Accolades & Accomplishments
July 10, 2024
_sharing_his_inspiring_story_with_snma_members_while_they_engage_in_art_therapy/com-top-tier-images/deansnewsletter/acc1-ubuntu-300x300.png?sfvrsn=90ae76f9_0 "Ubuntu")
Rev. Mark Hughes, executive director of the Vermont Racial Justice Alliance (at far left, in white cap), sharing his inspiring story with SNMA members while they engage in art therapy
Recently, the Student National Medical Association (SNMA) chapter at the Larner College of Medicine, in partnership with the Richard Kemp Center in Burlington, hosted a wellness event called “Ubuntu: Nurturing Community Wellness.” The word Ubuntu comes from the South African language, Ugani, and roughly translates to “I am because we are,” expressing the importance of interconnectedness between people.
This event brought together community members for an evening of health-focused activities and celebration, with wellness workshops that emphasized mental health, stress management, and personal development through such activities as journaling, music, and art therapy. The SNMA students also created and distributed wellness to-go bags filled with resources for continued self-care at home.
Elly Riser, M.D. (left), with Hospital Medicine Division Chief Caroline Lyon, M.D., M.P.H., M.A., associate professor of medicine
Faculty in the Department of Medicine at the University of Vermont’s Larner College of Medicine were honored with awards on June 14 during the weekly grand rounds meeting. The following awards were presented by Jennifer Gilwee, M.D., associate professor and division chief of medicine; Randall Holcombe, M.D., M.B.A., professor of medicine, associate dean for cancer programs, and director of the UVM Cancer Center; Peter Hyson, M.D., assistant professor of medicine; Caroline Lyon, M.D., M.P.H., M.A., associate professor of medicine; Macaulay Onuigbo, M.D., M.B.A., professor of medicine and interim division chief of nephrology; Joseph Pierson, M.D., professor of medicine; and Charlotte Teneback, M.D., associate professor of medicine.
The Distinguished Clinician Award, recognizing outstanding clinicians in the department: Todd Holmes, M.D., professor of medicine; and Katherine Menson, D.O., assistant professor of medicine.
The Distinguished Mentor Award, recognizing outstanding mentors of clinical residents/fellows, early-career clinicians, and/or graduate students/postdoctoral fellows: Christopher Huston, M.D., professor of medicine.
The Meritorious Service Award, recognizing individuals who have demonstrated outstanding service over the past year: Jeffrey Rimmer, M.D., professor of medicine.
The Quality Scholarship Award, recognizing individuals or teams who have demonstrated excellence in scholarly quality improvement, patient safety, and/or high-value care: Chris Holmes, M.D., Ph.D., professor of medicine and deputy division chief of hematology/oncology; and Elly Riser, M.D., M.P.H., assistant professor of medicine.
The Distinguished Educator Award (new for 2024), recognizing exceptional medical student, graduate student, trainee, and peer educators: Dennis Beatty, M.D., associate professor of medicine.
Larner Class of 2026 medical student Sarah Krumholz, M.S., RD, LDN (far left), and left to right: VCCBH Research Project Leader Debora Kamin Mukaz, Ph.D., M.S., assistant professor of medicine; Jennifer Anderson, Ph.D., postdoctoral associate in neurological sciences; and UVM senior Gabe Speidel
Two Larner-affiliated researchers won their respective poster competitions at the Vermont Center for Cardiovascular and Brain Health symposium held June 6–7 at the University of Vermont’s Davis Center. Larner Class of 2026 medical student Sarah Krumholz, M.S., RD, LDN, won the population science poster competition for “Soluble Receptor for Advanced Glycation End Products and Incident Hypertension: The REasons for Geographic And Racial Differences in Stroke (REGARDS) Study.” UVM senior Gabe Speidel, who works in the Cipolla Lab in the Larner Department of Neurological Sciences, was the winner of the basic science poster competition for “High Cholesterol Model of Preeclampsia Does Not Demonstrate Changes in Postpartum Common Carotid Artery Structure.”
UVM Cancer Center members Frances Carr, Ph.D., professor of pharmacology (left), and Seth Frietze, Ph.D., associate professor of biochemistry
A collaboration between UVM Cancer Center members Frances Carr, Ph.D., professor of pharmacology and leader of the Carr Lab, and Seth Frietze, Ph.D., associate professor of biochemistry and leader of the Frietze Lab, has led to a prestigious Department of Defense Impact Award. The grant will allow them to continue their foundational and translational research investigating novel therapeutic strategies for thyroid cancer, the most common endocrine cancer worldwide.
Read more about Carr and Frietze’s Impact Award
Back row, left to right: Curtis Plante ’27, Jackson Bressor ’26, Trevor Watkins ’26, Alyssa Tenney ’26, Naomi Burhans ’27, Thomas Khodadad ’27, Jai Narain ’27, and Graham Kent (Dartmouth). Front row, left to right: Ben Rubin ’27, Tucker Angier ’26, team captain Ian Strohbehn ’26, Ryan Trus ’26, Julia (“XiXi”) Halvorson-Phelan ’26, and Isaac Sellinger ’27.
May 12 brought springtime footy action at Dartmouth as soccer players from UVM’s Larner College of Medicine battled their counterparts from Dartmouth’s Geisel School of Medicine. Larner brought home the win after the game went into overtime, with a final score of 5-4.
Ben Rubin ’27 reports, “Blimey, what a match! LCOM and Dartmouth went head to head in a proper med school showdown on the pitch, and it was a real nail-biter! After an absolute thriller of an overtime, the final score stands at 5-4 in favor of LCOM! Talk about some top-notch footy action on the field!”
Left to right: M.S.W. students Cory Froning, Sara Levesque, and Ethan Stein, 2023–24 interns in the VT-BRIDGES program
The Larner College of Medicine’s Center on Aging recently highlighted a Traveling Careers in Aging Fair delivered as part of Careers in Aging Month in April. M.S.W. students Cory Froning, Sara Levesque, and Ethan Stein, 2023–24 interns in the VT-BRIDGES (Vermont Broadening Resources In Developing Gerontological Education and Social work) program, led the activity, along with Program Coordinator Audrey Winograd, M.S.W.’15, J.D., and Center on Aging Associate Director for Education Janet Nunziata, M.S. VT-BRIDGES is a pilot project developed in collaboration with the University of Vermont Medical Center’s Dementia Family Caregiver Center, the Center on Aging, and UVM’s Department of Social Work with the mission of recruiting, educating, and retaining master’s of social work candidates in the field of aging in Vermont.
The Traveling Careers in Aging Fair, supported by a grant from the Gerontological Society of America, engaged nearly 200 students and professors in departments throughout the university and the College of Medicine that offer aging-related coursework.
As Vermont’s population ages, a greater number of trained social workers are needed to support the aging population’s unique challenges and to acknowledge their vital role within the wider community. More than 30 percent of Vermont’s population is 60 and older, and the workforce shortage in the field continues to be of major concern.
Thanassi Award winner Hannah Koval, B.S.’24 (left), with Nimrat Chatterjee, Ph.D., M.Sc., assistant professor of microbiology and molecular genetics
Edward Bresnick Award winner Sydney McFarland, B.S.’24 (right), with Frances Carr, Ph.D., professor of pharmacology
Two Larner-affiliated UVM undergraduate student researchers have won prestigious awards for senior biochemistry majors. Hannah Koval, B.S.’24 magna cum laude, who worked in the lab of Nimrat Chatterjee, Ph.D., M.Sc., assistant professor of microbiology and molecular genetics, received the Thanassi Award recognizing research excellence and academic achievement.
“This award truly signifies Hannah’s exceptional academic journey and her potential in the field of biochemistry,” Chatterjee stated. “I had the privilege of being Hannah’s undergraduate research mentor. She joined my lab in 2022 and has consistently demonstrated outstanding progress as a researcher, with her work leading to at least four or five publications. She was also a top student in her class and has set her sights on medical school.”
Sydney McFarland, B.S.’24 cum laude, who worked in the lab of Frances Carr, Ph.D., professor of pharmacology, received the Edward Bresnick Award for demonstrated excellence in medical biochemistry research.
“Over the past years in my lab,” Carr says, “Sydney mastered numerous techniques, expanded her foundation in molecular endocrinology and tumorigenesis, and independently developed research proposals that secured her undergraduate research awards. She diligently overcame complex technical challenges and validated a critical premise that TRβ selective agonists activated tumor suppression programs in thyroid and breast cancers. Her results will have resulted in multiple publications and critically established the parameters for translational studies that offer a potential new therapeutic intervention. I am delighted that she is now pursuing graduate studies at Brandeis University continuing her successful trajectory toward an academic research career in biomedical health sciences.”
