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

Sprague Quoted in Radiology Business Article on Record-low Mammogram Screenings

April 5, 2024 by Lucy Gardner Carson

(APRIL 5, 2024) Brian Sprague, Ph.D., M.S., professor of surgery, was quoted in an article in Radiology Business about a historic low in mammography screening in Vermont.

Brian Sprague, Ph.D., M.S., professor of surgery

(APRIL 5, 2024) Brian Sprague, Ph.D., M.S., professor of surgery, was quoted in an article in Radiology Business about a historic low in mammography screening in Vermont.

The proportion of eligible Vermont women who underwent breast cancer screening in the previous two years fell from 61 percent in 2019 to 56 percent in 2021 post-pandemic. Screening adherence recovered to 61 percent by 2022 but remained “substantially lower” than peak levels seen from 2007 to 2010 (66–67 percent), researchers detailed in Radiology: Imaging Cancer.

“Despite a rebound in 2022 from pandemic-associated lows, mammography screening rates in Vermont are at a historic low, and efforts to increase screening utilization are particularly needed among specific sociodemographic groups,” Sprague and co-authors wrote.

“Our study, which extends to more than 2.5 years of follow-up since the onset of the pandemic, provides further evidence for racial and ethnic disparities in return to screening and additionally highlights differences according to educational attainment and breast cancer risk,” the authors noted. “Overall, our findings add to a growing literature suggesting that post-pandemic determinants of screening adherence are similar to those observed before the pandemic,” they added.

“The recently released USPSTF draft recommendation for routine screening beginning at the age of 40 years may offer an opportune moment to reinvigorate efforts to promote mammography screening adherence in the post-pandemic era,” Sprague et al. wrote.

Read full story at Radiology Business

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 >>