Celebrating Excellence in Research
Dean's Excellence in Research Awards
At the 2017 Dean’s Excellence in Research Awards event, a State of the College Research Address and awards from the Larner College of Medicine and the UVM Health Network Medical Group were presented, followed by a keynote lecture, titled "Basic Research: The Foundation on Which Advances in Medicine are Built," by Jon R. Lorsch, Ph.D., director of the National Institute of General Medical Sciences.
Read more about the event and awardees.
2017 Medical Alumni Association Distinguished Graduate Alumni Award Lecture
"Networking and Personal Branding: Two Keys to Success"
David Warshaw, Ph.D.'79
UVM Professor and Chair of Molecular Physiology and Biophysics
Dr. David Warshaw has pursued a renowned career as a biomedical scientist, teacher, and mentor during more than 40 years at the University of Vermont.
His research has focused on muscle contractility, starting with research on blood vessels while a doctoral student at UVM. As a postdoctoral fellow he accomplished a major technical feat -- the first measurements of the contractile properties of single smooth muscle cells. After establishing his own laboratory at UVM in 1983, his research evolved to the study of individual molecular motor proteins (myosin); pioneering the use of state-of-the-art techniques, including single molecule motility assays and laser traps. With these new approaches he was able to measure the force generated by a single motor molecule, and thereby provided new insights into the fundamental properties of the contractile machinery of muscle as documented in his 125 peer-reviewed publications.
In 1995 Dr. Warshaw became chair of the Department of Molecular Physiology and Biophysics, and recruited a number of outstanding scientists in the molecular motor and protein structure and function fields. With these colleagues and other external collaborators, he developed a National Institutes of Health funded Program Project Grant (PPG), which was renewed three times. This PPG centered on translating the fundamental insights of motor proteins into understanding genetic forms of cardiac hypertrophy and heart failure. Dr. Warshaw has received several prestigious awards. He is an Established Investigator of the American Heart Association (AHA) and a Fellow of both the AHA and Biophysical Society. He became a University Scholar in 1999 and in the same year was inducted into the Vermont Academy of Science and Engineering. He has served on numerous editorial boards and study sections, and organized numerous international symposia. In 2014, he was named to the Board of Directors of the Cardiovascular Research Institute of Vermont. Dr. Warshaw has taught undergraduate, graduate, and medical students, and has mentored over 25 graduate students and postdoctoral fellows, many of whom have gone on to successful careers in academia.
Graduate Student and Postdoctoral Research Showcase
The Graduate Student and Postdoctoral Trainee Showcase provided a venue for developing scientists to share their amazing work and research stories with the Larner College of Medicine community AND an opportunity to earn prizes. Each presenter spoke for 12 minutes or less about their research, followed by 3 minutes of Q&A. Presentations were considered for two prizes in each of three categories (junior graduate student, senior graduate student and postdoctoral trainee).