Accolades & Accomplishments
March 6, 2024
Larner medical student Kenny Nguyen ’25 was recognized on February 10 by the UVM Board of Trustees and Chair Ron Lumbra for serving a two-year term as a student appointee to the 25-member board; Nguyen’s term ended March 1. Attendees of the retirement luncheon at the Davis Center included UVM President Suresh Garimella, Provost Patricia Prelock, and Larner Dean Richard Page.
During the tribute, Chair Lumbra spoke of each honoree’s roles on the board, followed by remarks from the retiring members. “It was one of the most transformative experiences of my professional career thus far,” commented Nguyen about the unique chance to participate in educational administration at this level. “I’d highly recommend this opportunity to any student interested in not only education admin—but leadership, networking, personal growth and development—to apply for this position.” Nguyen mentioned his appreciation for fellow classmates who shared personal words of support that were gathered and presented by a trustee at the podium.
After the event, Provost Prelock posted a congratulatory message from her Twitter/X account: “Thank you Kenny Nguyen @UVMLarnerMed for your two years of outstanding service as a student trustee on the Board of Trustees @uvmvermont,” she said. Nguyen participated in semiannual board meetings during his term, and he is currently finishing a final rotation in pediatrics at Northwell Community Health Center at the Larner Connecticut campus.
Residency training requirements in reproductive health care, while mandated by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME), are currently threatened in states with abortion bans and restrictions. There is growing concern in the field of obstetrics and gynecology (OB-GYN) that trainees may not be able to get the training they need to provide comprehensive care to the populations they will serve upon completion of training. With more states imposing legal restrictions on reproductive health, many are concerned about continued downstream effects of new legislation, including future shortages of medical professionals in these areas.
Associate Dean for Students and Associate Professor of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Sciences Karen George, M.D., M.P.H., recently explored this topic in a new paper titled “Trends in Obstetrics and Gynecology Residency Applications in the Year After Abortion Access Changes.” This study, which appeared in the February 2024 issue of JAMA Network Open, analyzed data from 2,463 unique applicants who applied to 292 OB-GYN residency programs for the 2023 cycle, along with data from 2019, 2020, 2021, and 2022.
Read the full story about this work.
The Cardiovascular Research Institute of Vermont at the Larner College of Medicine has announced Professor of Medicine, Vice Chair for Clinical Affairs, and UVM Health Network Director of Interventional Cardiology Harold Dauerman, M.D., as one of its Distinguished Investigators. This honor is bestowed upon investigators who are performing sustained, impactful cardiovascular research. Candidates for this award are nominated by members of the board of directors and previous Distinguished Investigators. Those accepted for the award are encouraged to participate in key CVRI-VT activities and are recognized by CVRI-VT with a reception and a commitment for funding.
“I am grateful to the CVRI board of directors for bestowing this prestigious honor on me,” said Dauerman. “It is surely not an individual honor—over the past 20 years, I have been very fortunate to have a superb team of UVM colleagues, mentors, and external collaborators who have contributed to the clinical research projects that are recognized by this award.”
The Cardiovascular Research Institute of Vermont was founded in 2002 as an organization dedicated to reducing the incidence, morbidity, and mortality of heart and vascular diseases through improving prevention, diagnosis, and treatment.
Jack Mangan, Class of 2024, recently showcased his research at the Orthopaedic Research Society’s (ORS) annual conference in California. Mangan presented both a poster, titled “Symptomatic Early Rupture of the inSpace Subacromial Balloon Spacer: A Case Report,” and a podium session on “Shoulder and Elbow: Surgical Approaches and Outcomes.” These presentations marked the culmination of four years of Mangan’s collaborative work with faculty from the Department of Orthopaedics and Rehabilitation, and this work has also been accepted for publication in the Journal of Shoulder and Elbow Surgery International.
The Orthopaedic Research Society (ORS) is the sole international research society focused on orthopaedics and musculoskeletal care. ORS’s basic, translational, and scientific research has been used for over 70 years to treat patients with musculoskeletal disorders with the aim of enhancing quality and equity of care.
A study by a nationwide collaborative group, including Larner scientists Mary Cushman, M.D., M.Sc., University of Vermont Distinguished Professor and co-director of the Vermont Center for Cardiovascular and Brain Health, Russell Tracy, Ph.D., University of Vermont Distinguished Professor and director of UVM’s Laboratory for Clinical Biochemistry Research, Margaret Doyle Ph.D., associate professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine and co-director of the Laboratory of Clinical Biochemistry, and Rebekah Boyle, M.S., was recently published in Nature Communications. The study from the C4R group, titled "Demographic and Clinical Factors Associated with SARS-CoV-2 Spike 1 Antibody Response Among Vaccinated US Adults: the C4R Study," explored how the human body responded to mRNA COVID-19 vaccines—such as BNT162b2 (PfizerBioNTech) and mRNA-1273 (Moderna). Both vaccines work by helping the body produce antibodies against the COVID-19 virus’s spike protein, but the study team found that the efficacy of the vaccines varied among subjects. In more than 6,000 vaccinated people, the response was noted to be weaker in older people, men, and those who smoke or have higher body-mass index, diabetes, or emphysema.
Previous investigations into vaccine effectiveness primarily relied on data from clinical trials or specific groups, such as health care workers or residents of long-term care facilities. The new C4R study stands out for its comprehensive approach, utilizing meticulously collected pre-pandemic and pandemic-era risk-factor data, and blood samples collected during the pandemic from racially and ethnically diverse cohorts in the United States. This was possible because Cushman and Tracy’s lab, with the work of lead technician Danielle Parent, developed methods to send blood collection kits directly to participants, who returned their own samples by taking a finger stick and dripping it on filter paper. The “dried blood spots” were used to measure viral serology. The overall approach and large diverse study population offers a more nuanced understanding of vaccine response than prior studies that lacked detailed information on participants’ pre-existing health conditions.The study underscores the critical importance of COVID-19 vaccination in preventing illness from the virus. It also suggests the idea of a nuanced approach to vaccination, with certain population segments with weaker immune responses possibly needing more frequent re-vaccination or higher vaccine doses. Thus, the research is instrumental in informing tailored vaccination strategies aimed at optimizing protection for all.
A recent paper by Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine Mark Fung, M.D., Ph.D., and researchers from the University of Washington and the University of California–San Diego, examined the performance of a generative artificial intelligence (AI) system—ChatGPT-3.5—in comparison to transfusion medicine (TM) specialists in diagnosing transfusion reactions. The paper, titled “Classification of Posttransfusion Adverse Events Using a Publicly Available Artificial Intelligence System,” was published online February 24 in Transfusion Journal by the Association for the Advancement of Blood & Biotherapies.
Fung’s study employed this publicly available generative AI system to assess 36 hypothetical cases using the Center for Disease Control’s (CDC) National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN) criteria. Results were compared to expert panel and TM specialist classifications. Overall, while the AI’s accuracy (48.7%) fell below that of TM specialists (72.1%), it showed promise in identifying specific categories of transfusion reactions, notably pulmonary complications like transfusion-associated circulatory overload (TACO) and transfusion-related acute lung injury (TRALI). However, Fung observed deficiencies in the AI’s responses, including lacking standard terminology, severity assessments, and imputability determinations, suggesting AI may still lag—for now—in accurately classifying transfusion reactions.
The study also revealed instances where the AI generated false statements and fabricated diagnostic terms not included in NHSN classifications, underscoring the risk of “hallucinations” inherent in generative AI systems. Limitations were acknowledged by Fung’s team, including the impact of varying wording and iterations on AI outputs, as well as differences among AI systems.
Fung’s research stands out as the first exploration of generative AI in classifying transfusion reactions. Concurrently, other AI applications like machine learning are being explored for enhancing hemovigilance in transfusion medicine. Continued research and advancements will determine if AI can effectively complement clinical practices in this domain.
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UVM Children’s Hospital’s NICU recently received the prestigious 2023 Press Ganey Human Experience Guardian of Excellence Award, in recognition of its ranking among the top 5 percent of health care providers nationwide for patient experience. This award underscores the NICU’s unwavering commitment to clinical excellence and empathetic patient care.
Read about a family behind the NICU’s award
Research and Practice in Thrombosis and Haemostasis (RPTH) has named Ryan Thomas, M.D., a hematology and oncology fellow in the Department of Medicine at the Larner College of Medicine, one of three early-career investigators to receive the annual RPTH Editor’s Awards for his work, “Development of a computable phenotype using electronic health records for venous thromboembolism in medical inpatients: the Medical Inpatient Thrombosis and Hemostasis study."
The RPTH Editor’s Awards are presented annually to three early-career investigators who submit exemplary articles as selected by a jury of editors. Recipients of this award receive a travel grant and complimentary registration to the International Society on Thrombosis and Haemostasis (ISTH) 2024 Congress, providing the opportunity to network with other exceptional researchers in thrombosis and hemostasis. In order to qualify for this award, candidates must be the first author and a member of the ISTH in one of the early-career membership categories at the time the article is submitted.
A study authored by Jonathan Schulz, Ph.D., M.P.H., postdoctoral associate in the Department of Psychiatry with the Vermont Center on Behavior and Health, was recently published in Addictive Behaviors. This study, titled “Examining the prevalence of nicotine vaping and association of major depressive episodes among adolescents and young adults by disability type in 2021,” investigates the correlation between disability and nicotine vaping among adolescents and young adults.
Schulz’s work is based on data from the 2021 National Survey on Drug Use and Health. Findings reveal that adolescents and young adults with disabilities exhibit a higher prevalence of nicotine vaping compared to those without disabilities, with major depressive episodes (MDEs) strongly associated with vaping behavior. Specifically, subjects with disabilities had a past-month vaping rate of 13.9 percent versus 9.6 percent for those without disabilities. However, when MDE was included in the analysis, the significance of disability status diminished.
The results of Schulz’s study underscore the importance of tailored messaging to communicate the risks of e-cigarette use, particularly for adolescents and young adults with disabilities.
