Teaching tomorrow's surgeons

In collaboration with the University of Vermont Health Network, the Department of Surgery strives to recruit and retain the best faculty members to train our medical students.  The Department provides surgical services and training at the University of Vermont Health Network and is proud to be an integral part of this high quality, cost efficient health care center.  Our mission is to provide excellent patient care, superb resident and medical student training, and to foster research and innovation.   

Faculty and student practice microsutures

Education

From the entering novice medical student to the most experienced practitioner, the educational contribution of our department significantly and positively impacts the quality of care throughout Vermont and the areas throughout the country where our graduates practice. The major focus of our educational programs lies in Medical Student Education, Resident Education, Continuing Medical Education and Skills Labs.

Physicians in the skull base lab

Research

A broad spectrum of activities are directed toward improving the quality of our patient care and toward developing novel, innovative therapies. Through investigator-initiated trials, as well as national cooperative group, and industry-funded trials, department faculty are able to offer our patients access to cutting-edge treatments not otherwise available.

Department Highlights

Brian Sprague, PhD, Division of Surgical Research, was awarded a Health Services Research Pilot Grant from the Larner College of Medicine, for his proposal, “Evaluation of a cancer risk assessment questionnaire to guide cancer screening decision-making in primary care.”

Bruce Leavitt, MD (Cardiothoracic Surgery) and a team of 10 from UVM, are part of Team Heart, a nonprofit focused on bringing cardiac care to people in Rwanda.  Watch the WCAX segment. 

Departmental News

UVM Cancer Center Investigators Publish the Breast Pre-Cancer Atlas

January 18, 2022 by Kate Strotmeyer

UVM Cancer Center researchers contributed to the establishment of a breast pre-cancer atlas, which establishes the molecular and cellular properties of early-stage breast cancer and is the result of a six-year, National Cancer Institute-funded, collaborative initiative.

Gene expression in human breast cancer specimen analyzed by multi-spectral imaging.

As published in npj Breast Cancer, a Nature Portfolio publication, the pre-cancer atlas – a six-year, NCI-funded, collaborative initiative - establishes the molecular and cellular properties of early-stage breast cancer. By combining histological, molecular, and immunological profiling to provide risk markers for tumor progression, the groundbreaking research offers guidance for treatment or evidence-informed observation.

The paper, “The breast pre-cancer atlas illustrates the molecular and micro-environment diversity of ductal carcinoma in situ,” is co-authored by a team of six UVM Cancer Center investigators, Janet Stein, Ph.D., Donald Weaver, M.D., Gary Stein, Ph.D., Brian Sprague, Ph.D.,  Jonathan Gordon, Ph.D., and Mark Evans, Ph.D., who partnered with scientists and clinicians at the University of California San Francisco, the University of California Davis, and the University of California San Diego. 

Leveraging the power of recent methodological advances, the team characterized the mutational, transcriptional, histological, and micro-environment landscape of thirty-nine patient tumors to develop a multimodal breast pre-cancer atlas. 

The pre-cancer atlas combines parallel histological, molecular, and immunological profiling to provide risk markers for tumor progression and guidance for evidence-informed observation.

The breast pre-cancer atlas represents the expertise and experience of UVM Cancer Center scientists and physician investigators and the effective partnerships of cancer center members with colleagues who bring complimentary research and clinical capabilities. 

“The fabric of our Cancer Center is collaboration and the initiative reported in The breast pre-cancer atlas illustrates the molecular and micro-environment diversity of ductal carcinoma in situ illustrates a significant contribution that will be broadly relevant,” said Dr. Gary Stein, a co-investigator. 

Upcoming Events

Surgery Grand Rounds is held every Thursday during the academic year (September - June) in the Davis Auditorium from 7:30-8:30 am followed by M&M Conference from 8:30-9:30 am.

Visit the detailed department calendar >>