Department of Pediatrics

Dr. Lewis R. First, professor and chair of the Department of Pediatrics at the Larner College of Medicine at the University of Vermont, has been named by the UVM Alumni Association as the 2017 recipient of its George V. Kidder Outstanding Faculty Award.

On April 6th, 2017 UVM Larner College of Medicine alumnus Nick Bonenfant, M.D. '17, spoke with NBC News/NBC Out reporter Julie Compton about LGBTQ youth health and why he decided to become a pediatrician.

Jonathan Flyer, M.D., a pediatric cardiologist at the UVM Children's Hospital and an assistant professor of pediatrics at the Larner College of Medicine at UVM, has been elected as a Fellow of the American College of Cardiology (FACC) in recognition of his professional achievement and commitment to quality cardiovascular care.

Karin Gray, M.D., is an assistant professor of pediatrics at the Larner College of Medicine at the University of Vermont and a pediatric hospitalist and medical director of the newborn nursery at the University of Vermont Medical Center. Her post, below, originally appeared on the UVM Medical Center blog and was titled “Why Screening for Congenital Heart Disease is Important.”

Anne Johnston, M.D., associate professor of pediatrics at the Larner College of Medicine at UVM, provided comments regarding neonatal abstinence syndrome and treating opioid-addicted mothers in a New York Times article, titled “Rise in Infant Drug Dependence Is Felt Most in Rural Areas.”

The newest members of the Teaching Academy at The Robert Larner, M.D. College of Medicine at The University of Vermont were inducted during a ceremony and dinner held January 5, 2017 that kicked off the Snow Season Education Retreat at the Sheraton Burlington Hotel and Conference Center.

Comments from David Rettew, M.D., UVM associate professor of psychiatry and pediatrics, were featured in a news story about the growing concerns over the safety of the scenic Queeche Gorge Bridge for local NBC affiliate WPTZ-TV Newschannel 5.

UVM College of Medicine faculty members James Hudziak, M.D., professor of psychiatry, pediatrics and medicine and director of the Vermont Center for Children, Youth & Families, and Jon Porter, M.D., clinical assistant professor of family medicine and director of the UVM Center for Health & Wellbeing, are featured in an article about UVM’s Wellness Environment (WE) program on NBCNews.com.

UVM Professor of Pediatrics Barbara Frankowski, M.D., comments on the long-term use of over-the-counter lice treatment products creating a resistance to lice for a story on the hype surrounding a new “mutant” strain of lice resistant to usual, inexpensive treatments for a story on CNN and NBC affiliate KFOR Newschannel 4.

The Big Change Roundup, an annual change collection campaign that raises funds for the University of Vermont Children's Hospital programs and services in Burlington, made a stop at the local Wal-Mart in Malone on February 27, 2016, where UVM Professor and Chair of Pediatrics Lewis First, M.D., M.S., helped to count change collected for the campaign.

University of Vermont pediatric cardiologist Niels Giddins, M.D., is featured in a news story about the American Heart Association's February 2016 "Little Hats, Big Hearts" campaign to increase awareness about congenital heart defects in newborns. Giddins, an associate professor of pediatrics, commented that structural problems in the heart can often appear following a seemingly healthy and normal birth. The story's video footage, taken at the UVM Medical Center's Mother-Baby Unit, also featured Molly Rideout, M.D., associate professor of pediatrics.

On September 21, 2016, the National Institutes of Health announced $157 million in awards in fiscal year 2016 to launch a seven-year initiative called Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO). The ECHO program will investigate how exposure to a range of environmental factors in early development — from conception through early childhood — influences the health of children and adolescents.

While I could give you a shortened version of my highly edited personal statement explaining how and why I chose pediatrics as my specialty, I feel like it can all be summed up with the following: My pediatric clerkship was the only rotation where I smiled every day.

A front-page story in the Boston Globe highlights the brainchild of University of Vermont College of Medicine Professor James Hudziak, M.D. - UVM's Wellness Environment program, known as WE.

University of Vermont College of Medicine faculty member Maria Mercedes Avila, M.Ed., Ph.D., was recognized as one of four 2015 UVM Kroepsch-Maurice Excellence in Teaching Award recipients.

For more than twenty years, The University of Vermont Medical Center, Burlington City Arts and many dedicated volunteers have brought creativity, imagination and expression to pediatric patients, families and caregivers through the Art from the Heart program. Now, Art from the Heart is expanding from supporting children in the hospital to also serve adult patients.

Maria Mercedes Avila, M.Ed., Ph.D., program co-director of Vermont Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental Disabilities (VT LEND) and assistant professor of pediatrics at the University of Vermont, received the 2016 Local Hero Award from the Child Mind Institute. The awards event took place May 10 in New York City.

University of Vermont Assistant Professor of Pediatrics and Vermont Child Health Improvement Program (VCHIP) faculty member Valerie Harder, M.H.S., Ph.D., knows that managing medications, doctors, and appointments can amount to a full-time job for parents of children with special needs.

David C. Rettew, M.D., is an associate professor and director of the Child & Adolescent Psychiatry Fellowship at the University of Vermont College of Medicine and a child psychiatrist and director of the Pediatric Psychiatry Clinic at the UVM Medical Center. He posted the following information about talking with children about mass shootings on the UVM Medical Center blog.

University of Vermont researcher Benjamin Lee, M.D., is studying whether a higher dose will help make the rotavirus vaccine more effective in developing countries, where the disease causes more than 200,000 children’s deaths each year due to related dehydration.