Graduate and Postdoctoral Training

In a recent paper, titled “Vasohibin Inhibition Improves Myocardial Relaxation in Heart Failure with Preserved Ejection Fraction,” Matthew Caporizzo, Ph.D., assistant professor of Molecular Physiology & Biophysics, along with researchers at the University of Pennsylvania, have created a powerful small molecule vasohibin inhibitor (VASHi) to block MTN detyrosination in live animals. Detyrosination is the enzymatic removal of the tyrosine (an amino acid that is used by cells to build proteins) residue from the C-terminal end of tubulin (a protein that forms microtubules), which makes the microtubules sticky, impeding the heart cells from relaxing properly.

(AUGUST 16, 2024) Jessica Badlam, M.D., assistant professor of medicine and director of the pulmonary hypertension program at the UVM Medical Center, spoke with the Burlington Free Press about the hospital’s Pulmonary Hypertension Care Center receiving national accreditation from the Pulmonary Hypertension Association.

Health equity improves when the health sciences workforce reflects the diversity of the community and health care systems invest in marginalized communities. The Robert Larner, M.D. College of Medicine at UVM, along with the College of Nursing and Health Sciences and the College of Education and Social Services, has recently been granted a substantial award by the National Institutes of Health (NIH)—an R25 Science Education Partnership Award (SEPA)—to sponsor a new mentorship and science enrichment cohort program, New American Youth on the Rise (NAYR), aimed at guiding girls from immigrant backgrounds into college careers in health sciences.

(AUGUST 12, 2024) Researchers including Matthew Caporizzo, Ph.D., assistant professor of molecular physiology and biophysics, have discovered a promising new treatment for heart disease, WVNY-TV reports.

(AUGUST 11, 2024) A study led by Andrew Wilcock, Ph.D., adjunct assistant professor of family medicine at the Larner College of Medicine and a visiting fellow at Harvard Medical School, suggests reasons for the continuing drop in hospital admissions for heart attacks in the U.S., Yahoo News reports.

Larner College of Medicine Assistant Professor of Medicine Sherrie Khadanga, M.D, has recently addressed ways to improve cardiac rehab (CR) methods in two different populations, addressing both age and socioeconomic status.

(AUGUST 7, 2024) Peter Bingham, M.D., a pediatric neurologist at the UVM Children’s Hospital, spoke with Seven Days about the fundraising efforts of the parents of a 4-year-old boy with a very rare and severe neurological condition that lacks research funding.

(AUGUST 6, 2024) Researchers led by Brian Sprague, Ph.D., professor of surgery, biochemistry, and radiology, found that ultrasound detects more cancers in high-risk women with dense breasts, according to AuntMinnie.com.

Shalina Nair, M.D., M.B.A., executive vice chair of clinical services and innovation at The Ohio State University College of Medicine and medical director for Population Health Outreach at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, has been appointed as the new chair of the Department of Family Medicine at the Robert Larner, M.D. College of Medicine at University of Vermont (UVM) and UVM Health Network.

(AUGUST 5, 2024) Family medicine physician Michelle Dorwart, M.D., and psychiatrist Margaret Spottswood, M.D.’11, M.P.H., were quoted in a WCAX-TV story on expanding children’s mental health access in Vermont.

(AUGUST 3, 2024) Rebecca Bell, M.D., associate professor of pediatrics, commented to WCAX-TV about Vermont’s new child car seat safety laws that went into effect last month.

(AUGUST 1, 2024) Stephen Leffler, M.D.’90, president and COO of the UVM Medical Center and professor of emergency medicine at the Larner College of Medicine, told NBC5 that UVMMC and its partners are proud to offer a new mental health urgent care center that is coming soon to the medical center’s campus in Burlington.

The Center on Aging is pleased to announce that a collaborative research team has been awarded the 2024 Armin Grams Memorial Research Award. The project, Usability and Validity of In-Home Assessment of Mobility and Speech Production in Aging Rural Vermonters with and without Mild Cognitive Impairment, is co-led by investigators David Jangraw, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Denise Peters, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Rehabilitation and Movement Science. Other faculty team members include Victoria Priganc, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Rehabilitation and Movement Science, Occupational Therapy Program; Co-Directors of the Center for Biomedical Innovation Lecturer Samantha Fox, B.S., and Professor of Electrical and Biomedical Engineering Michael J. Rosen, Ph.D.

(JULY 31, 2024) Anne Dougherty, M.D.’09, M.A., director of gender equity at the Larner College of Medicine, and Rachel Wetchi, M.P.H., spoke with WVNY-TV about UVM’s New American Youth on the Rise (NAYR) program.

Like subspecialists across the nation, providers at UVM Children’s Hospital Developmental Behavioral Pediatrics division and the Vermont Center for Children, Youth, and Families (VCCYF) saw a significant increase in referrals for autism assessment during the past decade, resulting in extremely long wait times. To address this need, the pediatric and psychiatry departments collaborated to restructure the autism assessment program, and the Vermont Child Health Improvement Program (VCHIP) launched a statewide-level initiative to improve rates of developmental screening and remove barriers to autism assessment and diagnosis.

Professor of Surgery Gary An, M.D., has been invested as the inaugural holder of the Department of Surgery’s Green and Gold Professorship of Trauma and Critical Care.