LCOM & Department News

Celebrating Excellence in Research at the College – 2017 Achievements

November 17, 2017 by Jennifer Nachbur

Vermont is among the top ten states in per capita research funding in the U.S., according to a State of Research at the College presentation delivered by Larner College of Medicine Senior Associate Dean for Research Gordon Jensen, M.D., Ph.D., at the Dean’s Excellence in Research Awards event held November 13, 2017. The last of three 2017 Celebrating Excellence in Research events held at the College on November 10 and 13, 2017, the awards ceremony recognized the accomplishments of faculty, residents, medical students, graduate students and postdoctoral trainees.

Jon Lorsch, Ph.D., director, National Institute of General Medical Sciences, Gary Stein, Ph.D., UVM chair of biochemistry, Gordon Jensen, M.D., Ph.D., senior associate dean for research ,UVM Larner College of Medicine. Photo by: Andy Duback.

Vermont is among the top ten states in per capita research funding in the U.S., according to a State of Research at the College presentation delivered by Larner College of Medicine Senior Associate Dean for Research Gordon Jensen, M.D., Ph.D., at the Dean’s Excellence in Research Awards event held November 13, 2017. The last of three 2017 Celebrating Excellence in Research events held at the College on November 10 and 13, 2017, the awards ceremony recognized the accomplishments of faculty, residents, medical students, graduate students and postdoctoral trainees. 

(Celebrating Excellence in Research events photo gallery and video of the Dean’s Excellence in Research Awards)

In addition to the awards, the celebration also included a Graduate Student and Postdoctoral Trainee Research Showcase on November 10 and a lecture by 2017 UVM Medical Alumni Association Distinguished Graduate Alumni Award recipient and Chair of Molecular Physiology and Biophysics David Warshaw, Ph.D.’79 on November 13.

A total of 23 graduate students and postdoctoral trainees participated in the research showcase. Three categories of awards were announced. In the Post-Doc Division, Gabriela Bucini, Ph.D., received first place for “Protecting herd health: Interactive agent-based modeling used to reduce the impact of disease in livestock industries;” Kirsten Tracy, Ph.D., was runner-up for “Mitotically associated long non-coding RNA MANCR affects cell cycle in breast cancer.” In the Senior Graduate Division, first place went to Dominique Lessard for “Novel Kinesin-3 Motor Behavior is Regulated by Tau;” Devin Champagne was runner-up for “ABC transporter mediated chemoresistance is fueled by mitochondrial metabolism.” In the Junior Graduate Division category, Leslie Sepaniac received first place for “Different Mechanisms of Micronucleus Formation and Impact to Genomic Stability;” runner-up was Alex Thompson for “Post-translational Modification of the Kinesin Motor Eg5 Alters its Function in Mitosis.”

Presenters at the 2017 Dean’s Excellence in Research Awards event included Dean Frederick Morin, M.D., who provided a welcome, and keynote speaker and National Institute of General Medical Sciences Director Jon Lorsch, Ph.D., who presented “Basic Research: The Foundation on Which Advances in Medicine are Built.”

Among the highlights shared during Jensen’s State of Research at the College presentation were such achievements as 1,168 peer-reviewed publications in 2016, nearly $70 million in research grant funding in FY2017, a new $20 million Northern New England Clinical and Translational Research Network grant with Maine Medical Center, and a commitment to the development of a new Health Services Research Center.

Deans Jensen and Morin presented the following:

Trainee Awards:

Trainee Award for Outstanding Research Publication/Graduate Student: Andrew Lombardo (mentor: David Warshaw, Ph.D.’79, Molecular Physiology and Biophysics)

Trainee Award for Outstanding Research Publication/Medical Student: Katharine Runte, M.D. (mentor: Markus Meyer, M.D., Medicine)

Trainee Award for Outstanding Research Publication/Postdoctoral Fellows: Matthew Albaugh, Ph.D., (mentor: Hugh Garavan, Ph.D., Psychiatry)

Trainee Award for Outstanding Research Publication/Residents: Kara Landry, M.D.'15, Clinical Instructor in Medicine (mentor: Mary Cushman, M.D., M.Sc., Medicine)

Norman R. Alpert Research Prize

Matthew Poynter, Ph.D., professor of medicine, presented the Norman R. Alpert Research Prize to graduate student Jamie Stern (mentor: Christopher Berger, Ph.D., Molecular Physiology and Biophysics)

UVM Health Network Medical Group Awards

Claude Deschamps, M.D., president and CEO of the UVM Health Network Medical Group, presented the following awards:

Junior Researcher of the Year:
Kim Dittus, M.D., Ph.D., assistant professor of medicine

Senior Researcher of the Year: Beth Kirkpatrick, M.D., professor of medicine

Research Grants: Andrew Solomon, M.D., associate professor of neurological sciences, and Richard Watts, Ph.D., associate professor of radiology; Sarah Guth, M.D, assistant professor of psychiatry; James Hudziak, M.D., professor of psychiatry and Marjorie Meyer, M.D., associate professor of obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive sciences.

Innovation Grants: Leigh-Anne Cioffredi, M.D., assistant professor of pediatrics, Erica Gibson, M.D., assistant professor of pediatrics, Abigail Crocker, Ph.D., assistant professor of mathematics and statistics, Andrea Villanti, Ph.D., associate professor of psychiatry; Abiy Ambaye, M.D., associate professor of pathology and laboratory medicine, Pamela Gibson, M.D., associate professor of pathology and laboratory medicine, and Douglas Taatjes, Ph.D., professor of pathology and laboratory medicine.

Deans Jensen and Morin presented the following awards:

Faculty Awards

Research Mentorship: Yvonne Janssen-Heininger, Ph.D., professor of pathology and laboratory medicine

Rising Star New Investigator: Vikas Anathy, Ph.D., assistant professor of pathology and laboratory medicine

Mid-Career Investigator: 
Christopher Huston, M.D., associate professor of medicine

Research Laureate:
Gary Stein, Ph.D., chair of biochemistry, Perelman Professor of Cancer Research and director, UVM Cancer Center

View the Dean’s Excellence in Research Awards slide presentation here.

 

Past Department Highlights

Congratulations to Anne Stowman, M.D., assistant professor of pathology and laboratory medicine, on accepting the position as Network Vice Chair for Anatomic Pathology. (3/2024)  

Congratulations to Ashley Volaric, M.D., assistant professor of pathology and laboratory medicine, on receiving a Physician-Scientist Pilot Award through the Translational Global Infectious Disease Research (TGIR Group) for her research on Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) epigenetics of diffuse large B-cell lymphomas in sub-Saharan Africa. (3/2024)

Congratulations to Rebecca Wilcox, M.D., associate dean for faculty affairs, and professor of pathology and laboratory medicine, on receiving The Polaris Award for Outstanding Mentorship, and Dr. Yvonne Janssen-Heininger, Ph.D., on receiving the Gender Equity Outstanding Achievement in Medicine & Science Award at the 5th Annual Celebration of Gender Equity in Medicine and Science Awards. This award honors a Larner College of Medicine faculty or staff member who provides outstanding formal or informal mnetorship for women or gender diverse** college community members. Dr. Wilcox was nominated by Andrea Green, Julie Dumas, Alexandra Kalof, and LE Faricy. (2/2024) **Gender diverse refers to those who identify with a gender outside of the she/her, he/him binary   

Congratulations to Dr. Brian Cunniff, Ph.D., assistant professor of pathology and laboratory medicine, the team in the Cunniff Lab, and industry partner , RS Oncology, on having their novel therapy enter Phase 2 Clinical trials. Read more here Milestone for UVM-developed cancer drug. (2/2024)

During the annual Larner College of Medicine's Foundations Award Celebration, Amer Abu Alfa, M.D., assistant professor of pathology and laboratory medicine received The Dean Warshaw Integration Award recognizing the faculty member whose teaching best captured the spirit of the Vermont Integrated Curriculum. Congratulations. Christina Wojewoda, M.D., professor of pathology and laboratory medicine and vice chair for education pathology, presented the Ephraim Woll Award for Excellence in General Pathology to John Rustad. (2/2024) 

Congratulations Dr. Bei Zhang, M.D., M.S., Ph.D., MLS(ASCP)CM, on January 17, 2024, is to receive the Educational Scholarship Award from the Teaching Academy Awards for Teaching and Educational Excellence. This award recognizes an individual who has demonstrated a record of Quality, Quantity, and Engagement in medical education scholarship. Dr. Zhang, M.D., M.S., Ph.D., MLS(ASCP)CM, has been advanced to Distinguished Educator by the Teaching Academy at LCOM. Congratulations also to Bronwyn Bryant, M.D., for advancing to the level of Master Teacher and Agnes Balla, M.D., on being inducted as a Member. (1/2024)

Congratulations to University Scholar Mary Cushman, M.D., M.Sc., professor of medicine and pathology and laboratory medicine, on being ranked #90 in the U.S. and #144 in the world as one of the Best Female Scientists in the World, by Research.com. Also, Dr. Cushman, M.D., M.Sc., recently delivered the Robert Reneman Lecture at the Cardiovascular Research Institute Maastricht (CARIM)'s 2023 symposium in The Netherlands. The tile of her talk was "Stroke and Cognitive Impairment in a Biracial U.S. Cohort: The REGARDS Study." (1/2024)

In a recent Nature Methods paper, Doug Taatjes, Ph.D., Director of the Microscopy Imaging Center, and the Center for Biomedical Shared Resources at the Larner College of Medicine, together with colleagues from the international consortium QUAREP-LiMi, proposed a set of standardized community-developed checklists to assist researchers, reviewers, and journal editors with the goal of increasing the clarity and reproducibility of image figures and their analyses. The hope is that many journals will adopt these guidelines as part of their “Instructions for Authors”—providing a succinct and easy to use checklist for authors when compiling images for reproduction and descriptions of image analyses performed. (11/2023) (from the LCOM Newsletter)

Congratulations to some of our residents and our fellowship student on having their abstracts accepted for the upcoming 2024 USCAP annual meeting in March. "Unexpected Cardiac Amyloidsis: Demographics, Histology, Distribution and Clinical Significance: A Review of 15 Autopsy Cases." (Jesse Mostoller, Neel Hedge, Nick Taylor). "GATA3 Positive Malignant Spindle Cell Neoplasm Involving the Liver Diagnosed as Metastatic Sarcomatoid Chromophobe Renal Cell Carcinoma at Autopsy." (Rae Nusapan). "Long Term Outcome in a Case of Tetralogy of Fallot Surgically Treated with Palliative Shunts: Findings from an Adult Autopsy." (Dore Guptil, Heather Giguere). (11/2023)

Mark_FungCongratulations to Dr. Mark Fung, M.D., PhD., Professor Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, on receiving the 2023 College of American Pathologists (CAP) Lifetime Achievement Award. Dr. Fung is a nationally recognized expert in transfusion medicine. (10/2023) 

Congratulations to Jessica Crothers, M.D., Assistant Professor Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, on achieving the Notice of Special Interest Team Science award from NIAID for: "Effects of the gut microbiota on oral vaccine response in adults and children." (10/2023)

Nicole BouffardCongratulations to Nicole Bouffard on being awarded the "Scientific Research Staff Award" for 2023. This was presented to Nicole at the September 21, 2023, LCOM Research Excellence Award Ceremony. This is a great honor for Nicole and the Department of Pathology and recognizes her contributions and importance to the department and MIC. (10/2023)

Congratulations to Brian Cunniff, Ph.D., Assistant Professor Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, on being awarded a $1.6 million R01 grant by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences to study the role of mitochondrial trafficking in regulating cell migration, a key feature of metastatic tumors. (9/2023)

Congratulations to Yvonne Janssen-Heininger, Ph.D., Professor Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, on becoming a University of Vermont Cancer Center Program Co-Leader, Cancer Cell. (9/2023)

Congratulations to the following pathology members on receiving research support funds in April 2023. Recipients were: John Kennedy, M.D., $6520 for morphologic and immunohistochemical re-evaluation of renal cell carcinomas exhibiting papillary architecture, with emphasis on tumors demonstrating "type 2" morphology. Yvonne Janssen-Heininger, Ph.D., $15,000 for a joint initiative between RBP, UVM Cancer Center, and faculty in the Department of Chemistry. Megan Tarte $745 for Stem Cells, Cell Therapies, and Bioengineering in Lung Biology and Disease ConferenceAlbert van der Vliet, Ph.D., $14,400 for Redox processes in macrophage activation in IPF. (9/2023)

Congratulations to the following faculty members on their promotions: Vikas Anathy, Ph.D., to Professor with tenure, Bronwyn Bryant, M.D., to Associate Professor, John DeWitt, M.D., Ph.D., to Associate Professor, Sarah Nowak Ph.D., to Associate Professor, and Christi Wojewoda, M.D., to Professor. (6/2023)

Bei Zhang, M.D., M.S., Ph.D., MLS(ASCP), associate professor of pathology and laboratory medicine, did an educational scholarship session titled "Activate Students Learning Outside Classroom." at the 8th International meeting of the Association of Biochemistry Educators. Dr. Zhang also conducted two additional workshops with other ABE members titled "Linking Clinical Presentations to Their Biochemistry: A novel ABE Clinical-Biochemistry Curricular Treat Mapping Educational Tool.", and "Getting to Clerkship and Beyond: Crafting Biochemistry Learning Objectives that Connect and Integrate Basic Science Concepts with Clinical Application." (5/2023)

Congratulations to Dr. Maureen Harmon, M.D., associate professor of pathology and laboratory medicine, and Dr. Amer Abu Alfa, M.D., assistant professor of pathology and laboratory medicine for being recognized by medical students for their professionalism. Dr. Harmon was recognized for social responsibility and Dr. Abu Alfa was recognized for compassion. (5/2023)

Congratulations to Mary Cushman, Ph.D., M.Sc., professor of medicine and pathology and laboratory medicine, on being named a University Distinguished Professor of Medicine, Hematology/Oncology Division, and Pathology and Laboratory Medicine. (5/2023)

View the story Mammograms of a study by Sarah Nowak, Ph.D., assistant professor of pathology and laboratory medicine, and researchers at the UVM Cancer Center showing data that fewer women being screened for breast cancer. (4/2023)

vandervliet-habibovic420x280A new study by Albert van der Vliet, Ph.D., professor of pathology and laboratory medicine, and a team of University of Vermont (UVM) researchers is honing in on why people with asthma often have worse symptoms if they are obese. This new research demonstrates that the gene DUOX1 likely contributes to the connection between obesity and asthma.  The research was published ahead of print in the American Journal of Physiology-Lung Cellular and Molecular Physiology and was highlighted as an APSselect article for March 2023. Albert van der Vliet, Ph.D., was the senior author on the paper, along with department of pathology and laboratory medicine coauthors Aida Habibovic, lab research technician;Litiele Cruz, Ph.D., visiting scholar; Vikas Anathy, Ph.D., associate professor; University Distinguished Professor Yvonne Janssen-Heininger, Ph.D.; and additional team members and authors from UVM. Read the full LCOM News story LCOM News (4/2023)

Congratulations to Bronwyn Bryant, M.D., Assistant Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, for having your proposal, Consequential Validity of Entrustable Professional Activities in Pathology Residency Training selected to receive a Frymoyer Scholars Program project of $48,000 to be funded July 1, 2023 through June 30, 2025. (4/2023)

Congratulations to Martin Chang, M.D., Ph.D., on accepting the new role as Vice Chair for Faculty Affairs. (4/2023)

Congratulations to Joanna Conant, M.D., on becoming the new Pathology Student Fellowship Director starting July 1, 2023. (4/2023)

Congratulations to The Cunniff Lab, on receiving funding to support research focused on malignant mesothelioma. The funding was from The Butler Family Foundation Fund for Cancer Research at the University of Vermont Cancer Center. The Butler Fund was established by the Butler family in memory of two loved ones lost to mesothelioma. (03/2023)