Professor and Chair of Medicine Anne Dixon, M.A., B.M.B.Ch., was invested as the E. L. Amidon, M.D.’32, Chair of the Department of Medicine on March 29. A UVM faculty member since 2001, Dr. Dixon is chief of pulmonary and critical care medicine and director of the Vermont Lung Center. She served as interim chair of medicine from fall 2022 until her appointment as permanent chair in fall 2023.

In a recent study published in the American Heart Association (AHA) journal Hypertension, scientists from the Larner College of Medicine, including Timothy Plante, M.D., M.H.S., Russell Tracy, Ph.D., Debora Kamin Mukaz, Ph.D., M.S., Mary Cushman, M.D., M.Sc., and Neil Zakai, M.D., M.Sc., explored the intricate relationship between specific inflammatory biomarkers and hypertension—with some surprising results.

Richard L. Page, M.D., dean of the Robert Larner, M.D., College of Medicine, has been elected to the administrative board of the Council of Deans (COD) by the American Association of Medical Colleges (AAMC).

Associate Professor of Pharmacology Karen Glass, Ph.D., was recently honored with an award totaling more than $380,000 from the MCA program for her proposed project, “Application of Cryo-Electron Microscopy to Determine the Structure of Epigenetic Regulatory Complexes.” Glass is the first UVM faculty member to receive an NSF MCA award.

Larner study underscores the critical importance of COVID-19 vaccination in preventing illness from the virus.

Professor of Neurological Sciences Margaret A. Vizzard, Ph.D., was invested as the inaugural holder of the Colleen A. and Gregory L. Holmes Green and Gold Professorship in Neurological Sciences Research.

The Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at the Larner College of Medicine at the University of Vermont hosted the fifth annual Celebration of Gender Equity in Medicine and Science on March 7, 2024. Debora Kamin Mukaz, Ph.D., M.S., assistant professor of medicine and co-founder of #BlackInCardio, presented a keynote address on “Why Intersectionality Matters for Life Sciences and Medicine.”

With more states imposing legal restrictions on reproductive health, many are concerned about continued downstream effects of new legislation including future shortages of medical professionals in these areas. Associate Dean for Students and Associate Professor of obstetrics, gynecology, and reproductive sciences Karen George, M.D., recently explored this topic in a new paper.

On February 17, 2024, Gary Mawe, Ph.D., a respected faculty member at the Larner College of Medicine and the University of Vermont, passed away at the age of 67 after battling an illness. His life was marked by achievement and dedication, leaving a lasting impact on our community, both here at Larner and at UVM.