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.

Professor of Psychiatry Julie Dumas, Ph.D. and C. Lawrence Kien, M.D., Ph.D., The Mary Kay Davignon Green and Gold Professor Emeritus of Pediatrics and Medicine have recently secured a $3.3M, five-year R01 grant from the National Institute on Aging (NIA): “Fatty Acid Modulation of Brain Functioning in Older Adults” .

Faculty, staff, and students congregated in the Larner College of Medicine's Health Science Research Facility for the Foundations Awards Celebration. This gathering commemorated a significant milestone in the medical education journey of the Class of 2026.

Medical students, faculty, physicians, and hospital staff stepped up to the microphone on January 18 to tell true stories about their most humbling moments at the sixth annual StorySlamRx: Voices in Medicine. Alpha Omega Alpha and Gold Humanism Honor Society members organized and hosted the event, held in the Hoehl Gallery. Inspired by The Moth live storytelling, story slam provides a safe space to share personal experiences and connect with others over shared emotions. For people in the medical community, telling and listening to each other’s stories facilitates wellness and quells burnout.

Each January, the Larner community gathers for the Teaching Academy’s Snow Season Education Retreat, an annual event lifting up the work of our medical education community and honoring outstanding educators among our faculty and leaders. Highlights of the two-day event include the Teaching Academy Induction and Award Ceremony, a plenary session, an in-person poster session, workshops, and oral abstract presentations. This year’s retreat was held January 17–19.

Elizabeth Blasberg, M.D., a 2014 graduate of the Larner College of Medicine, and her colleague, former UVMMC general surgery resident Ryan Kunkel, M.D., both facial plastic surgeons, are gearing up for a medical mission to the Ruth Paz Foundation Hospital for Burned Children and Pediatric Surgery in San Pedro Sula, Honduras, in Fall 2024. The mission, sponsored by the Angeles Para Honduras (APH) foundation, aims to address cleft palates and other childhood disfiguring conditions.