Larner College of Medicine COVID-19 Stories

  • Larner Responds: Feeding Healthcare Workers
    The "COVID-19: The Larner Community Responds" series highlights stories about Larner College of Medicine students, faculty and staff who are answering the call for help during the COVID-19 pandemic.
  • Larner Responds: Tapping the Community to Protect Frontline Workers
    At businesses and locations around Vermont that are currently closed or operating at a reduced level, personal protective equipment (PPE) is sitting unused. It’s in short supply around the country in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, and Vivek Chittineni, M.D., along with three University of Vermont (UVM) Larner College of Medicine students, are spearheading a drive to stockpile PPE, some of it for UVM Medical Center (UVMMC).
  • Larner Responds: Le Develops Medical Student COVID-19 Action Network
    On March 13, amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, Vinh Le walked out of the University of Vermont’s Larner College of Medicine, uncertain about when he and his classmates would be returning. Two weeks later, Le’s Medical Student COVID-19 Action Network (MSCAN) emerged as a map of how medical students across the nation have met that challenge posed by the pandemic.
  • Bates and Vermont Team Invent Emergency Ventilator
    Over the last three weeks, a team of scientists, engineers and doctors at the University of Vermont, including Professor of Medicine Jason Bates, have developed a new design—and built a working model—for a simple, inexpensive ventilator.
  • College Establishes COVID-19 Volunteer Task Force
    Over the past few weeks, Larner College of Medicine students have sought out and initiated impactful volunteer projects to help address a growing variety of needs presented by the novel coronavirus pandemic. Seeing the need for a centralized model to coordinate these various efforts, Christa Zehle, M.D., senior associate dean for medical education, and Nathalie Feldman, M.D., director of the learning environment, convened the LCOMCares Service Corps – COVID-19 Task Force.
  • New UVM-developed App Could Help Panic Attack Sufferers During Coronavirus Pandemic
    A new app developed by UVM faculty called PanicMechanic, may be a resource for panic attack sufferers facing new anxieties in light of the COVID-19 crisis. The app, which adapts biofeedback-like monitoring so it can be used on a mobile phone, works at any time and in any location, and is the first technology to do so for panic.
  • Global Health is Local Health: Larner Alum at the Frontlines
    As president and CEO of a Delaware organization that includes major health systems and research universities, UVM medical alum and family physician Omar Khan, M.D. ’03, is at the frontlines of the COVID-19 response. He and his team are working to ramp up testing and treatment, source PPE for healthcare workers, and keep the community informed.
  • Catching a Flight: VT Team Effort Ensures COVID-19 Specimens Get to Mayo Clinic Lab
    When commercial flight cancellations jeopardized the transport of COVID-19 specimens - and same-day test results for patients - from Burlington to Mayo Clinic Laboratories, a group of fast-acting health care administrators and business leaders sprang into action to find a solution.