In a ceremony held January 12, 2021, an outstanding early career physician-scientist in the University of Vermont’s Larner College of Medicine, Diego Adrianzen Herrera, M.D., was invested as the inaugural holder of the Early Career Green and Gold Professor of Medicine.
Randall Holcombe, M.D., M.B.A.; Patty Prelock, Ph.D.; Diego Adrianzen Herrera, M.D.; Richard L. Page, M.D.; Polly Parsons, M.D. (Photo: David Seaver)
In a ceremony held January 12, 2021, an outstanding early career physician-scientist in the University of Vermont’s Larner College of Medicine, Diego Adrianzen Herrera, M.D., was invested as the inaugural holder of the Early Career Green and Gold Professor of Medicine.
Adrianzen Herrera, an assistant professor of medicine in the Division of Hematology/Oncology, member of the UVM Cancer Center, and pipeline investigator of the Vermont Center for Cardiovascular and Brain Health, was selected for this two-year appointment by a Department of Medicine committee headed by Mary Cushman, M.D., M.Sc., professor and vice chair for emerging researchers. This Department of Medicine-funded professorship is designed to provide funds to strengthen the research program of the most promising assistant professors in their first five years of their faculty appointment and recognizes the excellence and potential of the recipient’s research program.
Joining Larner Dean Richard L. Page, M.D., for the event were UVM Provost and Senior Vice President Patty Prelock, Ph.D.; UVM Cancer Center Director and J. Walter Juckett Chair in Cancer Research Randall Holcombe, M.D., M.B.A.; E.L. Amidon Professor and Chair of Medicine Polly Parsons, M.D.; and UVM Foundation Interim President and CEO Jim Keller.
Adrianzen Herrera’s clinical areas of expertise include the treatment of patients with myelodysplastic syndromes, leukemia, Hodgkin’s and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, multiple myeloma, as well as stem cell transplant and cellular therapies. His research focuses on myelodysplastic syndromes, which are caused by poorly formed or impaired blood cells and can be linked to such conditions as leukemia. Currently, he is investigating risk factors for cardiovascular mortality for patients with myelodysplastic syndromes.
Adrianzen Herrera received his medical degree from the Cayentano Heredia University in Lima, Peru, did residency training in internal medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City, and completed a fellowship in hematology and medical oncology at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York.
“Dr. Adrianzen Herrera’s investiture as the inaugural holder of the Green and Gold Early Career Professorship in the Department of Medicine is truly deserved,” said Holcombe during the ceremony. “We are very proud of his accomplishments and look forward to further achievements throughout his career.”
Since joining the University of Vermont in 2019, Adrianzen Herrera has published eight peer-reviewed manuscripts and has been accepted to the Clinical Research Training Institute at the American Society of Hematology. He is currently completing a Master of Science degree in clinical and translational research at UVM.