After a comprehensive internal search and interview process, University of Vermont Larner College of Medicine Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine Nicholas Koch, M.D., has been named clinical director of the UVM Clinical Simulation Laboratory. Koch will be the laboratory’s fourth director, replacing former Associate Professor of Anesthesiology Vincent Miller, M.D., who served in the position for five years, from 2016-2021.

On March 26, 2022, UVM medical students Caitlin Marassi and Ellen Mats, along with other Larner first-year medical students, launched a three-week "Vermont for Ukraine Medical Supply Drive" in collaboration with Vermont Flannel retail stores and working through Razom, a 501(c)(3) organization that ships medical supplies by sea and air directly to Ukraine.

University of Vermont Chair of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics Beth Kirkpatrick, M.D., will present her 2021-22 University Scholar lecture on "Combatting Global Infectious Diseases: Vaccines and Human Models," on Monday, April 4, 2022.

A new, non-profit medical clinic at Sugarbush Resort — Three Peaks Medical Clinic — is scheduled to open in December 2022 and be staffed by UVM Division of Emergency Medicine faculty member volunteers. The clinic's mission is to provide the resort area community access to on-mountain medical care and provide a venue for facilitating wilderness, emergency, and sports medicine research.

The Class of 2022’s medical school journey turned upside-down in March 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic forced a stay-at-home order, a pivot to remote learning, and put their clinical training on hold. After two years of virtual events, the University of Vermont Larner College of Medicine celebrated these resilient senior medical students at an in-person Match Day event on March 18 in the UVM Davis Center.

In a first-of-its-kind study, research from the University of Vermont Cancer Center has linked phthalates, commonly called the “everywhere chemical,” to higher incidence of specific childhood cancers.

Like many inventions, the LOST-Wheel was born out of necessity and, jokes Bivona, out of spite. In his final years as a Cellular, Molecular, and Biomedical Sciences graduate student, Bivona worked on a grant-funded project in the laboratory of UVM Larner College of Medicine Professor of Medicine Matthew Poynter, Ph.D. The project, says Poynter, aims to determine the contribution of skeletal muscle contractile muscle cells (myocytes) to local and systemic inflammation and the potential benefits of exercise to diminish overexuberant or protracted inflammation. The work relies heavily on the study of mouse models after they exercise either on rodent treadmills (yes, they make treadmills for rodents) or on small circular machines commonly called mouse wheels.

University of Vermont graduate students Dorcas Lohese, Sean Lenahan, Joseph Owuor, and Matt Mullen are the newest representatives for the UVM Larner College of Medicine Graduate Student Council. Hannah Despres, who served on the council for the 2020-2021 term, has been re-elected for another year.

The Larner College of Medicine Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion hosted the third annual Celebration of Gender Equity in Medicine and Science on March 3, 2022.

In recent years, total neoadjuvant treatment—a potent new therapy for advanced colorectal cancer—has emerged as the standard of care. But the treatment can be harsh, impacting quality of life for many patients. A new study published in Clinical Colorectal Cancer by a team of researchers affiliated with the University of Vermont Cancer Center highlights a variety of new colorectal cancer treatments that take into account both a patient’s likely health outcome and quality of life factors.