Tis the season for coats – white coats that is! On Friday, October 15, the University of Vermont Neuroscience Graduate Program (NGP) hosted its annual White Coat Ceremony in the Livak Ballroom of the UVM Davis Center. While often associated with medical education, the White Coat Ceremony for new graduate degree students has its own history, dating back to 1989, according to Haley Olszewski, NGP program administrator. The ceremony is a rite of passage for many graduate students, she says, both “marking the transition of graduate students, particularly in the sciences, from the early, largely course-based phase of their education to the more research intense phase of their training.” The event also serves to “emphasize the relationship between the student and their mentor,” she adds.

Lewis First, M.D., M.S., professor and chair of pediatrics, has announced the appointment of Rachel Garfield, M.H.S., Ph.D., as the next executive director of the Vermont Child Health Improvement Program (VCHIP) and an associate professor pediatrics at the University of Vermont Larner College of Medicine.

Two members of the Larner College of Medicine community--Nick Lemon, information systems technical support staff member, and Katherine Strotmeyer, communications and community outreach director for the University of Vermont Cancer Center--were among the UVM stafff members who received a 2021 Our Common Ground award.

Ramsey Herrington, M.D., associate professor of surgery and division chief of emergency medicine, has been appointed the inaugural Emergency Medicine Health Care Service Leader.

The UVM Larner College of Medicine held a traditional White Coat Ceremony on Friday, October 8. in UVM’s Ira Allen Chapel, for the 124 students in the medical Class of 2025.

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.

Five pairs of medical students in the Class of 2023 have spent hundreds of hours over the past year focused on the needs of an underserved population in Vermont through the Albert Schweitzer Fellowship Program. Each project tackles an important issue in tandem with a community partner, with topics ranging from teen engagement to social isolation in older adults to CPR training. Inspired by famed physician-humanitarian Albert Schweitzer’s message of service, students develop leadership skills and address the social factors that impact health. Since 1996, over 200 Larner students have completed over 25,000 hours of service after being selected as fellows in the Vermont-New Hampshire program.

The University of Vermont Cancer Center hosted the 24th annual Women’s Health and Cancer Conference on October 1 from 7:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. The virtual event, which was free and open to the public, was sponsored by the Victoria Buffum Fund with an aim to empower and support individuals and communities with knowledge about cancer prevention, detection, treatment, and survivorship.

The National Cancer Institute (NCI) has awarded Noah Kolb, M.D., associate professor of neurological sciences at the University of Vermont's Larner College Medicine, and a team of researchers a $7 million grant to a develop a new intervention for chemo-induced neuropathy, one that can be as easily implemented in rural areas as large urban centers.

On September 10 and 11, the Larner College of Medicine welcomed 27 individuals from across the country as participants in the first-ever “Look at Larner” program. Candidates in the program were aspiring medical students, from rising college juniors to postgraduates and career changers.