LCOM & Department News

Nowak and Seward Invested as Inaugural Huber Early Career Green and Gold Professors

March 31, 2021 by Christina Davenport

Sarah Nowak, Ph.D., and David Seward, M.D., Ph.D., were invested as the inaugural holders of a Huber Early Career Green and Gold Professorship of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine during a virtual ceremony March 30. UVM Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine Emerita Sally Huber, Ph.D., established two separate Green and Gold professorships, one in honor of each of her parents, that will provide crucial funding to promising assistant professors who are likely to develop into successful, independent basic scientists or physician-scientists.

Huber Early Career Green and Gold Professors in Pathology and Laboratory Medicine Sarah Nowak, Ph.D., (left) and David Seward, M.D., Ph.D.

In a virtual ceremony held March 30, 2021, two rising stars in the University of Vermont’s Larner College of Medicine, Sarah Nowak, Ph.D., and David Seward, M.D., Ph.D., were invested as the inaugural holders of a Huber Early Career Green and Gold Professorship of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine. Watch a Recording of the Event 
UVM Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine Emerita Sally Huber, Ph.D., established two separate Green and Gold professorships, one in honor of each of her parents, that will provide crucial funding to promising assistant professors who are likely to develop into successful, independent basic scientists or physician-scientists. 

Huber joined the UVM faculty in 1981 and enjoyed a long and distinguished career in the Larner College of Medicine before becoming professor emerita in 2016. She is an internationally recognized educator and researcher with primary research interests in the development of viral myocarditis, how viruses interact with humans, and the critical role played by adaptive immunity. She has made major contributions to research in the fields of cardiac immunology and diabetes, expertise she has been called upon to contribute through service on committees of both the National Institutes of Health and the American Heart Association. Huber also served as a primary mentor to countless graduate students, displaying a deep commitment to future generations of biomedical researchers. 

“In her 40 years of service to this institution, Dr. Huber has been a tireless advocate for the importance of research and education across UVM,” said Larner College of Medicine Dean Rick Page. Huber says an emphasis on academic excellence was instilled early on during her upbringing in Missouri, as her parents, Elmer and Blodwen, demonstrated the virtues of hard work, resilience, and a love of learning.

Elmer Huber was employed by the Southwestern Bell Telephone Company for 49 years, starting as a lineman and telephone installer and eventually rising to head the North St. Louis County district of Southwestern Bell. Blodwen Huber was born on a farm in Pennsylvania before moving to Missouri, where she later met Elmer. She worked as a clerk at McDonald-Douglas Aircraft Company until her retirement. Completing a college degree was a dream deferred for the Hubers, but, through the Great Depression and 62 years of marriage, they instilled a deep respect for higher education in their two daughters, Sally and Roberta.

Sally Huber went on to earn degrees from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and Duke University and complete a fellowship at Stanford University. She credits several fellowships from the American Heart Association for helping propel her early career and research at UVM and hopes to provide the same sort of jumpstart for new generations of early investigators.

“My over-arching goal in establishing these professorships is to continue my parents’ spirit for the love of learning and the love of helping others to make a success of their lives,” said Huber.  “I know how welcome support can be at the beginning stages of one’s research career. My hope is to alleviate some stress associated with finding grant support for themselves or their research project during this crucial time of their career development.”

Dean Page expressed supreme confidence in the first appointees to the Huber Green and Gold professorships. “I know that the faculty members we recognize today are poised to live up to this expectation, and to very ably carry on in the spirit of the entire Huber family,” he said.

Nowak, the inaugural holder of the Blodwen S. Huber Early Career Green and Gold Professor in Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, joined the Larner College of Medicine as an assistant professor in 2019. She earned her undergraduate degree in physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and went on to earn a Ph.D. in biomathematics from the University of California, Los Angeles. Before moving to Vermont, she was a senior information scientist at the RAND Corporation, where she spent a decade applying mathematical simulation approaches to evaluate health insurance reforms, including assessing the impact of the Affordable Care Act on individual and family spending. She was one of the founding co-directors for RAND’s Center for Scalable Computing Analysis (SCAN), where she guided the center in its mission to examine the use of un-curated data, including social media data, in social and economic research. At UVM, Nowak has received continued funding from the National Institutes of Health for her ongoing study of how the information individuals gather through their social networks impacts their decision making, as well as health outcomes at the population level. She is interested in transitioning this work to support the push toward value-based care and implementing policies that lead to the reduction in the use of low-value services.

Seward, the inaugural Elmer R. Huber Early Career Green and Gold Professor in Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, has been an assistant professor of pathology at the Larner College of Medicine since 2016. He earned a degree in biology and chemistry from Williams College and a Ph.D. in biochemistry and molecular genetics from the University of Colorado. After earning his medical degree from the University of Colorado School of Medicine, he completed a residency in anatomic pathology and a fellowship in molecular and genetic pathology at the University of Michigan Hospital, Ann Arbor. At UVM, research conducted in Seward’s lab may have an impact on the future treatment of lung cancer, particularly when surgical resection is not a viable option. His research aims to establish biomarkers of the disease that predict sensitivity to available therapies, including immunotherapy. His clinical work focuses on the interpretation of next generation sequencing data obtained in the evaluation of solid tumors, which helps guide therapy, prognosis, and enrollment in clinical trials. 

The scholarship of Nowak and Seward will undoubtedly continue to bring distinction to the University of Vermont and the Larner College of Medicine, befitting Huber’s distinguished legacy. 

“When a long-time member of the faculty chooses to make such important philanthropic investments, it speaks volumes about the quality and character of a college,” said Provost Patty Prelock. “By creating these professorships, Dr. Huber not only highlights the enduring need for exceptional scholars and teachers in the field of pathology and laboratory medicine, but also expresses her confidence that the University of Vermont will always remain a fitting home for them. For that, we thank you, Dr. Huber.”

 

Past Department Highlights

Congratulations to the following individuals on their promotions effective July 1, 2024. Robert Wildin, M.D., promoted to Professor, Joanna Conant, M.D., promoted to Associate Professor, and  Amer Abu Alfa, M.D., promoted to Associate Professor. (6/2024)

Congratulations to Lisa Kapoor on 40 years of service to the pathology department. (6/2024)

Bronwyn Bryant, M.D., Associate Professor, Department of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine, is featured on the People of Pathology Podcast- Episode 181: Redefining Pathology Training With Entrustable Professional Activities. (6/2024)

Pathology resident, Alayna Westcom, M.D., received the Distinguished Medical Student Award from The College of American Pathologists. The award recognizes a fourth-year medical student committed to pursuing pathology residency. (5/2024)

Sharon Mount, M.D., Professor, Department of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine, presented a talk: “Autopsy in the USA: An update and interesting cases from the University of Vermont” at the University of Padua in Padua, Italy on April 22, 2024. (5/2024)Sharon-Padua

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)