on living donors for kidney transplants.

(JANUARY 8, 2024) Ann Guillot, M.D., professor emerita of pediatrics and surgery, and Elizabeth McGee, M.D., professor of obstetrics, gynecology, and reproductive sciences, are among five new trustees appointed to the UVM Medical Center board of trustees, WVNY-TV reported.

The University of Vermont's Student National Medical Association chapter held its first conference ever this November, bringing more than 100 medical and pre-medical students from throughout New England to the campus of the Larner College of Medicine to share their enthusiasm for ensuring that people from populations underrepresented in medical professions feel empowered to pursue medical careers.

(NOVEMBER 8, 2023) Ophthalmologist Jessica McNally, M.D., assistant professor of surgery, was interviewed by WCAX-TV for a story about lawmakers looking to extend some surgical permission to optometrists, in response to a shortage of fully trained eye surgeons.

Earlier this year, the University of Vermont Medical Center’s STOP THE BLEED® Program celebrated its five-year anniversary. Since 2018, more than 5,500 Vermont citizens have received life-saving training to stop bleeding in traumatic scenarios.

Today, in the era of AI, medical digital twins hold great promise for helping diagnose and treat the population in the future. UVM Professor Gary An, M.D., a surgeon and computational biology and mathematical modeling expert, has been working on developing and researching computational models for such diseases as sepsis and COVID-19 for over 20 years. His recent research has centered on developing digital twins of the human immune system.

Heather Herrington, M.D., associate professor of surgery and pediatrics, has been selected as one of 45 women to participate as a member of the 2023-24 class of fellows in the Executive Leadership in Health Care program at the Hedwig van Ameringen Executive Leadership in Academic Medicine® (ELAM®) program at Drexel University College of Medicine.

(JUNE 22, 2023) Colchester-based Vernal Biosciences is providing labs with reliably consistent mRNA, said Dev Majumdar, Ph.D., assistant professor of surgery (who is not affiliated with Vernal), in a VTDigger article on the new company.

(JUNE 13, 2023) According to a study by Brian Sprague, Ph.D., professor of surgery and biochemistry, and colleagues, many women at high risk of screening mammography failure do not undergo supplemental screening after mammography, HealthDay News reported.

(JUNE 1, 2023) UVM ophthalmologists Jeffrey Young, M.D., and Sujata Singh, M.D., are two members of a larger team of Vermont medical experts traveling to The Republic of The Gambia with a mission to improve pediatric vision services and ophthalmology infrastructure in the country, WCAX-TV reported.

The Larner College of Medicine medical Class of 2023 Honors Night on May 15 featured recognition and awards for graduating medical students, faculty, and staff.

(MAY 10, 2023) A federal health task force now recommends that all women with an average risk of breast cancer start screening every other year beginning at age 40 — rather than at age 50, as was recommended in the previous update in 2016, WCAX-TV reported. Brian Sprague, Ph.D., professor of surgery and biochemistry, hopes this will reverse the decline in screening that UVM Cancer Center research has shown for the past several years. “I’m hoping this will help,” he says.

UVM Cancer Center researchers Sarah Nowak, Ph.D., and Brian Sprague, Ph.D., found that a 2009 U.S. Preventive Services Task Force change in guidelines led to an unintended consequence: a decline in mammography screening rates for all age groups, including the 50-74 group, which is most at risk of developing breast cancer and most in need of screenings. Their results were recently published in The American Journal of Preventative Medicine.