Vermont Center for Cardiovascular and Brain Health

It is with great pleasure that we announce the recipients of our inaugural Vermont Center for Cardiovascular and Brain Health Pilot Grant Award, Drs Yangguang Ou and David Punihaole.

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.

New trial results from the University of Vermont and an international team of researchers show that administering a full dose of a standard blood thinner early to moderately ill hospitalized patients with COVID-19 could reduce the risk of severe disease and death.

(JUNE 14, 2021) UVM Professor of Medicine Mary Cushman, M.D., M.Sc., co-principal investigator for the Vermont Center on Cardiovascular and Brain Health, was interviewed by anchor Lauren Maloney on Vermont's Local 22 ABC affiliate's "What Matters This Week" program.

On March 18, 2021, researchers from across UVM came together via Zoom for the second edition of the Translational Global Infectious Diseases Research Center's COVID-19 research slam, titled “UVM Tackles COVID-19: Research Progress and Perspectives One Year into the Pandemic.”

A new study shows that individuals who receive stroke care at facilities that offer consults via stroke telemedicine, known as telestroke, fare better than patients who get stroke care at places without such services, according to researchers from the University of Vermont and the Blavatnik Institute at Harvard Medical School.

International adult aortic surgery expert Chris Rokkas, M.D., Ph.D., was invested as the inaugural Frank P. Ittleman Chair in Cardiothoracic Surgery at the University of Vermont’s Larner College of Medicine during a remote investiture ceremony held on February 2, 2021 in front of guests from across the United States and around the world.

Organized by Black physicians and scientists in the United States and abroad, the #BlackInCardio movement celebrates Black researchers, clinicians, and professionals in cardiovascular fields and raises awareness of cardiovascular diseases that disproportionately effect the Black community. From October 19 - October 25, the new organization will host its first annual #BlackInCardio week.

Timothy Plante ’06 M.D.’10, M.H.S., assistant professor of medicine, has been appointed the Martin E. Bloomfield ’56 M.D.’60 and Judith S. Bloomfield ’59 Early Career Professor in Cardiovascular Research at the University of Vermont’s Larner College of Medicine.

The University of Vermont (UVM) is participating in a major national research effort to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of varying types of blood thinners to treat adults diagnosed and hospitalized with COVID-19—the disease caused by SARS-CoV-2.