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UNIVERsIty OF VERmONt COLLEGE OF mEdICINE
running
together
A L s O
F e A T u r e D :
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the Journal club at UVM
Two department chairs
follow related pathways
❯
New clinical Simulation Laboratory
s u m m e r
An insatiable curiosity, combined with meticulous
attention to detail and infinite patience, is what
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From the Dean
29
Hall A
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College News
30
President’s Corner
31
Class Notes
33
Development News
40
Obituaries
42
Reunion ’11
One class leaves, and
another begins; Bramley
becomes Interim President;
three College faculty
members are named
University Distinguished
Professors, and more.
makes immunobiology expert and Professor of Medicine
merceDes rincOn, Ph.D., so good at what she does.
Her laboratory investigations pinpoint the cellular activity
that plays a role in immune system response, and have led
to the identification of potential therapy targets for such
diseases as flu infection, asthma, rheumatoid arthritis
and breast cancer. She is also internationally known for
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her work with transgenic mice, uncovering how certain
proteins can affect drug resistance, alter the direction
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of an immune response, or impact the progression of
diseases. At the University of Vermont College of Medicine,
Whether it’s on the running track, or at the laboratory
bench, department chairs Mark Nelson, Ph.D., and
David Warshaw, Ph.D.’78 share a deep appreciation for
cardiac fitness, as well as a commitment to research that
furthers understanding about the workings of the heart.
she brings this passion for discovery to her work every day.
i am a
detective.
Work & Life, Running Together
By Joshua Brown
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Virtual Medicine
UVM’s new Clinical Simulation Laboratory brings together
a broad range of health care learners all focused on honing
skills and, ultimately, improving the care of patients.
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By Sona Iyengar
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The Journal Club
The Information Revolution has changed the way
much of medical knowledge is shared, but peer-reviewed
publications remain key to the vetting and dissemination
of new biomedical findings. Here at the College of
Medicine, many faculty members help aid in that task.
i am a biomedical researcher.
By Jennifer Nachbur
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ON tHe COveR: Mark Nelson, Ph.D., and David Warshaw, Ph.D.’78
photographed by Mario Morgado.
FROM THE DEAN
v
There is nothing that reinforces the importance of
collaboration stronger than Commencement Day, and
it was an honor to preside over the graduation of the
members of the Class of 2011 in May. This year’s
graduates were new first-year students back in the fall of
2007, when I too came to this College. Over the course of
the next four years I saw just how much combined effort
it took by our dedicated faculty members and staff, along
with the tireless work of the students themselves, and
their families, to produce a class of superb physicians and
scientists, ready to make their mark in residency programs
and laboratories across the country.
It was also a pleasure to publicly acknowledge at
commencement the contributions of alumnus Thomas
Sullivan from the Class of 1966 with the conferring of an honorary degree.
Although he passed away in December and it was bittersweet that he could not be
with us, it was a wonderful opportunity to have his partner Deanna Howard and
her daughter Erica here to celebrate with the College of Medicine community all
that Tom has done for the College and, indeed, for all of UVM.
Tom’s generosity enabled us to move forward on a collaboration with the
College of Nursing and Health Sciences and Fletcher Allen Health Care that has
brought the leading-edge Clinical Simulation Laboratory quickly online in its
beautiful quarters in the Rowell Building, where it is already helping to improve
the education and training of medical and nursing students, residents and house
staff, community rescue squads, and our Vermont National Guard members. This
could not have happened without our close working relationships with Dean Patty
Prelock, Ph.D., and Fletcher Allen CEO Melinda Estes, M.D. (whom I wish all
the best as she moves on to her new position as head of St. Luke’s Health System
in Kansas City).
Our faculty members are no strangers to the benefits of collaboration. The
close working relationship and longtime friendship of two of our chairs, Mark
Nelson, Ph.D., and David Warshaw, Ph.D.’78, is highlighted in this issue. And
this year, thanks to the input, feedback and support from our faculty, the College’s
Faculty Handbook and Standards & Guidelines document were revamped, and
the merger during the next year of the departments of Neurology and Anatomy
& Neurobiology into one Department of Neurological Sciences is on course.
In these tough economic times, and times of increasing political divisiveness,
it is an honor to know that we do business in a setting where working together
is standard operating procedure.
Frederick C. morin III, m.D.
Dean, University of Vermont College of Medicine
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College News
SUMMER 2011
editor
Edward Neuert
Assistant Dean for
Communications & Planning
Carole Whitaker
Interim Director, Development
& Alumni Relations/
Director of Annual Giving
Sarah Keblin
Contributing Writer
Jennifer Nachbur
Assistant
Aliza Mansolino-Gault
Art Director
Steve Wetherby, Scuola Group
University of Vermont
College of Medicine
Dean
Frederick C. Morin III, M.D.
Senior Associate Dean for
medical education
William Jeffries, Ph.D.
Senior Associate Dean
for Research
Ira Bernstein, M.D.
A.JohnBramleyAppointed
UVMInterimPresident
University of Vermont Board of Trustees Chair Robert
F. Cioffi announced July 25 the appointment of A. John
Bramley, Ph.D., as interim president, effective August 1.
Bramley, a longstanding member of the UVM faculty, has
served as department chair of Animal Sciences, dean of the
College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, and provost and
senior vice president of the university. In 2006 he also served
as acting president during President Daniel Mark Fogel’s
illness. From 2007 to 2011 he was president and CEO of
the Windham Foundation, the largest private foundation
registered in Vermont. In recognition and honor of his
service, the Windham Foundation announced in July the
creation of the A. John Bramley Lecture Series, designed to
focus on preserving Vermont’s rural communities.
“We are extremely fortunate that John Bramley was
both available and willing to step into this important role,”
Cioffi said. “Quite frankly, there could not be a better choice
for this job in light of John’s experience, skills, character,
and knowledge of UVM, in addition to his outstanding
scholarly record. One of the Board’s primary goals is to
keep the University’s upward
trajectory moving ahead, and the
appointment of John Bramley
ensures that is going to happen.”
“Dan Fogel is leaving us
with an impressive legacy of
accomplishment and a strong
foundation for further success.
Even though he will be in
this role for a relatively short
InterimPresidentA.JohnBramley,Ph.D.
time, John is not going to be a
‘caretaker,’ and will be pushing
our key initiatives forward. I couldn’t be more pleased that
John has agreed to take on the responsibilities of interim
president, and I know that he will be welcomed back to UVM
with open arms,” Cioffi remarked.
Bramley is expected to serve as interim president until
July 2012, and will not be a candidate for the position of
president, for which a search is underway.
Bramley was born and educated in the United Kingdom.
He graduated with first class honors with a bachelor of
science in microbiology from the University of Newcastle
upon Tyne in 1971 and completed his doctorate in veterinary
microbiology at the University of Reading in 1975.
Classof2015Arrives
Senior Associate Dean for
Clinical Affairs
Paul Taheri, M.D., M.B.A.
Whether a calling or lifelong dream, the pursuit of a
medical education takes diligence, discipline and passion to
achieve, and the beginning of medical school marks the first
milestone in that process. The College of Medicine’s Class of
2015 began this journey on August 8. During Orientation
Week, UVM’s newest medical students learned about a wide
range of topics and participated in several activities designed
to prepare students for the academic, professional, emotional
and physical experiences ahead of them.
Senior Associate Dean for
Finance & Administration
Brian L. Cote, M.B.A.
Vermont Medicine is published quarterly
by the University of Vermont College of
Medicine. Articles may be reprinted with
permission of the editor. Please send address
changes, alumni class notes, letters to the
editor, and other correspondence to:
2015
University of Vermont College of Medicine
Alumni Office, Courtyard at Given,
89 Beaumont Ave., Burlington, VT 05405
Telephone: (802) 656-4014
Facts About the UVM College
of Medicine Class of 2015:
Letters specifically to the editor may be
e-mailed to: [email protected]
■
The College of Medicine’s Admissions Office received
5,860 applications for the 114 spots in the Class of 2015.
■
Class members’ ages range from 21 to 48, with male and
female students evenly represented at about 50 percent each.
■
A total of 36 students are Vermonters.
magazine Honors
UCDA Design Competitions; Excellence in Illustration (2008)
AAMC-GIA Robert G. Fenley Writing Award of Excellence (2008)
AAMC-GIA Award of Distinction; External Publications (2007)
AAMC-GIA Award of Distinction; External Publications (2006)
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M E D I C I N E
Raj Chawla, UVM Med Photo
SendUsYourStories!
If you have an idea for something that should
be covered in Vermont Medicine, please email:
[email protected].
Photographer Name, Photographer Name
DeanRickMorinwelcomestheClassof2015ontheirfirstdayoncampus.
Raj Chawla, UVM Med Photo
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COLLEGE NEWS
ThreeFacultyNamedDistinguishedProfessors
The University of Vermont has named three new University
Distinguished Professors who are members of the College of
Medicine faculty: Jerold F. Lucey, m.D., Brooke t. mossman,
Ph.D.’77, and Susan S. Wallace, Ph.D. The University
Distinguished Professors program was founded in 2009
with the objective of recognizing and honoring UVM
professors who, over an extended period of time, have
attained an international reputation in the areas of teaching,
research and scholarship, and service, and for that reason
bring great distinction to their home institution.
Lucey is professor emeritus of pediatrics in the Department
of Pediatrics. He was chief of Newborn Services at Fletcher
Allen Health Care from 1970 to 1990 and editor-in-chief
of the prestigious journal Pediatrics for more than 30 years.
Lucey’s pediatric career spans more than 50 years at
UVM. One of his nominators wrote, “in reflecting upon the
criteria that warrants the title of University Distinguished
Professor, Dr. Lucey meets those criteria as if he were hitting
a home run with the bases loaded.”
JeroldF.Lucey,M.D.
BrookeT.Mossman,Ph.D.’77
SusanS.Wallace,Ph.D.
Mossman is professor emerita of pathology and director
of the Environmental Pathology Program. Mossman’s
scientific contributions over the past 30 years have resulted
in her international recognition as one of the world’s foremost
authorities in the field of fiber carcinogenesis.
Mossman has provided an important and sustained
body of work that continues to inform the world about
asbestos. She remains the most widely cited researcher in
the world on asbestos-related diseases.
Wallace is professor and chair of the Department
of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics. She has made
significant contributions to biomedical science and specifically
the field of radiation research. Since her first publication in
1969, she has built a body of more than160 publications
during a career that spans the genetic revolution as well as
the exponential growth of radiation oncology as a field of
scientific research.
Wallace has been continuously funded by the National
Institutes of Health since 1971. She recently received an
NIH Program Project grant award to support a new
translational research effort exploring if certain DNA repair
protein variants in the human population increase the risk
for some types of cancer.
University Distinguished Professors also serve as an
informal advisory body to the leadership of the university,
and receive an annual professional expense stipend to support
their scholarly endeavors. The three most recent designees
join fellow College faculty members Mark Nelson, Ph.D.,
and Burton Sobel, M.D., who were named distinguished
professors in 2009.
Worldwide Stem Cell Experts Gather at UVM
Scientistsfromaroundtheworldinvolvedin
stemcellresearchgatheredatUVMthisJuly.
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This summer, the College of Medicine hosted the fourth biennial “Stem Cells and Cell Therapies
in Lung Biology and Lung Diseases” symposium, an international invitation-only conference
focused on basic and translational research involving the therapeutic use of adult stem cells in
lung diseases. More than 165 attendees participated in the three-day conference during the last
week of July at UVM’s Davis Center.
Participants discussed recent advances and addressed critical issues in this field, including
the role of translational studies and clinical trials with stem cells in lung diseases. At the meeting’s
conclusion, the conference body participated in an open discussion with the objective of setting
priorities and providing recommendations for the NHLBI, Food and Drug Administration, and other
relevant organizations to utilize for guiding basic and translational research in stem cell and other
cellular therapies for lung diseases.
The conference was chaired by Daniel J. Weiss, M.D., Ph.D., UVM associate professor of
medicine, and Darwin Prockop, M.D., Ph.D., professor of medicine at the Texas A&M Health Science
Center College of Medicine Institute for Regenerative Medicine at Scott & White Hospital.
M E D I C I N E
Research Milestones
Zubarik examines New
Pancreatic Cancer
Screening test
The fourth leading cause of
cancer-related death in men and
third leading cause of cancerrelated death in women in the
United States, pancreatic cancer
is typically diagnosed at an
advanced stage and has a poor
RichardZubarik,M.D.
survival rate. If identified and
treated early, the disease can be
cured, but screening tools are limited. To address this issue,
Richard Zubarik, m.D., associate professor of medicine, led
a study at UVM and Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center
to determine if a new, experimental screening protocol was
feasible. Zubarik and colleagues used a blood test to identify
the presence of a pancreatic cancer tumor marker called CA
19-9, which is usually elevated in patients with pancreatic
cancer. The researchers found that the study’s screening
protocol was successful in identifying early stage pancreatic
cancer in a high-risk population based on age and genetic
predisposition. The team also determined that the study’s
screening protocol “appears to be superior to the standard
means of pancreatic cancer detection.” Zubarik received
support for this research from the Vermont Cancer Center/
Lake Champlain Cancer Research Organization and the
Gastrointestinal Oncology Research Fund at the DartmouthHitchcock Norris Cotton Cancer Center in Lebanon, N.H.
Odell Receives
Warshaw m.D.Ph.D. Award
The College of
Medicine M.D.-Ph.D.
Program hosted its
8th Annual M.D.Ph.D. Research
Day on July 22
in the Sullivan
Classroom of the
IanOdell,Ph.D.,withDeanMorin
Medical Education
Center. Ian Odell,
who completed his Ph.D. in May 2011, received the Dean
Joseph B. Warshaw, M.D. Scholarship Award in recognition
of his dissertation research. Odell, who hails from Park City,
Utah, is currently completing his medical degree curriculum
requirements in order to graduate in May 2012. He hopes
to match to a residency in pathology and is particularly
interested in working in the field of molecular pathology in
the future. For his doctoral thesis, Odell, who was mentored
by David Pederson, Ph.D., associate professor of microbiology
Photographer
Wallace
photoName,
by Mario
Photographer
Morgado; all
Name
others by Raj Chawla, UVM Med Photo
and molecular genetics, studied how a DNA repair pathway
called Base Excision Repair (BER) is able to locate and repair the
damaged DNA in the midst of normal DNA. Joseph Warshaw,
M.D., was dean of the UVM College of Medicine from 2000 until
his death in December 2003 and was a passionate believer in
the importance of humanism and science. The Warshaw award,
which provides financial support for an M.D.-Ph.D. student
who has performed the most outstanding thesis research, is
supported by a fund established through gifts from Warshaw’s
family, friends, and the faculty, staff, students and alumni of the
UVM College of Medicine.
Arscott Named Research Scholar
Fourth-year medical student W. tristram
Arscott has been named a Howard Hughes
Medical Institute-National Institutes of
Health (HHMI-NIH) Research Scholar for
2011–12. Arscott was one of 42 students in
the nation to receive this prestigious honor
and began the program in July on the NIH’s
Bethesda, Md., campus. Arscott will work
in the laboratory of Kevin Camphausen,
M.D., head of the Imaging and Molecular
Therapeutics Section and chief of the
Radiation Oncology Branch of the National
Cancer Institute at the NIH, performing
translational research.
W.TristramArscott
Hughes examines Smoking
Cessation medication
In a study recently published in the online version of
the journal Nicotine and Tobacco Research, Professor
of Psychiatry John Hughes, m.D., and his research
team wanted to determine if the newest non-nicotine
smoking cessation medication available — called
varenicline (marketed as Chantix) — would also help
smokers reduce tobacco use and encourage them
to make a quit attempt. Smokers in the study had to
have no plans to quit in the next month. Hughes and
colleagues found that treatment using varenicline
JohnHughes,M.D.
appears to be more effective than the nicotine patch
and other medications in helping these smokers quit.
Even in smokers who had no plans to quit, the medication
doubled the number of quit attempts and doubled the number
of smokers who remained quit six months later in those who
received the drug compared to those who received a placebo
— 26 percent versus 10 percent. “We think that reduction
is a great way to get smokers to take the first step toward
quitting and would like to see the FDA allow smokers to use
medications in this way,” says Hughes. “We do not know if
this new medication is more or less effective than nicotine
medications, but it does offer another option.”
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COLLEGE NEWS
CouchAppointedInterim
SurgeryChair,McFadden
BecomesAssociateDean
Notables
In July, Marion Couch, M.D., Ph.D., M.B.A., was
appointed to serve as Interim Chair of the Department of
Surgery at the College of Medicine and Interim Physician
Leader at Fletcher Allen Health Care, as David McFadden,
M.D., M.B.A. transitioned to his new role as Associate
Dean for Regional Academic Affairs.
Couch, a surgical oncologist, is Associate Professor and
Division Chief of Otolaryngology/Head and Neck Surgery.
She also serves as Interim Chief of Ophthalmology, and as
Associate Vice President of Finance for the UVM Medical
Group. She joined UVM/Fletcher Allen in 2010 from the
University of North Carolina Chapel Hill and the UNC
Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center. Couch is an
accomplished investigator, with current research focused
on cancer cachexia, a wasting syndrome that affects cancer
patients. She earned her M.D. from the Rush Medical
College in Chicago and her Ph.D. at Rush University, and
also holds an M.B.A. in Health Sector Management from
Duke University. She completed her surgical training at The
Johns Hopkins Hospital, where she served on the faculty
before moving to UNC.
The national American
Lung Association and
the C. Everett Koop
Foundation have
honored theodore
marcy, m.D., m.P.H.,
professor of medicine
TheodoreMarcy,M.D.,M.P.H.
and Fletcher Allen
pulmonologist, with the receivinghisALAAward.
2011 Unsung Heroes’
Award. The honor recognizes an individual who has made
important strides in the effort to control tobacco use. Marcy’s
many contributions to reduce the burden of tobacco use
range from patient care to program development to research
on health care systems change to facilitating brief smoking
cessation interventions by physicians. He was nominated for
the award by the ALA of New England.
marcy Receives
ALA Unsung
Heroes’ Award
MarionCouch,M.D.,Ph.D.,M.B.A. DavidMcFadden,M.D.,M.B.A.
In his new role as associate dean for regional academic
affairs for the College, McFadden has responsibility
for establishing, growing, and strengthening external
collaborative relationships, including research collaborations
with peer institutions in the region for key areas such as
cancer and clinical and translational science, and helping to
ensure the continued success of clinical teaching programs
at Danbury Hospital in Conn., St. Mary’s Medical Center
in Palm Beach, Fla, and Eastern Maine Medical Center in
Bangor. McFadden, who joined UVM/Fletcher Allen in
2006, is a general surgeon with a focus on surgical oncology
and continues his clinical and teaching roles as a faculty
physician in the UVM Medical Group.
BrumstedTakesHelmatFletcherAllen
On August 15, Professor of
Obstetrics, Gynecology and
Reproductive Sciences John
Brumsted, M.D., assumed his
new role as interim chief executive
officer of Fletcher Allen Health
Care, UVM’s partner in Vermont’s
academic medical center. He will
serve in this capacity while the
Fletcher Allen board of trustees
pursues a national search for a
replacement for Melinda Estes,
M.D., who in August left the
organization, after serving nearly
JohnBrumsted,M.D.
eight years, to become president
and chief executive officer at St. Luke’s Health System in
Kansas City, Mo.
Brumsted was most recently Fletcher Allen’s senior vice
president and chief medical officer, and has held a number
of administrative positions at Fletcher Allen including
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interim chief executive officer in the late 1990s and as chief
quality officer prior to his role as chief medical officer. He
also served as senior associate dean for clinical affairs at the
College of Medicine.
Brumsted earned his medical degree at Dartmouth
Medical School in 1978, completed an internship
at Hartford Hospital in Conn., and a residency and
fellowship in obstetrics
and gynecology at
the Medical Center
Hospital of Vermont
(now Fletcher Allen).
He is a board-certified
obstetrician/gynecologist
with a subspecialty
in reproductive
endocrinology and
infertility. He joined the
UVM/Fletcher Allen
MelindaEstes,M.D.
faculty in 1985.
Top: UVM Med Photo. Left: Matthew Katz
Nicholas Named
Outstanding
Standardized
Patient educator
Cate Nicholas, ed.D., m.S., P.A.,
director of clinical skills
education and the Standardized
Patient Program at the College
of Medicine, was named the
2011 Outstanding Standardized
Patient Educator of the Year at
CateNicholas,Ed.D.,M.S.,P.A.
the Association of Standardized
Patient Educators annual conference, held in June in
Nashville, Tenn. ASPE is the international organization for
professionals in the field of simulated and standardized
patient (SP) methodology.
Kennedy Named
Pharmacist of the Year
The Vermont Society of Health
System Pharmacists named
Research Assistant Professor of
Medicine Amanda Kennedy,
Pharm.D., the 2011 Pharmacist
of the Year at the Society’s
annual continuing education
meeting in May. Kennedy,
who is a board-certified
AmandaKennedy,Pharm.D.
pharmacotherapy specialist,
joined the UVM faculty in 2003 and serves as co-director
of the Vermont Academic Detailing Program in UVM’s Office
of Primary Care.
Photographer
Top:
courtesy ALA.
Name,
All Photographer
others UVM Med
Name
photo
Parsons Appointed to
NHLBI Council
In June, the National Heart, Lung and Blood
Institute (NHLBI) announced the six newest
members of its Advisory Council, including
E.L. Amidon Professor and Chair of Medicine
Polly Parsons, m.D. Parsons, whose
term will run through October 2014, is a
pulmonologist with longstanding interests
in research, education, and patient care in
the field of critical care medicine.
PollyParsons,M.D.
two Named to
WHO Working
Group
Kristen DeStigter, m.D.,
associate professor
of radiology, and
Christopher Filippi, m.D.,
associate professor of
radiology, have been
selected to participate
KristenDeStigter,M.D.
ChristopherFilippi,M.D.
in a World Health
Organization (WHO)
working group to contribute to the development of global
referral guidelines for diagnostic imaging. The group is part of a
WHO global initiative on radiation safety in health care settings
designed to improve the safety and effective use of radiation in
medicine. DeStigter and Filippi and their colleagues will work
with other professional organizations to develop tools that will
serve as a global standard in helping to choose appropriate
medical imaging procedures.
med Students take top
marathon Honors
Recent College of Medicine Class
of 2011 graduate Jonathan
Severy, m.D., and fourth-year
medical student megan malgeri
took top Vermonter honors in the
Vermont City Marathon (VCM)
on May 29. Severy was the first
Vermont man to cross the finish
line with a time of 2:30:12 and
MeganMalgeri’12wasthefirstVermont
Malgeri was the first Vermont
womantocrossthefinishlineinthe
woman to finish with a time of
VermontCityMarathon.
2:52:13. This was Severy’s first
time running the full marathon at VCM.
Malgeri is an Essex Jct., Vt. native with an impressive
performance history in cross country and track and field at
Essex High School and Dartmouth, where she received her
undergraduate degree.
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COLLEGE NEWS
’11
3Questions
forLeeRosen,Ph.D.,
Commencement2011
Outgoing UVM President Daniel Mark Fogel, Ph.D., conferred medical
degrees upon graduates in the College of Medicine’s Class of 2011 during
the May 22 commencement ceremony at Ira Allen Chapel. Speaker
Marcia Angell, M.D., senior lecturer in social medicine at Harvard
Medical School and the first woman editor-in-chief of the New England
Journal of Medicine, praised Vermont’s “far-sighted legislature” and other
supporters of the state’s single-payer health care bill.
Dean Rick Morin and Melinda Estes, M.D., president and CEO
of Fletcher Allen Health Care, provided a welcome and President Fogel
presented remarks prior to Angell’s address, and the awarding of medical
degrees upon the 111 members in the Class of 2011. Senior Associate
Dean of Research Ira Bernstein, M.D.,’82 recognized the 14 Graduate
College students earning M.S. and Ph.D. degrees.
Course Director for Professionalism,
Communication, and Reflection
Above,DeannaHoward(atright)andherdaughter
EricajoinJohnTampas,M.D.’54atcommencement.
Honoring an
Alumnus’s
Commitment
The UVM honorary degree awards at
commencement included one that combined
both joy and poignancy. Joy because it celebrated
the accomplishments and unswerving, generous
support of alumnus Thomas J. Sullivan, M.D.’66
(UVM ’62); poignancy because Sullivan’s death
in December had kept him from experiencing
the occasion. Sullivan’s life partner, Deanna
Howard, accepted the honor from UVM
President Daniel Mark Fogel during the College
of Medicine’s ceremony.
Howard’s daughter, Erica, who also was
present for the conferring, shared her thoughts
on the occasion in her web log a few days later:
“Over the weekend I witnessed how one
small act of generosity can help generations of
people to come. A wonderful doctor quietly gave
a gift to help medical students with their studies.
I wonder if they will think about the man behind
the name of their classroom as they pour over
their journals, textbooks, work in the simulation
center or listen to lectures? Whether it is a
>>
fleeting thought, or a harried glance toward the
plaque of the man behind the name as they rush
to find a seat before class…it is ok. It reminds me
that one small act — on any scale — can make
Above,themembersoftheClassof2011turnandapplaudtheirfamiliesatcommencement.
all the difference in the world.”
The cermony was streamed live over the Internet, and you can watch a recording of it online.
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Go to: uvm.edu/medicine/vtmedicine
M E D I C I N E
webXtra
View the 2011 College of Medicine Commencement online.
UVM Med Photo
Sullivan’s support of the College is
A clinical psychologist and member of the psychiatry and psychology faculty,
Lee Rosen, Ph.D., came to UVM in 1992 and is a supervising psychologist at
the Behavior Therapy and Psychotherapy Center. In 2005, he began working
with medical students as a preceptor in the Medical Student Learning
Group I course. In 2008 he became the course’s director, and oversaw the
course name change to Professionalism, Communication, and Reflection
(PCR). This important first-year class has taken on a new shape under
Rosen’s leadership.
1
3
Vm: What are the teaching goals
Vm: How does PCR function,
Vm: How is the College of medicine
of the PCR course?
and how does it fit into the rest
of the vermont Integrated
Curriculum (vIC)?
different in the way it approaches
teaching the components of PCR?
Lr: After years of trial and error, we’ve
found out that you don’t so much
teach professionalism; instead, you
facilitate a process for each student
that we hope manifests itself in the
features of professionalism. One of
the prime features of professionalism
in medicine is a relationship with
patients and the community that puts
the needs of others at the forefront; a
kind of honesty and trustworthiness
that comes along with accepting
responsibility for others. Nobody
works alone: the best doctors are
superb teammates. We also try to
teach the medical students when
to stop working, stop doing, and
take time to reflect about what’s
happening, and talk to each other
about the difficult parts of medicine.
It’s not something you can absorb
through a lecture, so we try to create
situations in the PCR groups that
naturally draw students to cultivate
these kinds of habits very early in
their experience — from the first
day of medical school on.
recognized through the naming of the main
lecture hall, and the new “legacy” memorial
in the Given Building (see page 39).
Photographer Name, Photographer Name
2
LeeRosen,Ph.D.
Photographer
Ed
Neuert
Name, Photographer Name
Lr: Students are put into small
groups, each facilitated by a faculty
leader (most are practicing M.D.s)
who is committed to the model.
Once a week for an hour and a half,
they have a chance to stop frantically
studying and learn to just talk with
each other. We help them create a
habit of making time to engage. This
conversation is guided; the curriculum
provides them with the topic. In the
second month of medical school, for
instance, they begin Gross Anatomy
lab, a truly singular experience that
puts them in very close proximity
with death. PCR gives them a place
to talk, process, and integrate that
experience, and includes a series of
guest sessions with different kinds
of patients and practitioners that are
integrated with the changing topics
of the curriculum. A new part of
PCR is shadowing: students shadow
nurses to see patients through the
lens of the nurse experience, and
they shadow spiritual care team
members, to see first-hand that
patients often need more than
strictly medical intervention.
Lr: Nearly every medical school
seems to have some course that’s
trying to foster the things we cover
in PCR. What sets our school apart
is the degree to which we focus on
the collaboration piece — asking the
med students to engage in dialogue
with their group. The amount of
time we ask the students to engage
in intimate dialogue with each other
is unusual and is a critical piece in
fostering professional self-awareness,
and awareness of others. This year
we’ve begun PCR2, which occurs
during the bridge sections of the
Clerkship level. We bring the students
back in small groups during the
Clerkship year and ask them to
talk about their experiences in the
clinical area. That’s how the premise
of PCR is extended into the clinical
years where it becomes really crucial.
It’s at this point that med students
have all kinds of experiences, some
of which are extremely difficult —
getting connected to patients who
die, for instance. We give them
an opportunity to share them in a
healthy way, and I think this puts
UVM way out front.
S U M M E R
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9
work & life,
|
by Joshua Brown photography by Mario Morgado
together
Two deparTmenT chairs follow relaTed paThways
“Wehaveacamaraderie,
it’sscientific,academic,
administrative.Ourcareers
havegOneinParallel....
andthebeautyOfit
isthateverydayat
nOOntimei’mgOingtO
haveasOundingbOard.”
M
ark Nelson and David Warshaw are headed for the jailhouse. Again.
They’ve landed there an awful lot over the last fifteen years. But they
don’t seem worried.
“This is spectacular,” Warshaw says, a boyish grin spreading over
his face as he looks around at a bluebird sky. “Geez, I’m overdressed.”
His black jacket and tights seem suited to an outlaw’s life, but his way of describing
himself gives away his real role as a molecular biophysicist: “Mark used to chase me,”
he says, as we jog away from campus, “but now I’m the rate-limiting one.”
You see, “Jailhouse” is one of their favorite runs, passing by the county
correctional facility about two miles into a five-mile course. They’ve been doing this
run together, or a selection of other local loops, almost every workday since 1995.
“Most people know not to schedule a meeting with us at noontime,” says
Warshaw, “and if you do, you have to come running with us.” Which is why I’m there,
trotting after them with my digital voice recorder. But apparently not too many others
can handle the brisk pace. Over the years, an assortment of other aerobically gifted
academics have joined the pack. “Plant biologists, mathematicians, historians, people
from our labs, sometimes there have been ten or more running,” says Warshaw.
—DavidM.Warshaw,Ph.D.,’78
10
V E R M O N T
M E D I C I N E
S U M M E R
2 0 1 1
11
an nih evaluaTion said "uvm is
The besT place in The world To
invesTigaTe cardiac muscle
mechanics aT The levels of
single molecules and cells."
From his office and lab in the Given Building, Mark Nelson, Ph.D., (right) guides more than 60 fellow researchers and graduate students, including
post-docs Kathryn Dunn, Ph.D., and Thomas Longden, Ph.D., in the College’s Department of Pharmacology, where he has been chair since 1996.
“In the nineties, we used to go with so
many other people that it would become
a footrace everyday,” says Warshaw, who
completed his Ph.D. in 1978 in the
department of Molecular Physiology and
Biophysics that he now chairs.
“Starting off was awful because I
hadn’t run in years,” says Nelson, thinking
back to those earlier days. “We’d only go
five, six miles but in the last two, the guys
were going full tilt. I was always watching
everybody run away from me,” he says.
But, even gasping for air, he didn’t lose his
career-long interest in the human circulatory
system: “I could watch Dave’s back
vasodilate because he has no fat! You could
see every blood vessel.”
And looking deep into the interplay
between blood vessels, muscles, and
12
V E R M O N T
M E D I C I N E
nerves — as they work in both brain and heart — is a shared interest that
draws Nelson, who chairs the Department of Pharmacology, and Warshaw
together into a strong friendship and intellectual partnership.
“We have a camaraderie,” says Warshaw, as we pick up speed down
Prospect Street, “it’s scientific, academic, administrative. Our careers have
gone in parallel. We’re both department chairs. And the beauty of it is that
everyday at noontime I’m going to have a sounding board.”
In other words, the run is more than just lunchtime exercise. It’s a
grant-writing workshop, staffing discussion, and science seminar. “We tell
the guys that we’re entering the cone of silence and anything they hear
from us that is repeated…” says Nelson, with a Hollywood-worthy pause
and growl, sounding more like a bandit than a University Distinguished
Professor, “…they’re going to be taken out.” He and Warshaw both laugh.
These days, a lot of the talk is about Program Project grants: they both
recently received five-year grants, for some $11 million each, from the
National Institutes of Health. The grants provide support for personnel and
operating costs in their labs, as well as others in their departments, and at
partnering institutions, to dig into the workings of involuntary muscles —
those muscles that work without conscious control, like the heart and the
smooth muscles that form the outer lining of many blood vessels.
Both projects have an eye toward understanding diseases that
come from failures and miscues in muscle cells.
“UVM is the best place in the world to investigate cardiac
muscle mechanics at the levels of single molecules and cells,”
wrote one reviewer on an NIH evaluation of Warshaw’s Program
Project application. Similarly, Nelson’s application received the
highest possible score from its reviewers, one of whom described
him as “a clear international leader” in his field. And the close
collaboration between the two scientists goes a fair distance in
explaining this success.
“Mark works on the regulation of smooth muscle contraction,”
Warshaw says, “whereas I work on the actual contraction itself.
I want to understand how muscle works as a motor.”
“My Program Project is basically on blood flow to the brain,”
says Nelson. More specifically, it focuses on the small arteries
deep inside the brain — so-called parenchymal arterioles — that
are responsible for the moment-to-moment health of the brain.
They can quickly increase or decrease blood flow to different parts
of the brain, depending on what work the brain is doing. Like, for instance,
running on an icy path.
We take a slippery corner and the two scientists slow down and look
at their sneakers. “Right now your motor cortex is working to coordinate
your movements,” says Nelson, “and when you look down the path your
visual cortex is working, processing visual information — it needs energy
immediately — so the blood vessels dilate and deliver blood in less than a
second to that part of the brain. So the question is: how does that happen?
We don’t really know.”
But it has a lot to do with a poorly understood biochemical
conversation going on in the arterioles deep inside your head. There, three
types of brain cells are in what Nelson calls “vascular crosstalk.” Lining the
inside of the blood vessel are endothelial cells. Wrapped around the outside
of the blood vessel are star-shaped cells called astrocytes that communicate
with the neurons. And sandwiched in between is a single layer of smooth
muscle cells — the motor for the opening and closing of the blood vessel.
The cellular conversation may get started something like this: as your
eye searches for that nasty bit of slippery ice, neurons in the visual centers
in your brain get busy which causes them to release the neurotransmitter
glutamate. This transmitter is picked up by an astrocyte that, in turn,
triggers a cascade of other signals that cause the smooth muscle cells to
S U M M E R
2 0 1 1
The nelson File
Mark T. Nelson, Ph.D.
Chair of Department of Pharmacology
June 1996–Present
Interim Chair, Department of Pharmacology
July 1995–May 1996
Professor of Pharmacology
July 1992–Present
Associate Professor of Pharmacology
July 1990–June 1992
Assistant Professor of Pharmacology
June 1986–June 1990
Assistant Professor, Department of Pharmacology,
University of Miami School of Medicine
September 1984–May 1985
Research Assistant Professor, Department of Physiology,
University of Maryland School of Medicine
November 1982–August 1984
Research Fellow of the Alexander von Humbolt Stiftung,
Fakultät für Biologie, Univeritåt Konstanz, West Germany
June 1981–October 1982
Research Fellow of the American Heart Association,
Department of Physiology, University of Maryland
April 1980–May 1981
National Institutes of Health Predoctoral Fellowship,
Washington University in St. Louis
1978–1980
E d u c at i o n
Washington University in St. Louis; Ph.D. in Neural
Sciences, 1980
Tufts University, Medford, Massachusetts; B.A. in
Mathematics and Biology, 1976
• Author of 180publishedpapers
• MERITAwardRecipient,National
Institutes of Health, 2008–2018
SElEctEd HonorS
University Distinguished Professor,
University of Vermont, 2009
Fellow of the Biophysical Society, 2009
Fellow of the American Heart Association and
the Council on Basic Cardiovascular Sciences, 2001
University Scholar, University of Vermont, 1996
Established Investigator of the American Heart
Association, 1985–1990
Louis N. Katz Research Prize for Young
Investigators, 1982
13
The warshaw File
David M. Warshaw, Ph.D.
Chair of the Department of Molecular
Physiology & Biophysics,
1995–Present
Professor of Molecular Physiology & Biophysics
1991–Present
Associate Professor of Molecular Physiology & Biophysics
1989–1991
Assistant Professor of Molecular Physiology & Biophysics
1983–1989
Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Massachusetts
Medical School
1978–1983
E d u c at i o n
University of Vermont, Burlington, Vermont;
Ph.D. in Physiology and Biophysics, 1978
Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey;
B.S., in Electrical Engineering, 1973
Aarhus University, Denmark; Postdoctorate studies
in Biophysics, 1978
• Author of more than 100articles
inpeer-reviewedjournals.
• Holder of fiveU.S.patents relating to
microscopy in molecular physiology.
• Author of Encyclopedia Britannica
entryon“SmoothMuscle:Muscles
andMuscleSystems.”
SElEctEd HonorS
Emil Bozler Distinguished Lecturer Award,
Ohio State University College of Medicine, 2010
Vermont Academy of Science & Engineering,
1999–Present
American Heart Association Fellow, 2001
Biophysical Society Senior Member
(member since 1979)
U.S. representative for MHLBI/U.S.–Russia Symposium
on Basic Research in CV and Pulmonary Diseases, 2001
University Scholar, University of Vermont, 1999
American Heart Association Established Investigatorship,
1988–1993
14
open the blood vessel. In flows more blood, feeding the neurons with
glucose and oxygen as they work to keep you from falling on your tailbone.
But that’s only part of the conversation and the outlines of it have been
understood for more than a hundred years. Much more recent research
shows that the traditional view that the neurons give the marching orders —
while the blood vessels and other surrounding structure, like astrocytes, wait
around like so many metabolic slaves and handmaids — misapprehends the
complex interplay between nervous and circulatory systems.
It’s a two-way conversation and Nelson’s research aims to better
understand how endothelium, astrocytes and smooth muscle also regulate
local blood flow in the brain — and communicate back to neurons. For
example, changes in blood flow, shear stress, and chemicals circulating
in the blood can translate into signals in the endothelial cells that trigger
smooth muscle contraction, and astrocytes, it seems, independently retain
information and communicate back to the neurons. In other words, more
than just the neurons have a say. “Everything has to work together with
extreme precision,” says Nelson, “or your nerve cells die.”
And the “information currency,” Nelson says, of these cells is
calcium. In health, precise control of blood flow to neurons in the brain
is orchestrated by a complex flow of calcium ions. The fundamental
hypothesis of Nelson’s Program Project grant is that diseases of the
brain’s blood vessels — like strokes — disrupt this calcium signaling, and
lead to greater dysfunction and secondary injuries due to altered blood
flow. For example, aneurysms and other kinds of strokes often lead to
hyperconstriction of arterioles following brain bleeding — and a host of
other rebounding problems in calcium signaling that lead to too much or
too little blood flow to portions of the brain.
Which is why Nelson’s Program Project grant — involving four major
research areas and dozens of scientists and technicians at UVM as well at
the University of Washington and Cornell University — are focused on
methods of seeing where and how calcium flows in and around the smooth
muscle and deep arteries of the brain. “The whole thing is about calcium,”
he says. “If we can understand what it’s doing, we’ll be able to come up
with some new ideas for treatments” of vascular diseases like strokes and
Alzheimer’s disease.
Nelson’s successful application to the NIH depended on long-standing
support for his research from the Totman Medical Research Fund in
Malone, N.Y. — and from hatching and refining ideas while running
with Warshaw. “We run and talk about it at the same time,” Nelson says,
“meanwhile, blood flow is being coordinated by the brain, even as we talk
about it.” Which, in my case, brings on a slightly vertiginous feeling of
awareness that the thinking brain is thinking about itself — but, as we
head over a snowbank and uphill toward Spear Street, I’m pleased that it’s
had enough sense not to let me slip on the ice.
a few weeks have passed, and dave warshaw and mark
nelson are headed for The jailhouse. again.
Today they have company. In addition to me tagging along, they’ve
brought Andrew Dunn, a Ph.D. student working with Warshaw, and
Kalev Freeman, M.D., Ph.D., an assistant professor and emergency room
physician who has been conducting research with Nelson’s guidance.
V E R M O N T
M E D I C I N E
Capturing the movement of heart “motors” on a molecular scale requires a special sound- and vibration-deadening laboratory room, where
David Warshaw, Ph.D.’78 works with graduate student Abbey Weith.
“aerobic exercise—like running—
is imporTanT To The healTh of The
brain,” says nelson, “There are
some sTudies of runners where
The blood flow paTTern looks like
someone 15 or 20 years younger.”
—MarkT.Nelson,Ph.D.
It’s an unseasonably cold day, with steel-gray skies hinting of snow.
A north wind has nothing to say about spring, but the runners banter
cheerfully as we head out of Patrick Gymnasium. Nelson looks at a fitness
chart that suggests target heart rates for training in relation to aging: “I’ve
been running at 165 which is not my max heart rate,” he says, pointing,
“but this chart says it’s my max heart rate.”
“You’d be dead according to this chart,” says Freeman.
“I would submit that this chart really shows that you’re twenty-five
years old,” says Warshaw.
Warshaw and Nelson are not young
men. They both have the lean, slightly fibrous
look of aging athletes. Their gaits, born of
many years of running, are efficient, not
elegant. Yet they sweep down the bike path
with deceptive speed, easily matching pace
with their younger companions. Nelson, 56,
is solid-framed, and looks like he might be
broader if he didn’t run a lot. Instead he is
muscular, and moves with a determined
stride. Warshaw, 60, is a more stereotypical
runner, wiry, fine featured, light on his feet,
with high cheek bones, a graying goatee and
hairline in deep retreat.
They know that their running keeps
many physiological functions ticking along
like a younger person’s.
“Aerobic exercise — like running — is
important to the health of the brain,” says
Nelson, “there are some studies of runners
where the blood flow pattern looks like
someone 15 or 20 years younger.” And
Nelson is keenly interested in a growing body
of literature that connects better cognitive
function with aerobic exercise. “The jury
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15
and all The while, The hearT keeps working, day and
nighT, for decades, wiThouT your inpuT, and wiThouT fail.
“Most people know not to schedule a meeting with us at noontime,” says David Warshaw, Ph.D.’78 (at left). “And if you do, you have to come
running with us.”
is still out, but it looks like exercise can
improve depression and may maintain
cognitive function as you age.”
But, like many dedicated athletes, for
him the reward is now. “I go running for
my mental health, how I feel today,” he
says, “ — not in hopes of staving off some
dementia years from now.” Not surprisingly,
while Nelson frames the benefits of exercise
in terms of the brain, Warshaw talks about
the utility of exercise for muscles.
“I’m a firm believer: use it or lose it.
That’s one of the unique things about the
muscles of the body: they’re designed to do
work,” says Warshaw. “Like any machine, if
16
V E R M O N T
M E D I C I N E
you don’t work them, they’ll rust away.”
“I’m a social runner,” he says, “The reward is the training and
camaraderie. With Mark, the conversation is as deep as it would be if we
were sitting around the table. You almost forget you’re running. If we’re
having a real conversation, I don’t even notice the hills.”
But Nelson did let himself rust. “I ran in high school, track and cross
country. In my twenties, I could go out and run five miles and it was no
big deal. Then in my thirties I didn’t do any exercise at all — zero,” he says,
“I was thirty-nine and I thought: I have to do something.” So he joined
Warshaw’s lunchtime crew for a session on the UVM indoor track. “At half
a mile I couldn’t believe it; I was practically dead.”
But with work, the skeletal muscles can keep going with remarkable
reliability — or come back again. “Every year from 40 to 50 I ran faster,”
says Nelson. He has a first-place Vermont City Marathon age group trophy
on his desk to prove it.
Except when it doesn’t. Sometimes the muscular machinery of the oung
fails tragically, spectacularly. Marathon runner Ryan Shay drops dead in
the middle of the U.S. Olympic trials. NBA star Reggie Lewis collapses on
the court and dies. Jesse Marunde, second in the World’s Strongest Man
contest, dies lifting weights. They all suffered from familial hypertrophic
cardiomyopathy, a disease caused by mutations in a selection of genes that
code for the proteins that make up the fibers of the heart muscle.
And it’s this genetic disease and others like it that Warshaw would
like to see cured — and that provide a window into one of his main areas
of research: the molecular machinery of the heart muscle.
In all muscles, two proteins work together to generate force and
motion: actin that twists into a kind of molecular cable — and myosin, the
body’s micro-lever that forms a thicker filament nearby. (“Nearby” in this
neighborhood being measured in nanometers.) Myosin, composed of a
pair of globular heads, translates biochemical energy into mechanical force
by grabbing onto the actin cable and hauling itself forward, sliding the
two filaments over each other. The result of many, many millions of these
filaments sliding back and forth in exquisite harmony: a beating heart.
In two previous NIH Program Project grants, Warshaw looked at
how mutations in the genes that code for both proteins lead to failures
in the heart’s molecular motor. To his surprise — and with high likelihood
to, as he writes, “create a paradigm shift in future treatments for this
fatal disease,” — these research efforts showed that mutations that lead
to familial hypertrophic cardiomyopathy don’t compromise the heart’s
power-generating capacity. Instead, they overpower it.
“It’s like putting a Ferrari engine in a VW chassis,” he says, “the
motor is ripping the heart apart and that is setting up a whole set of
responses secondary to that initial insult,” that helps explain why this
disease is the leading cause of sudden cardiac death in competitive athletes
in the United States.
But mutations in actin and myosin are not the only cause of familial
hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. Another, more obscure, heart muscle
protein — cardiac myosin binding protein-C — also is implicated. Only
discovered in 1971, it wasn’t until the 1990’s that mutations in this
protein were found to also lead to sudden death in young people with
cardiomyopathies.
Now Warshaw is leading a third Program Project grant — working on
three major research areas in collaboration with several teams of scientists at
UVM as well as colleagues at the Johns Hopkins University, the University
of Cincinnati, and the University of Massachusetts — to untangle exactly
what cardiac myosin binding protein-C does.
“It’s a mystery,” Warshaw says. The protein is known to bind with
myosin and actin, but its precise molecular structure, position within the
myosin filament, and function are largely unknown. Perhaps it works as a
tether to limit the myosin head from connecting with actin. Or maybe it
forms a strut that makes the neck of the myosin head rigid. “It’s a player,
but we don’t know what role,” says Warshaw.
Which is where the genetic mutations shed light. “I know what the
protein looks like, but what I’m trying to do is find out what the protein
does,” Warshaw says. “Mother Nature is
helping me pick apart the structure by
mutating it — and she lets me know which
are the critical functional parts of the
protein, because if you mutate it there —
people die.”
“wiTh mark, The
conversaTion is as
deep as iT would be if
we were siTTing around
The Table. you almosT
forgeT you're running.
if we're having a real
conversaTion, i don'T
even noTice The hills."
—DavidM.Warshaw,Ph.D.,’78
Using advanced technologies — like
laser traps “akin to the tractor beam in ‘Star
Trek,’” he says, to capture and manipulate
single actin molecules, and high-powered
microscopes with single-photon sensitivities
to see how they interact with various
proteins — Warshaw hopes to be able
to explain what cardiac myosin binding
protein-C does in a normal heart. And this,
in turn, may explain how genetic mutations
in it lead to disease.
The conversation falls silent as we
approach a low point on Spear Street where
it dips under the interstate and then begins
to climb sharply. Heading up, Nelson starts
to increase speed, knees driving. Warshaw
turns to the rest of us. “This is what usually
happens,” he says with a shake of the head.
“I don’t know why, but Mark always charges
the hill. It never fails.” Then he takes off
too, and they climb to the top together. VM
S U M M E R
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17
|
by Sona iyengar photography by raj chawla
VIRTUAL
MEDICINE
The new Clinical Simulation Laboratory brings together different groups
of learners, all focused on honing skills and improving the care of patients.
Vermont Air National Guard Lt. Col. David Jones, M.D.,
uses a mannequin in the UVM Clinical Simulation Laboratory.
18
V E R M O N T
M E D I C I N E
t’s a Friday morning in spring and 15 third-year medical
students are gathered in the Task Trainer Room at the Clinical
Simulation Laboratory in UVM’s Rowell Building. They sit
around blue-draped lab tables on which are displayed several
artificial limbs — a section of arm bent at the elbow; a hand
and wrist model, facing palm up; a knee joint with a fluid
bag hanging above. Over the next hour, the students —
who are in the middle of their six-week Family Medicine
rotation — practice inserting needles into the different artificial
joints, part of a lesson on arthrocentesis and joint injection.
S U M M E R
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19
the siMulation
laboratory —
At
A
GlAnce
The new laboratory includes:
(At left, from left) Medical students Bridget
Collins ’13 and Khine Win ’13 work through a
mock code simulation as Adam Bensimhon ’13
and resident Gabriela Meyer, M.D., observe.
(Above) Chief Resident Zechariah Gardner,
M.D.’05, at center, reviews the experience in
a debriefing after the session. (Below) Nancy
Lemieux, M.S.N., R.N., (center) instructs UVM
nursing students in a Sim Lab room that exactly
mimics a standard hospital suite.
The training is one of many
activities typically underway at the
busy Simulation Laboratory (or “Sim
Lab,” as it is most commonly called)
which opened its doors in March
under Director of Clinical Simulation
Michael Ricci, M.D., and Director
of Operations Cate Nicholas, M.S.,
P.A., Ed.D. A routine week includes
everything from nursing students doing
a clinical scenario with a high-fidelity
mannequin, to OB/Gyn residents
practicing laparoscopic procedures, to
local EMTs performing intubations for
their paramedic training.
The laboratory is a collaborative
effort of the College of Medicine,
the College of Nursing and Health
Sciences, and Fletcher Allen
Health Care, with support from
the Vermont Air National Guard
and is a centralized hub that brings
together many different groups and
constituencies, with the ultimate goal
of improving quality and safety of care.
This broad group of users,
combined with the lab’s integration
of standardized patients into
simulations, distinguishes the UVM
20
V E R M O N T
M E D I C I N E
Sim Lab from its counterparts
throughout the country.
Creating learning
experienCes
Medical simulation today has evolved
from two main developments.
The first involved the growth of
standardized patient programs,
first pioneered at the University of
Southern California in the 1960s.
The second came from
technology that fulfilled the student’s
need to practice dealing with abnormal
findings, such as abnormal heart
sounds, or to learn a skill, such as
inserting a chest tube. Computerbased models, mannequins, and
virtual reality programs began
appearing in the early 1970s. That
technology has advanced to the
complex computerized mannequins of
today, which can simulate nearly every
human physical condition.
praCtiCe
Makes perfeCt
Internal Medicine Chief Resident
Zechariah Gardner, M.D.’05, has seen
the impact simulation trainings can
have on physicians’ skills. The recent
nationwide focus on reducing medical
errors has brought renewed attention
to simulation as a way to improve
physicians’ skills and patient safety.
Gardner and Co-Chief Resident Mia
Hockett, M.D.’07, led a group of
residents every other week this year in
mock code scenarios with mannequins,
assisted by staff from the Sim Lab.
✚ A
dultandchildmannequin
simulators thatdemonstrate
physicalresponses
✚ Six in-patient hospital rooms,
eachequippedwithvideocameras
forrecordingandcommunicating,
andtwelveout-patientexamrooms
“Residents are expected to run
most of the code situations in the
hospital,” Gardner says. “It really helps
them to have the opportunity to put
themselves through those steps in a
somewhat less stressful environment —
so that when you actually get into a real
code situation, things will come more
naturally because you’ve practiced it.”
Fletcher Allen PACU nurse Molly
Raferty, R.N., knows this firsthand.
Raferty found herself in the midst of
a respiratory arrest in the Fanny Allen
Campus PACU, minutes after returning
from her simulation training on the
very same topic.
“I just jumped out and I was
ready to help,” says Raferty, recalling
the incident. “I was so confident,
and I knew what I was doing. I went
over and I helped anesthesia intubate
the patient. It felt really great.” The
✚ A multi-purpose roomthatcan
beasimulatedOperatingRoom,
EmergencyRoomorIntensive
CareUnit
✚ A professional skills/task
training labwithbody-partmodels
forlearninghowtodrawblood,
woundcare,lumbarpuncture,joint
injection,insertionofcentrallines,
insertionofIVlines,arterialblood
draw,chesttubeinsertion,and
airwaymanagement
✚ A virtual reality labforpracticing
surgicalskills
✚ Debrief rooms
✚ Standardized Patients —
communitymemberswhohave
beenspeciallytrainedtoaccurately
portrayspecificrolesorconditions
✚ U
VMhascreateda dedicated fund
forpeoplewhowishtosupport
theSimLab’swork.Formore
informationcall(802)656-0802.
(At top) Assistant Professor of Pediatrics Robert Pfister, M.D. (at right) observes a team from the Fletcher
Allen Health Care Neonatal Intensive Care Unit as they practice procedures on a fully functioning infant
mannequin. Shortly afterward (above) the group gathers in the Sim Lab debriefing area to review what
they’ve learned from the activity. (At left) Michael Ricci, M.D., and Cate Nicholas, M.S., P.A., Ed.D., at the
Sim Lab opening in March.
S U M M E R
2 0 1 1
21
anatoMy of
a Mannequin
TheSimulationLaboratory’snewhigh-fidelity
simulatorsproduceawiderangeofsymptoms
andconditions,andenablestudentsto
practicemultipleprocedures—from
intubationtoIVinsertiontomorecomplicated
surgicaltechniques.Thesimulatorsalso
providereal-timefeedbacktostudents,to
helpmeasurehowtheyperformed.Along
withmanyotherfunctions,thehigh-fidelity
mannequinscandothefollowing:
✚ T
alk(aninstructorcansimulatea
patient’svoicewirelessly)
✚ Simulate spontaneous breathing
✚ Show bilateral and unilateral chest
rise and fall
✚ Create normal and abnormal
breath sounds
✚ H
ave a seizure or convulsion(students
cancontrolthedegreeoftheseincidents)
✚ B
leed from both arterial and
venous vessels
✚ Secrete fluid from the eyes
✚ S
how physiological reactions to drugs.
Thesimulatorcanregistertheamount,
speedandtypeofdrugautomatically.
✚ R
espond to CPR compressionswith
palpablepulses,bloodpressurewave
formsandECGartifacts.
✚ Blink at slow, normal and fast rates;
wink;openeyespartially;andshow
pupillaryresponsestolight.
22
type of simulation practice Raferty
did — deliberate practice with
meaningful feedback — makes a
huge difference, Nicholas says. She
cites the “4/10” rule: it takes four
hours a day of practice for 10 years to
become an expert at something, and
continued practice to maintain skills
or improve. Over the years, there’s
been a greater understanding of how
people learn and the fact that clinical
skills education that relies on time and
chance isn’t adequate.
“The benefit of simulation is that
we can provide whatever you need,
whenever you need it, tailored to the
learner,” Nicholas says. “So, if every
medical student needs to know how
to manage a 23-year-old woman with
a migraine with aura, I can give you
twelve 23-year-olds with migraine
with aura on Tuesday at 2:30 p.m.”
Hayato Coutu, M.D.’11, did
an intensive rotation as a “sim-tern,”
or a Sim Lab intern this spring. He
notes that there are many skills, such
as lumbar punctures or placing chest
tubes, that medical students never got a
chance to perform in the past that they
will now be able to do on a simulator.
“If you have a simulation with a
mannequin it’s not going to complain
about your poor technique, it’s not
going to ask you how many times have
you done this before. You can, in a
very low-pressure environment, learn.”
Eric Zellman, Senior Simulation
Specialist at the lab, puts the benefit
succinctly: “We help build a muscle
memory of success that can then be
used in the clinic.”
The need to practice and
learn advanced skills is critically
important for nurses as well, says
Sue Greenfield, Ph.D., R.N.,
associate professor of nursing.
This is due to the increasing acuity
of patients in the hospital, and the
need for nurses to be able to perform
more complex tasks. That’s where
simulation comes in. “They really need
to be able to practice clinical decisionmaking, critical thinking in a safe
V E R M O N T
M E D I C I N E
(At left) Clinical Simulation Center staff members monitor
paramedic training of (from left in background) Becky Alemy
of Colchester Rescue, John Christman of the South Burlington
Fire Department, and Clement Roger of Amcare Ambulance.
(Above) Vt. Air National Guard Sr. Master Sgt. Kathleen
Corcoran, left, and Staff Sgt. Amanda Betts, right, train for
battlefield care under Lt. Col. David Jones, M.D., center.
environment where they can make a
mistake,” Greenfield says.
Nursing students — as well as
practicing nurses at Fletcher Allen
— use the Sim Lab for trainings.
Recently, a group of nursing students
performed different clinical scenarios
with a high-fidelity mannequin.
The 67-year-old male “patient”
had been admitted to the hospital
with complications of COPD. Two
students were assigned to be the
primary and secondary nurses; two
others played family members. One
student approached the patient,
introduced herself, checked his
pulse and took his vital signs. The
mannequin began coughing, while
the other two students — playing
his wife and daughter — became
increasingly demanding. “How long
is this going to take?” the wife said.
“I don’t think he can breathe.” The
student playing the nurse learned
how much she could do on her own,
and when a respiratory therapist was
needed to assist.
The Sim Lab provides
opportunities to work in
collaborations that parallel real-life
medical care, says Michael Ricci,
M.D., a vascular surgeon and director
of clinical simulation at UVM/
Fletcher Allen.
“We don’t treat patients in
‘silos.’ When we treat an emergency
situation, there are physicians and
nurses and students and other support
people that are in the room taking
care of that patient,” Ricci says. “This
collaborative effort in the Simulation
Lab gives us the opportunity to
practice in the same way we actually
care for patients.”
a CoMMunity
resourCe
Clinical simulation not only benefits
residents, students, and nurses, but
also community emergency medical
technicians (EMTs) and Vermont
National Guard members. (Ricci,
who also serves as a colonel in
the Vermont Air National Guard,
spearheaded the Guard’s involvement
with the laboratory.)
Becky Alemy, an EMT with
Colchester Rescue Squad, and fellow
classmates in a UVM paramedic
training program come to the Sim Lab
every other week for day-long sessions.
The group practices skills such as
intubations, tracheotomies and
bleeding control — along with many
other procedures and techniques.
“It’s really great to have the
simulation lab as a resource,” Alemy
says. “It gives us a chance to practice
some of the more intricate skills.”
Staff from the Simulation Center
also have taken simulators on the road,
bringing them to the Vermont National
Guard in Colchester to run exercises
with Guard medical personnel.
“Many of the medical techs
don’t have the opportunity to practice
patient care during peacetime,” says
Sr. Master Sgt. Kathleen Corcoran, an
EMT and senior health technician with
the Guard. “Doing clinical simulation
helps them hone these skills.”
“It’s not only the mannequin that
creates the optimal learning experience, it
is everything else that goes on around it,”
Nicholas says.
That environment can include
situations that appear very life-like. This is
especially true in hybrid simulations, where
standardized patients work together with
the simulators. “We have a standardized
patient who’s the mom of a five-year-old
plastic simulator, and you would think that
mannequin is alive, the way she interacts
with him,” Nicholas says.
Catharine Muskus, M.S., R.N.,
clinical assistant professor of nursing, has
seen students responding to the simulators
in very real ways. “You watch them. They
put a hand on the patient’s hand. They get
into it. It’s not just a piece of
plastic anymore.” VM
a taste of real life
As clinical simulation continues to
evolve at the University of Vermont
and throughout the country, educators
emphasize that simulation trainings
must include feedback and
debriefing for students
to really learn.
S U M M E R
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23
In the midst of the information
revolution, peer-reviewed publications
remain key to the vetting and
dissemination of new biomedical
knowledge. And many College
of Medicine faculty members
assist in that task.
The
¶
Journal Club
by Jennifer Nachbur
A
cartoon from a 1995 New Yorker
magazine depicts a physician sitting
at his desk in a traditional, diplomadecorated office, speaking to a patient.
The caption reads: “Mr. Wilkins, I
believe your condition is going to get us
both into the Journal of the American Medical Association.”
Even after more than 15 years, the cartoon’s message isn’t
dated; physicians and scientists continue to seek high-impact
journal publication to disseminate new knowledge. In the
process, they further their careers and, more important,
they further the incremental improvement of understanding
diseases and offering more successful treatments to patients
worldwide. Unlike mainstream commercial publishing,
which is heavily concentrated in a few major cities, scientific
journals are headquartered throughout the country, and draw
their contributions from any of the nation’s 135 medical
schools and many independent clinics and institutes. At the
UVM College of Medicine, faculty members from across
a range of departments support the editorial process that
keeps the peer-reviewed journal the dominant mechanism
for the vetting and sharing of new medical information.
24
V E R M O N T
M E D I C I N E
The scientific journal has been around since
the very beginnings of the magazine as a medium.
Prior to the mid-seventeenth century, physicians
shared information through informal networks of
correspondence. With the simultaneous appearance
in the mid-1600s of both scientific societies and the
newspaper, the stage was set for the appearance of
the first steps in formal scientific publication, with
the French Le Journal des Sçavans, and the English
Philosophical Transaction of the Royal Society of
London both premiering in 1665. More than a century
later, in 1797, The Medical Repository became the first
scientific journal published in the United States.
It was printed in New York City, as its title page
stated, for “the Faculty of Physic of Columbia
College.” Throughout the nineteenth century the
numbers of medical journals grew at a rapid rate,
as did the concept of having submissions reviewed
by peers in specific fields before publication. Today,
between 4,500 and 5,500 biomedical journals are
published worldwide, and a count by the journal
Science Watch showed that nearly three million
Ed Neuert
25
The Dance of a
scientific papers were published by American investigators
in the ten years between 1996 and 2006, of which a hefty
portion were biomedical in theme.
With the rise of Internet publishing, smart phone
and tablet applications, blogs, and online social media,
information sharing among scientists has become more
fluid and accessible. However, the hard copy, peer-reviewed
journal is still the “gold standard” of publishing, even as
new technology has changed the way many have accessed
its information. The task of editing a journal — and
determining article acceptances — remains a rewarding
experience. Several College of Medicine faculty members
have become intimately familiar with the challenges and
rewards of serving as an editor-in-chief — including
Lewis First, M.D., at Pediatrics, Jeffrey Klein, M.D., at
RadioGraphics, Naomi Fukagawa, M.D., Ph.D., at Nutrition
Reviews, and Burton Sobel, M.D., at Coronary Artery Disease;
in addition, several faculty serve in the important role of
associate editor, including Jason Bates, Ph.D., at the Journal
of Applied Physiology, Mary Cushman, M.D.’89 at the Journal
of Thrombosis and Haemostasis, James Hudziak, M.D., at
the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent
Psychiatry, and David Schneider, M.D., at Coronary Artery
Disease. Here, we profile just a sampling of these editors.
¶
Lewis First, M.D.
Editor, Pediatrics
At UVM, no one knows the burden of shouldering an
editorial role on top of research, teaching, and patient care
responsibilities better than Jerold Lucey M.D., professor
emeritus of pediatrics. For 34 years, Lucey sat at the editorial
helm of Pediatrics, the monthly journal of the American
Academy of Pediatrics. His successor, Lewis First, M.D.,
professor and chair of pediatrics, became editor-in-chief
in January 2009, adding the challenges of keeping a major
journal up-to-date and constantly adapting to reflect changes
in the field, while maintaining his duties as department
chair, chief of pediatrics and physician leader at Vermont
Children’s Hospital at Fletcher Allen Health Care, as well
as his active service within the community.
Pediatrics operates out of several offices — one at UVM,
where First, Associate Editors Jeffrey Horbar, M.D., and
William Raszka, M.D., and Editorial Associates Martha
Andreas and Deana Stoppler work; another in Houston,
Texas, for Deputy Editor Virginia Moyer, M.D., Associate
Editor Gordon Schutze, M.D., and Assistant Editor Claudia
Kozinetz, M.D.; and at the AAP headquarters in Elk Grove,
Illinois, occupied by the journal’s senior managing editor,
managing editor, and an editorial associate.
“We receive more than 4,000 manuscripts from
the U.S. and around the world each year,” says First, who
credits Lucey with elevating Pediatrics to its current status as
26
V E R M O N T
M E D I C I N E
Manuscript
■
■
■
■
Pediatrics Editor-in-Chief Lewis First, M.D., during a “triage call.”
the most highly referenced pediatrics journal in the world,
producing multiple translated editions and developing
the journal’s online edition. “Jerry was a master at editing,
article selection, judgment, and recognizing what readers
need,” says First. “He is a great mentor for me.”
First describes Pediatrics as a team effort. He and
Deputy Editor Moyer speak almost daily and each week,
they have a “triage” call to determine which of the 100
newly reviewed articles on hand will be accepted. Horbar
oversees the dozens of letters to the editor received each
month. Raszka covers the office’s day-to-day operations
when First is out, and has gained notoriety among Pediatrics
readers as “the filler king” — he writes short one- to twoparagraph current news-related feature items that fill space
at the end of articles in the hard-copy edition of the journal.
First believes the complexity of editorial responsibility
nowadays precludes him from being sole decision maker.
He holds a monthly conference call with his ten executive
board members regarding policies, controversial papers,
and the governance of the journal. And twice a year, he
holds meetings with his 40-member editorial board, which
is made up of pediatricians from all over the U.S. Two to
three times each year, First convenes a meeting of other
pediatric journal editors, who represent such publications as
Clinical Pediatrics, Journal of Pediatrics, Pediatrics Research
and Adolescent Medicine. Collectively, these leaders share
Jeffrey Klein, M.D.
Editor, RadioGraphics
A. Bradley Soule and John P.
Tampas Green and Gold Professor
of Radiology Jeffrey Klein, M.D.,
Lewis First, M.D., Editor-in-Chief, Pediatrics, notes the series of steps that
recently embarked on a six-month
all manuscripts go through at his journal before final publication.
transition period in preparation
for assuming the editorship of
Article is submitted. Pediatrics receives
■ Editorial staff invites reviews (which
RadioGraphics, the bi-monthly
about 15 to 20 submissions daily.
usually are returned in two to four weeks).
journal of the Radiological Society
Using specially-designed computer
■ Once two reviews are in, triage call takes
of North America (RSNA).
software, the article is checked for copyright,
place. It takes two to three hours to go
authorship, plagiarism and is further
over 100 articles and assign them to a
Klein will be the journal’s third
checked for any conflict-of-interest issues.
status category: Reject, Accept, Accept
editor when, in January 2012, he
with Revision, and “Reject/Revise.”
Goes to First for consideration. He reviews
succeeds University of Maryland
the article and then triages as many
■ Letters go out to authors with reviews.
radiologist William Olmsted,
as one-third of the submissions to the
■ During each work day, First receives
deputy editor.
M.D., who served as the journal’s
two to three articles that were triaged
editor for 21 years.
If the submission stays at UVM for review,
that have been revised. He decides if
First must assign two to three reviewers
they have addressed the points needed
RadioGraphics is unique
for the article. It usually takes five to
and either sends the revised articles to
in that it is almost exclusively
ten invitations to elicit two to three
reviewers or back to authors.
educational. The journal’s articles
acceptances. To identify potential reviewers,
■ Once accepted, it takes two to
First relies on his 23-member editorial
are selected from accepted
three months for articles to appear
board, a database, personal knowledge,
educational exhibits at RSNA’s
in the journal.
and literature searches to find experts.
Annual Meeting, which takes place
in Chicago in late November each
year. The editorial team identifies
and brainstorm about such issues as conflict of interest
exhibits with high-quality content and images that will translate
policies, pre-registration of clinical trials, and how to
well into a journal article, then invites authors to convert their
consider industrial pharmaceutical studies.
exhibits into a journal article format for peer review for inclusion
Since becoming editor-in-chief, First and his team have
in one of the six issues for that year. A seventh issue of the
also revamped the look of the journal and increased the use
journal, published in October, focuses on a specific topic.
of online technology and social media to make the journal
Klein, who previously served
more user-friendly. They also created a dynamic website
as the editor of the Journal of
with a blog, authored by First (and aptly titled “First Read”)
Thoracic Imaging, is a practicing
that highlights new articles. In 2010, Pediatrics received two
radiologist, educator, and
awards from Association Media & Publishing — a gold
researcher. “It’s difficult to leave
award in the journals category for “most improved,” and a
clinical practice at any point,”
silver award for design excellence.
he says. Klein estimates he will
Another recent accomplishment is the reduction of time
dedicate about 70 percent of his
from acceptance of a paper to its publication from almost
time to editing, leaving about
a year to two to three months. Letters to the Editor — or
a third to care for patients and
e-letters — are posted online, usually within a day.
interpret studies. Two associate
With an aim to be as accessible as possible, First
editors share the workload,
devotes the second half of his work-day to addressing
and are responsible for quality
authors’ concerns and complaints, walking contributors
improvement and informatics,
through revisions. “It’s exciting to call people all over the
editing regular articles in each
world and help them write better manuscripts,” says First.
issue. In addition, the journal has
A combination of a tight page budget and sharp uptick
a managing editor at the RSNA
in the number of submitted manuscripts means Pediatrics
headquarters in Oak Brook, Ill., an
cannot publish all the submissions worthy of publication.
editorial associate in the Vermont
“That’s a good indication that there is so much good work
office, and a 25-member editorial
being done in our field,” he says.
board support the effort.
Jeffrey Klein, M.D.
Raj Chawla, UVM Med Photo
S U M M E R
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27
Francklyn subscribes
to the “golden rule” of
peer review: he reviews
just as he wishes to be
reviewed. On his fitfor-publication criteria
checklist is evidence of
interesting and important
work, especially novel
discoveries, and sufficient
data to prove the study’s
case. Determining what
would make it a better
paper is also part of the
equation for Francklyn.
Christopher Francklyn, Ph.D.
“If someone discovers
something important
in the field, I want to get it out there and get people excited,”
he says.
His willingness to help promising scientists get their
Christopher Francklyn, Ph.D.
work published has resulted in another editorial role as a
JBC Editorial Board
regular contributor and editorial board member of Principal
Investigator Advisor (PIA) and NIH & NSF Funding Advisor.
Some journals, like Pediatrics, publish monthly; others are
This year-old opportunity landed in Francklyn’s lap after he
bi-monthly, like RadioGraphics, but many are published
posted a comment in response to a column about reviewing
weekly. Professor of Biochemistry Christopher Francklyn,
that appeared in The Scientist, a New York-based magazine
Ph.D., who is nearing the end of a five-year term on the
that covers the latest developments in the life sciences.
editorial board of The Journal of Biological Chemistry (JBC),
Leslie Norins, M.D., Ph.D., publisher of PIA, read the
a weekly publication focused on research that seeks to gain
online comment and called him to be a contributor. “I figured
an understanding of the molecular and cellular basis of
I would pass it along,
biological processes.
sharing more broadly
Francklyn possesses a distinct
those things I’d share
opinion about the gravity of
with a junior colleague
editorial responsibility, influenced
down the hall,”
by a meeting early in his career with
Francklyn says.
the late Sir John Maddox, former
“When you are
editor of the journal Nature. “You
judged as a scientist,
are a chief quality control officer
where you publish makes
— deciding what does and doesn’t
a difference,” he says. He
go in the journal — responsible for
considers issues like how
standards of science and resolving
to measure impact and
conflicts,” he emphasizes, adding
standards that determine
that “editors have to have the
innovation some of the
experienced-based judgment to
most critical discussions
know a paper’s good enough and the
—ChristopherFrancklyn,Ph.D.
in the journal field. “You
balance to not push for too much.”
are a ‘custodian’ of your
He puts this philosophy into
field, so it’s subjective judgment; you bring your own personal
practice as a reviewer, a duty that entails evaluating about
ethics to the table,” he admits. In the academic world, says
30 papers per year, with an average two to three papers “in
Francklyn, “people put lots of time into reviewing that’s never
the queue” at all times. Each article has two reviewers and a
compensated in the strictest sense. But all people involved in
third is added if the first two don’t reach agreement. Editors
the process of producing a journal know that the work pays
can operate at their discretion, such as recommending a
dividends for those who contribute today, and those who
third reviewer to get an opinion from a specific expert to
glean knowledge far into the future.” VM
solidify an opinion.
¶
28
V E R M O N T
“You are a chief quality
control officer —
deciding what does
and doesn’t go in the
journal — responsible for
standards of science and
resolving conflicts…”
M E D I C I N E
Raj Chawla, UVM Med Photo
30
Class Notes
31
Development News
33
Obituaries
40
Reunion ’11
42
HALL A
On rare occasions, says Klein,
RadioGraphics will publish an article not
solicited from an Annual Meeting exhibit, if
that topic isn’t addressed by an exhibit. “We
try to match topics with what readers want
and need,” says Klein, adding that members
are solicited for a top ten list of what’s “hot”
to determine topics.
While currently in the process of
expanding from print to electronic —
only two articles per issue are available
online — Klein says RadioGraphics is widely
considered the best educational journal in
radiology. “It’s a real challenge to decide
how the journal maintains its identity and
evolves into its electronic version, and I have
to shepherd it into that realm successfully,”
Klein says.
President’s Corner
In 1905, when the College of Medicine completed its third home at the corner
of Prospect and Pearl streets in Burlington, the main lecture room was named
Hall A. For the next 63 years, students such as the members of the Class of
1955 (shown above listening to the legendary Prof. Ellsworth Amidon, M.D.’32)
spent much of their time in the hall. Today’s students take in lectures in the
Sullivan Classroom or in the recently renovated Carpenter Auditorium, but
the College’s educational mission of inspiring a lifetime of learning in the
service of the patient remains the same. The Hall A magazine section is a
meeting place in print for all former students of the College of Medicine.
Bottom: Raj Chawla, UVM Med Photo
S U M M E R
2 0 1 1
29
PRESIDENT’S CORNER
HALL A
University of Vermont
College of Medicine
development &
alumni relations office
One of the privileges of being the MAA president is that I
get to attend reunion whether it’s my class year or not. Of
course, as a local physician, I am on the medical campus
every day, so the steady process of change doesn’t register
with me the way it does with my friends and fellow
alumni who live and practice elsewhere. For me, one of
the nicest parts of attending reunion is seeing the changes and improvements at
the College of Medicine through the eyes of others.
For anyone who’s been away five or ten years or more, the physical changes
on campus are remarkable. Ten years ago we hadn’t yet opened the Health
Science Research Facility or the Medical Education Center. Five years ago there
was no Courtyard at Given complex. And alumni who attended this year’s
reunion in June saw the finishing touches being placed on the new second-floor
connector that now joins the Given Building with UVM’s Clinical Simulation
Laboratory that opened in Rowell Hall this spring. Throughout reunion people
remarked on the scale of the physical changes they saw on campus, all evidence
of the College’s continuous expansion and improvement of its physical plant
in order to better fulfill its missions in education, research, patient care, and
community service.
What hasn’t changed, of course, is the character and dedication of the
people we educate. That was underscored for me at the dinner the night before
reunion for the seven recipients of this year’s Medical Alumni Association Awards.
Here were physicians from across the past 35 years of classes who were not just
practicing medicine, but living it fully, and improving health care throughout
their communities in the process. All of the awardees noted that, in the work
that led to their awards, they were only doing what they had been taught here in
Vermont — to view caring for their patients as a personal mission.
New facilities are certainly vital, but I’m happy to note that some important
things haven’t changed: that very personal, caring, Vermont way of approaching
medicine is just as alive now as in the days when you were a student here. Our
alumni clearly feel this, and it’s a measure of that feeling that this year’s financial
support from reunion classes hit a new record at more than $2.8 million. As
Wayne Pasanen, M.D.’71 noted at this reunion’s Nostalgia Hour, memories of
what the College has done for us in the past become truly meaningful when we
translate that feeling into action in the present for today’s medical students.
Interim Director, Development
& Alumni Relations/
Director of Annual Giving
Sarah Keblin
Director, Major Gifts
Manon O’Connor
Director, Medical Alumni Relations
Cristin Gildea
Director, Administration & Planning
Ginger Lubkowitz
Senior Development Analyst
Travis Morrison
Upcoming Events
If you have news to share, please contact your class agent or the
Development & Alumni Relations office at [email protected]
or (802) 656-4014. If your email address has changed, please send it
to [email protected].
September 28, 2011
Frymoyer Scholars Reception
UVM Campus — Hoehl Gallery
1943
Francis Arnold Caccavo
(M.D. Dec. 1943)
51 Thibault Parkway
Burlington, VT 05401
(802) 862-3841
[email protected]
Assistants
Jane Aspinall
James Gilbert
Carleton R. Haines
University of Vermont
Medical Alumni
Association
Harry M. Rowe
alumni executive committee
Officers (Two-Year Terms)
President
James C. Hebert, M.D.’77 (2010–2012)
President-Elect
Mark Pasanen, M.D.’92 (2010–2012)
Treasurer
Paul B. Stanilonis, M.D.’65 (2010–2012)
Secretary
H. James Wallace III, M.D.’88 (2010–2012)
(M.D. Dec. 1943)
88 Mountain View Road
Williston, VT 05495
(802) 878-3115
(M.D. March 1943)
65 Main Street
P.O. Box 755
Wells River, VT 05081
(802) 757-2325
[email protected]
R E u N I O N
’1 2
Please email [email protected]
if you’d like to serve as 1947 class agent.
Thomas Holcomb would agree that
sometimes it’s best when nothing big is
happening. He writes to report: “No news
is good news!”
1948
S. James Baum
1790 Fairfield Beach Road
Fairfield, CT 06430
(203) 255-1013
[email protected]
1949
Wilton W. Covey
Joseph C. Foley
October 15, 2011
Reception at American Academy of Pediatrics
National Conference
Boston, Mass.
October 22, 2011
Family Day
UVM Campus
October 22, 2011
Fall Alumni Executive Committee Meeting
UVM Campus
October 24, 2011
Reception at American College of Surgeons
97th Annual Clinical Congress
San Francisco, Calif.
November 7, 2011
Reception at Association of American
Medical Colleges
Denver, Colorado
November 29, 2011
6:30–8:30 p.m.
Reception at Radiological Society of North America
Chicago, Ill.
357 Weybridge Street
Middlebury, VT 05753
(802) 388-1555
32 Fairmount Street
Burlington, VT 05401
(802) 862-0040
[email protected]
1945
Edward S. Sherwood
February 17, 2012
White Coat Ceremony
Ira Allen Chapel
24 Worthley Road
Topsham, VT 05076
(802) 439-5816
[email protected]
March 15, 2012
Match Day Eve, 4th year Dinner
Sheraton Hotel & Conference Center
E. M. Simmons reports: “Retired in
Nov. 1991 but volunteered at clinic
for homeless for 17 years. Now I am
permanently retired.”
March 16, 2012
Noon
Match Day Ceremony
UVM Campus — Hoehl Gallery
1950
May 20, 2012
2:00 p.m.
Graduation
Ira Allen Chapel
Robert E. O’Brien
414 Thayer Beach Road
Colchester, VT 05446
(802) 862-0394
[email protected]
Members-At-Large (6-Year Terms):
H. Gordon Page
Mark Allegretta, Ph.D.’90 (2010–2016)
Ellen Andrews, M.D.’75 (2010–2016)
Don P. Chan, M.D.’76 (2009–2015)
Carleton R. Haines, M.D.’43 (2006–2012)
Leslie S. Kerzner, M.D.’95 (2009–2015)
Naomi R. Leeds, M.D.’00, M.P.H. (2010–2016)
Frederick Mandell, M.D.’64 (2009–2015)
Jacqueline A. Noonan, M.D.’54 (2006–2012)
Suzanne R. Parker, M.D.’73 (2010–2016)
Betsy Sussman, M.D.’81 (2007–2012)
9 East Terrace
South Burlington, VT 05403
(802) 864-7086
Albert G. Mackay, M.D.’32 and
1947
1944
Executive Secretary
John Tampas, M.D.’54 (ongoing)
Jim Hebert, M.D.’77
M.D. Class Notes
1946
Please email [email protected]
if you’d like to serve as 1946 class agent.
Howard MacDougall writes: “Still
kicking but not as high! Wish I could
have been at the reunion but had a
grandson’s graduation and family reunion
on that date.”
H. Gordon Page, M.D.’45 Professor of Surgery
Simon Dorfman
8256 Nice Way
Sarasota, FL 34238
(941) 926-8126
1951
Spring 2012
Alumni Reception in Danbury, Conn.
Details TBA
Edward W. Jenkins
7460 South Pittsburg Ave.
Tulsa, OK 74136
(918) 492-7960
[email protected]
FOR uPDATES ON EvENTS SEE:
www.med.uvm.edu/alumni
Send Us Your Stories!
30
V E R M O N T
M E D I C I N E
If you have an idea for something that should
be covered in Vermont Medicine, please email:
[email protected].
UVM Med Photo
S U M M E R
2 0 1 1
31
Development News
HALL A
Burlington’s Waldron Family Gives Back
50
th Reunion
JUNE 2011
1961
CLASS OF
1952
1956
’1 2
M.D. CLASS NOTES
R E u N I O N
Arthur Kunin
226 Windmill Bay Road
Shelburne, VT 05482
(802) 985-5410
[email protected]
Arthur Perelman
165 Woodland Ave.
Summit, NJ 07901
(908) 277-6454
R E u N I O N
Ira H. Gessner
1306 Northwest 31st Street
Gainesville, FL 32605
(352) 378-1820
[email protected]
1957
R E u N I O N
’1 2
Larry Coletti
34 Gulliver Circle
Norwich, CT 06360
(860) 887-1450
1953
2431 North Orchard
Chicago, IL 60614
(773) 472-3432
[email protected]
If you’d like to help plan for our 50th reunion,
please email [email protected].
1963
John J. Murray
17 Fairview Road
Old Bennington, VT 05201
(802) 442-4224
1958
Bruce MacKay writes: “Grandson
Peter Ames Goodhue
Stamford Gynecology, P.C.
70 Mill River Street
Stamford, CT 06902
(203) 359-3340
H. Alan Walker
1959
Jay E. Selcow
1954
John E. Mazuzan Jr.
366 South Cove Road
Burlington, VT 05401
(802) 864-5039
[email protected]
Leslie Gaelen reports: “Merrily we are
rolling along in retirement. Greetings to
all my classmates.”
1955
27 Reservoir Road
Bloomfield, CT 06002
(860) 243-1359
[email protected]
1960
Marvin A. Nierenberg
15 West 81st Street
New York, NY 10024
(212) 874-6484
[email protected]
Melvyn H. Wolk
Marshall G. London
102 Summit Street
Burlington, VT 05401
(802) 864-4927
[email protected]
Clinton Street
P.O. Box 772
Waverly, PA 18471
(570) 563-2215
[email protected]
M E D I C I N E
229 Champlain Drive
Plattsburgh, NY 12901
(518) 561-8991
1964
Anthony P. Belmont
211 Youngs Point Road
Wiscasset, ME 04578
(207) 882-6228
[email protected]
1965
A gift by the members of the Division of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery (above)
is recognized with the dedication of four student lockers at the College of Medicine.
Otolaryngologists Support Medical Education
The members of the Division of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck
Surgery in the Department of Surgery at the UVM College of Medicine
interact with medical students every day in their clinical rounds.
This summer, the division as a whole decided to formally recognize
their deep commitment to medical education with a group gift to the
College of Medicine Fund, as an investment in its efforts to support
medical students. The division’s $10,000 gift is commemorated with
four named student lockers in the Given Building.
Yaffe Honored with MAA Challenge Scholarship
The late Sumner J. Yaffe, M.D., who passed away in August, has had
a distinguished career since his graduation with the College of
Medicine’s Class of 1954. This year his wife, Susanne H. Goldstein,
honored him by establishing a perpetually endowed scholarship
for medical students at UVM. The $100,000 Sumner J. Yaffe,
M.D.’54 Scholarship was established under the Medical Alumni
Association’s matching-fund challenge scholarship program, and
will assist a deserving future physician meet the cost of today’s
medical education. Dr. Yaffe was for 20 years the director of the
Center for Research for Mothers and Children at the National
Institute of Child Health and Human Development, where he
championed the cause of increased pharmacological research into
the causes of childhood illnesses.
HSRF Conference Room Honors
1948 Alumnus
George A. Little
97 Quechee Road
Hartland, VT 05048
(802) 436-2138
[email protected]
Joseph H. Vargas III
574 US Route 4 East
Rutland, VT 05701
(802) 775-4671
[email protected]
Bob Keimowitz writes: “I’m still seeing
1961
patients a couple of days a week and I
do some teaching. I love Washington —
come visit!”
Wilfred L. Fortin
Fred Lippert has “Developed a suturing
17 Chapman Street
Nashua, NH 03060
(603) 882-6202
[email protected]
V E R M O N T
’1 2
Ruth Andrea Seeler
P.O. Box 607
Colchester, VT 05446
(802) 865-9390
[email protected]
Richard N. Fabricius
Ian Mackay joined his sister Allison
and is completing his freshman year at
Middlebury College, where he was a
standout on the swim team earning,
All-American honors.”
32
1962
When Donna and Marty Waldron’s 21 year-old son, Sean,
passed away from acute myelogenous leukemia in 1992, the
couple wanted to do something meaningful to support those
who cared for Sean, and to help other cancer patients as well.
They started a fund in Sean’s memory to support bone marrow
transplant research at the Vermont Cancer Center (VCC), under
the direction of Associate Professor of Medicine Barbara Grant,
M.D., who had been Sean’s oncologist. The Waldrons had
developed a close relationship with Dr. Grant during Sean’s
treatment in the last months of his life, as he fought valiantly
against the disease. The Waldrons greatly admired Grant’s
humanistic approach and dedication to cancer research. “It
was really easy for me and, I think, everybody in our family
to feel an emotional connection to her and feel that she was
really pulling for Sean,” Donna says.
The Waldron family and their friends have collectively
given more than $30,000 to this special fund and have
generously supported additional research at the VCC. This
spring, the Waldrons expanded their longtime support
by establishing the Sean Patrick Waldron Lymphoma and
Hematologic Malignancies Fund with a generous gift of
$10,000. The new fund supports innovative, life-saving
lymphoma and leukemia research as well as cancer education
programs around Vermont.
pad for use in teaching and hope to show
it to UVM SIM Lab. Worked well in our
own Ortho Dept & USU Medical School.”
UVM Med Photo
Marty and Donna Waldron
Raj Chawla, UVM Med Photo; bottom right, Ed Neuert
Throughout his many years of practice as a
dermatologist, John Goodman, M.D.’48 has
always remembered the place where he
became a physician. This year, Dr. Goodman
and his wife, Judy, took advantage of the
College of Medicine’s “lasting legacy” naming
The Health Science Research
program, and made a gift in support of the
Facility conference room recently
Dean’s discretionary fund at the College.
named in honor of Judith and
The J. John Goodman, M.D.’48 and Judith
John Goodman, M.D.’48.
Goodman Conference Room on the second
floor of the Health Science Research Facility now commemorates
the Goodmans’ generosity. Dr. Goodman stated his reasons for his
philanthropy in terms any grateful alumnus could understand:
“The College gave me the wherewithal for a successful career in
medicine, and we would like to memorialize our thanks for future
generations of physicians.”
S U M M E R
2 0 1 1
33
1966
HALL A
Robert George Sellig
31 Overlook Drive
Queensbury, NY 12804
(518) 793-7914
[email protected]
45
G. Millard Simmons
3165 Grass Marsh Drive
Mount Pleasant, SC 29466
[email protected]
th Reunion
JUNE 2011
CLASS OF
1966
M.D. CLASS NOTES
Earl F. Nielsen is “Still practicing
nephrology in Morristown, N.J. I am
president of our hospital’s medical staff.
My son, also a UVM Graduate, is program
director of the Department of Medicine
at the Cleveland Clinic, and my daughter
is a nurse practitioner in pediatrics.
We have fun with our six grandchildren,
ages 1 to 22.”
1967
R E u N I O N
’1 2
John F. Dick II
P.O. Box 60
Salisbury, VT 05769
(802) 352-6625
If you’d like to help plan for our 45th reunion,
please email [email protected].
Benjamin Kropsky writes: “I retired
Todd Gladstone
in December 2007 as medical director
of the Jewish Home Lifecare Systems
Bronx Division after 19 years at this
position. I do some part-time medical
disability evaluations and I am enjoying
spending time with my children and
grandchildren and wife. We continue
living in Teaneck, N.J.”
[email protected]
1968
1969
David Jay Keller
Susan Pitman Lowenthal
4 Deer Run
Mendon, VT 05701
(802) 773-2620
[email protected]
Timothy John Terrien
14 Deerfield Road
South Burlington, VT 05403
(802) 862-8395
Nelson H. Sturgis “Still working 36
hours per week at Sumter Family Health
Center in South Carolina. My wife
is working part time as a hospitalist
at Tuomey Hospital. I have four
grandchildren. Probably will cut back
or retire next year.”
200 Kennedy Drive
Torrington, CT 06790
(860) 597-8996
[email protected]
1970
Raymond Joseph Anton
Continuing Medical Education
1521 General Knox Road
Russell, MA 01071
(413) 568-8659
[email protected]
2011 Conference Schedule
John F. Beamis, Jr.
1288 Kapiolani, Apt. 1605
Honolulu, HI 96814
Primary Care Sports Medicine
September 28–30, 2011
Sheraton Hotel & Conference Center
Burlington, Vt.
Health Care Acquired Infections
October 28, 2011
Sheraton Hotel & Conference Center
Burlington, Vt.
21st Annual Imaging Seminar
September 30–October 2, 2011
Stoweflake Resort, Stowe, Vt.
Bridging the Divide
November 10, 2011
Sheraton Hotel & Conference Center,
Burlington, Vt.
Annual Northern New England
Critical Care Conference
October 20–22, 2011
Stoweflake Resort, Stowe, Vt.
FOR INFORMATION CONTACT:
Northern New England
Neurological Society Annual Meeting
Neurology for the Non-Neurologist
October 20–22, 2011
Portland Regency Hotel, Portland, Maine
university of Vermont
Continuing Medical Education
128 Lakeside Avenue Suite 100
Burlington, VT 05405
(802) 656-2292
http://cme.uvm.edu
Tony Barri (Bazzocchi) reports: “I am
happily in my 36th year of practicing
ophthalmology in Groton, Conn., and
planning to continue for several more
years. I have a son, James, who is 17;
a daughter, Caroline, who is 20 and in
the nursing program at UConn; and
a daughter who is 39, who is about to
become a school principal. Marsha, to
whom I was married in med school, has
had a distinguished 30-year career in
nursing at the Westerly (R.I.) Hospital.”
1971
Wayne E. Pasanen
117 Osgood Street
North Andover, MA 01845
(978) 681-9393
[email protected]
Robert J. Englund has recently been
awarded Mastership by the American
College of Physicians. After 35 years
as a general internist with DartmouthHitchcock in Keene, New Hampshire, he
retired in July. As an accomplished wood
turner, and as a juried artist with the
League of New Hampshire Craftsmen, his
works are displayed at their retail galleries
as well as the Sunapee (N.H.) Fair.
Walter Jacobs is “Practicing more law
and less medicine. My son, Travis, is also
an attorney and daughter, Alexandria, just
graduated law school.”
1972
Ellen Andrews
R E u N I O N
F. Farrell Collins Jr.
V E R M O N T
M E D I C I N E
1979
1975
Sarah Ann McCarty
195 Midland Road
Pinehurst, NC 28374
(910) 295-6464
[email protected]
1976
If you’d like to help plan for our 40th reunion,
please email [email protected].
Cardiac Associates of New Hampshire
Suite 103
246 Pleasant Street
Concord, NH 03301
(603) 224-6070
[email protected]
Richard Houle writes: “I’m working
in both Florida and Rutland Vermont.
I miss Vermont, think I’ll become
a snow-bird.”
1973
James M. Betts
715 Harbor Road
Alameda, CA 94502
(510) 523-1920
[email protected]
Philip L. Cohen
483 Lakewood Drive
Winter Park, FL 32789
(407) 628-0221
[email protected]
Sue Shubert Buckwald reports that
she “Retired in January of 2010 and
time is flying by. Traveling is our
biggest pastime.”
Joseph Lacy has been appointed as
the chairman of the Board of Directors
of the Palo Alto Medical Foundation.
PAFMG is a 1000-physician
multi-specialty medical group serving
Northern California.
1974
Douglas M. Eddy
5 Tanbark Road
Windham, NH 03087
(603) 434-2164
[email protected]
Cajsa Schumacher
78 Euclid Avenue
Albany, NY 12203
[email protected]
[email protected]
Dennis Plante
[email protected]
1980
205 Page Road
Pinehurst, NC 28374
(910) 295-2429
College of Medicine alumni receive a special 10% discount
on all uVM Continuing Medical Education conferences.
34
’1 2
Tom Myers is currently vice president
of Medical Sciences Oncology, Global
Clinical Development, EMD Serono, Inc.
undergrad at the University of Oklahoma.
My wife and I attended the Texas Rangers
opening weekend against the Red Sox
and even though I had on my Red Sox
hat, I only had one beer poured onto me.
I look forward to attending our 40th
Reunion in 2018.”
Richard Nicholas Hubbell
Don P. Chan
80 Summit Street
Burlington, VT 05401
(802) 862-5551
[email protected]
1977
R E u N I O N
’1 2
Mark A. Popovsky
22 Nauset Road
Sharon, MA 02067
(781) 784-8824
[email protected]
James C. Hebert
583 Stockbridge Road
Charlotte, VT 05445
[email protected]
If you’d like to help plan for our 35th reunion,
please email [email protected].
1978
40
th Reunion
JUNE 2011
CLASS OF
Paul McLane Costello
Essex Pediatrics, Ltd.
89 Main Street
Essex Junction, VT 05452
(802) 879-6556
[email protected]
Michael Hermans writes: “I am still
toiling away in academic urology with
the Scott and White Clinic and the Texas
A&M University College of Medicine. I
have had a couple of papers published on
prostate cancer — teamed up with one
of my radiation oncology colleagues. My
latest 360 degree evaluation said I was
intelligent, reliable and ‘quirky.’ My three
sons are in graduate school at Savannah
College of Art & Design, Georgia Tech,
and Dartmouth. My daughter is an
35
th Reunion
JUNE 2011
CLASS OF
UVM Med Photo
1971
1976
S U M M E R
2 0 1 1
35
HALL A
30
JUNE 2011
M.D. CLASS NOTES
CLASS OF
1981
JUNE 2011
CLASS OF
1991
1988
Bruce Leavitt, MD ’81
H. James Wallace III
312 Four Sisters Road
South Burlington, VT 05403
[email protected]
416 Martel Lane
St. George, VT 05495
(802) 872-8533
[email protected]
Betsy Sussman, MD ’81
Lawrence I. Wolk
325 Dorset Heights
South Burlington, VT 05403
[email protected]
5724 South Nome Street
Greenwood Village, CO 80111
(303) 771-1289
[email protected]
Louis Polish, MD ’81
11 Vale Drive
South Burlington, VT 05403
[email protected]
Jacques Larochelle reports: “I continue
to practice full time emergency medicine
in Bangor, Maine. Our youngest son is
graduating from high school this year.
Next year our youngest of three sons will
be attending Bowdoin College. Our older
three sons will be third- and fourth- year
students at UVM College of Medicine.”
’1 2
R E u N I O N
David and Sally Murdock
[email protected]
If you’d like to help plan for our 30th reunion,
please email [email protected].
Ronald D. Blatt is “Happily living in
New Canaan, Conn. Three children,
ages 2, 4, and 8. Hello to all!”
Email: [email protected]
1983
Diane M. Georgeson
2 Ravine Parkway
Oneonta, NY 13820
(607) 433-1620
[email protected]
Anne Marie Massucco
15 Cedar Ledge Road
West Hartford, CT 06107
(860) 521-6120
[email protected]
V E R M O N T
M E D I C I N E
25
Michèle Gèrin-Lajoie reports that “I
th Reunion
have moved my practice (delivering babies,
natural child health) to Montreal while the
kids are finishing school. Still have my big
garden in Waterville, Vt. You are welcome
to visit anytime. See you in 2013!”
JUNE 2011
CLASS OF
1986
1984
Richard C. Shumway
34 Coventry Lane
Avon, CT 06001
(860) 673-6629
[email protected]
1985
Vito Imbasciani
[email protected]
Suzy Frisch
Jennifer McNiff writes: “I received a
wonderful honor from the American
Society of Dermatopathology this year:
the Walter R. Nickel Award for Excellence
in Teaching of Dermatopathology. I am
also president-elect of this society, and
will become president at the annual
meeting in Seattle this October.”
1987
R E u N I O N
’1 2
[email protected]
J. Michael Jaeger
Don Weinberg writes that “After 20 years
Grove Road
Charlottesville, VA 22901
[email protected]
of primary care at the Thomas Chittenden
Health Center, Williston. Vt., I left
to become a hospitalist at the Central
Vermont Medical Center. It’s been a very
good change for me but has also been a
big challenge. My two boys are at UVM
and Merle is doing well.”
1986
Darrell Edward White
Jeffrey Rosenblatt
11 McQuillans Hill Drive
Gorham, ME 04038
[email protected]
Helene Goldsman
15
th Reunion
1981
1982
36
20
th Reunion
1989
Peter M. Nalin
13216 Griffin Run
Carmel, IN 46033
(317) 962-6656
[email protected]
th Reunion
JUNE 2011
CLASS OF
1992
R E u N I O N
1995
’1 2
Mark Eliot Pasanen
1234 Spear Street
South Burlington, VT 05403
(802) 865-3281
[email protected]
If you’d like to help plan for our 20th reunion,
please email [email protected].
Jennifer Woodson writes “We have
left Europe and returned to California.
Peter is stationed at the naval hospital
in San Diego. He spent some time in
Afghanistan and now we are adjusting to
life in Southern California. I am thinking
about going back to work… after all, I am
the ‘college fund!’”
1993
Joanne Taplin Romeyn
Brad Watson
Barbara Angelika Dill
Russell Bradley would love to
1991
John Dewey
15 Eagle Street
Cooperstown, NY 13326
[email protected]
105 Pamunkey Turn
Yorktown, VA 23693
[email protected]
29123 Lincoln Road
Bay Village, OH 44140
(440) 892-4681
[email protected]
UVM Med Photo
252 Autumn Hill Road
South Burlington, VT 05403
(802) 863-4902
[email protected]
Brian Levine writes: “Once again I
will be editing the Emergency Medicine
Residents Association Antibiotic Guide
for the fourth time. This book is sent to all
emergency medicine residents nationally.”
1996
Anne Marie Valente
66 Winchester St., Apt. 503
Brookline, MA 02446
[email protected]
Patricia Ann King
832 South Prospect Street
Burlington, VT 05401
(802) 862-7705
[email protected]
[email protected]
hear from his old classmates:
“Call Me! 801-486-3420.”
1994
Holliday Kane Rayfield
P.O. Box 819
Waitsfield, VT 05673
(802) 496-5667
[email protected]
Wendy Whitcomb reports: “My family
and I moved to Winter Park, Fla., from
Tampa about two years ago. I joined a
busy five-doctor OB/GYN group and
he is a Pediatric Radiologist at Florida
Hospital. Our daughter Sabrina is 9 now
and loves her new school and friends.”
If you’d like to help plan for our 25th reunion,
please email [email protected].
Allyson Miller Bolduc
22 Patterson Lane
Durham, CT 06422
(860) 349-6941
1990
120 Hazel Court
Norwood, NJ 07648
(201) 767-7778
[email protected]
1996
Volunteering in El Salvador
Paul Stanilonis, M.D.’65 (at right, right) and his
wife, Peg, now retired to Austin, Texas, traveled
to El Salvador for several weeks earlier this year
to join Global Village Habitat for Humanity as a
medical officer for volunteers. They looked after
three building teams from the U.S., one of which
was from Vergennes, Vt. The Stanilonises’ “tour
of duty” lasted from February to early April.
S U M M E R
2 0 1 1
37
1997
’1 2
R E u N I O N
Julie Smail
HALL A
390 Bridge St.
South Hamilton, MA 01982
(978) 468-1943
[email protected]
If you’d like to help plan for our 15th reunion,
please email [email protected].
Jon and Amy Martin reports that
M.D. CLASS NOTES
“Both of us have finished our military
commitment and have settle in Avon,
Conn. Our two girls are growing.
Life is Good!”
1998
Halleh Akbarnia
2011 Prairie Street
Glenview, IL 60025
(847) 998-0507
[email protected]
1999
11 Autumn Lane
Stratham, NH 03885
(603) 929-7555
[email protected]
Deanne Dixon Haag
4215 Pond Road
Sheldon, VT 05483
(802) 524-7528
Stacey Bean writes that her children
“Caitlyn, 8 years old, and Parker, 6, and I
are doing well. We are flying to Utah this
summer where a room in the new Park
City hospital Emergency Department is
being dedicated to Dr. Darren Bean. We
continue to fundraise and give to the Red
Cross for CCR training in memory of
Darren and his legacy.”
10
JUNE 2011
CLASS OF
2001
[email protected]
Jay Edmond Allard
Maureen C. Sarle
USNH Yokosuka
PSC 475 Box 1757
FPO, AP 96350
[email protected]
[email protected]
Chris Staats is “Looking forward to
Michael Jim Lee
Jim Guzzo reports that “Things going
[email protected]
seeing folks at reunion this year!”
71 Essex Lane
Irvine, CA 92620
[email protected]
305 Third St. #204
Cambridge, MA 02142
[email protected]
2001
Ladan Farhoomand
1481 Regatta Road
Carlsbad, CA 92009
(626) 201-1998
[email protected]
38
well in Baltimore. After finishing general
surgery residency I completed my vascular
and endovascular surgery fellowship at
Johns Hopkins Hospital, and recently
joined a private practice group here in
town. Finally get to play some golf again.
Have two great boys — Dominic turns
five, and Nicholas three this summer.
Looking forward to getting married this
September!”
Mary Ready “Returned to my National
Joel W. Keenan
Greenwich Hospital
Five Perryridge Road
Greenwich, CT 06830
[email protected]
JoAn Louise Monaco
1034 Fifth Avenue
New York, NY 10028
(212) 988-7788
[email protected]
’1 2
15 Meadow Lane
Danville, PA 17821
(570) 275-4681
[email protected]
Kerry Lee Landry
(919) 732-9876
[email protected]
Health Service Corp. site after two years
away. Still delivering babies! Recently took
on hospice medical director too. Busy,
Busy. Love my job and the NEK. Kids all
grown now. Best to all!”
2003
Richard J. Parent
[email protected]
Rich Parent held a great gathering of
San Francisco alumni this past spring.
2006
William C. Eward
101 Wood Valley Corner
Durham, NC 27713
[email protected]
Deborah Rabinowitz Abrams
58 Chelsea Place
Williston, VT 05495
[email protected]
Sarah Blair reports that “After
completing residency in Salt Lake City,
I have returned to Vermont and I am
practicing at Copley Hospital.”
2007
R E u N I O N
If you’d like to help plan for our 5th reunion,
please email [email protected].
Allison Collen
[email protected]
33 Clearwater Circle
Shelburne, VT 05482
(802) 985-1131
[email protected]
Scot Millay
Scott Goodrich
Naval Hospital Sigonella in Sicily, Italy.
Enjoying full scope family medicine.
The ‘Labor Deck’ keeps us on our toes.
Looking to head back west once my tour
in Italy is complete.”
James and Sara Horstmann write:
“Life is good for us in Albany, NY.
We had our third child last May —
William James. He joins Charlie and
Anna (5 and 4). James is enjoying being
PICU attending and Sara is a pediatric
hospitalist. We occasionally make it
back to Burlington — always with
fond memories.”
[email protected]
Sara Pope is “Currently stationed at
Anu Vijay is living and practicing in
Washington and writes: “Say ‘hi’ if
you are ever in Seattle!”
M E D I C I N E
Ian M. Crooks writes: “I was recently
awarded an Internal Research Award
for my work as primary investigator
for MMPI-2-RF and Video-EEG:
improved diagnostic evaluation of
non-epileptic seizures of psychogenic
origin in a hospital setting. In
addition to having served as chief
resident for the UT SouthwesternAustin Psychiatric Residency Program
for 2010–2011, I have been chosen
for the chief role again for my final
year of residency 2011–2012. I
continue to enjoy being part of the
vibrant community of Austin, Texas
with my wife, Cindy, and over the
past several years we have enjoyed
trips to Germany, Switzerland, Italy,
Costa Rico, Mexico, California and
New England. I have many fond
memories of Burlington and miss the
friends I have made while studying
and learning there. I am on Facebook
and I encourage emails from my
former colleagues.”
2009
Rebecca Brakeley
[email protected]
Kate Murray Mitchell
[email protected]
Campbell Stewart
[email protected]
2010
Michael Alarian
[email protected]
Pei Chen
[email protected]
Heidi Schumacher
[email protected]
2006
V E R M O N T
’1 2
Omar Khan
309 Barben Avenue
Watertown, NY 13601
[email protected]
7649 Briarcrest Lane
Orange, CA 92869
[email protected]
2209 Albany Street
Durham, NC 27705
[email protected]
Julie A. Alosi
2000
Alyssa Wittenberg
Ashley Zucker
2005
Mary O’Leary Ready
Jonathan Vinh Mai
CLASS OF
21 Lindenwood Drive
South Burlington, VT 05403
[email protected]
back to Boston for a surgical critical
care fellowship.”
th Reunion
If you’d like to help plan for our 10th reunion,
please email [email protected].
JUNE 2011
Mark Hunter
[email protected]
Nicole Piscatelli is “Relocating
R E u N I O N
5
Jillian S. Sullivan
[email protected]
2002
th Reunion
2008
Steven D. Lefebvre
Naomi R. Leeds
Everett Jonathan Lamm
2004
UVM Med Photo
Remembering the Legacy
A new permanent display was added in the Given
Building this summer — a special commemoration of
the ties that bind physicians from different generations
who encounter each other during years of practice at
the College of Medicine.
“A Continuing Legacy” honors three physicians
who are, as its inscription states, “bound together
through mentorship, respect, and devotion to the
practice and teaching of their specialty…. They
personify the culture of giving that distinguishes the
University of Vermont College of Medicine.”
Featured on the display are:
A. Bradley Soule, M.D.’28, whose career spanned
some of the most important years in the history of his
alma mater and his profession. He earned his bachelor
of arts degree from the University in 1925, and his M.D.
in 1928. He was a member of the University’s faculty
for nearly 54 years, and helped found the Medical
Alumni Association at UVM.
John Tampas, M.D.’54, who has participated in the
life of College of Medicine, and the furtherance of his
profession, for more than six decades. He joined the
faculty in 1962, where he practiced with his friend and
mentor A. Bradley Soule Jr., M.D.’28. He was made a full
professor in 1970, the same year he was named chair
of radiology, a post he held for more than a quarter of
a century before stepping down in 1996. He has loyally
served the UVM Medical Alumni Association
for decades.
Thomas Sullivan, M.D.’66, who typified the “culture
of giving back” at the College. Dr. Sullivan counted Drs.
Soule and Tampas as his key mentors. He practiced in
Vermont and New Hampshire, and was an associate
professor of radiology at Dartmouth Medical School.
After his retirement in 2004, Dr. Sullivan was a
generous supporter of the College of Medicine’s efforts,
in recognition of which the school’s main lecture hall
was named for him in 2009, one year before his death.
S U M M E R
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Obituaries
OBITuARIES
HALL A
Leonard J. Bisaccia, M.D.’43
Dr. Bisaccia died April 30, 2011 at St.
Martha’s Manor, Downingtown, Penn.
He was born in New Britain, Conn.
in 1918. Upon graduation from the
College of Medeicine, he served in the
U.S. Army in World War II and in the
Korean Conflict, and received several
decorations. He continued on active duty
in the U.S. Army, retiring in 1971 after
30 years of service. Dr. Bisaccia was then
appointed director of radiology of the
Veteran’s Administration Central Office in
Washington, D.C., from which he retired
in 1983. He continued his professional
career as a radiologist for Kaiser
Permanente from 1987 to 2004.
Jeffrey Scott Caron, M.D.’93
Dr. Caron died unexpectedly of natural
causes in his Fort Lauderdale home on
March 6, 2011. He was 44 years old.
He grew up in Thomaston, Maine. He
graduated as salutatorian of the Georges
Valley High School, class of 1984. He
became a junior firefighter before he had
his driver’s license He later completed his
emergency medical technician (EMT)
training, becoming the youngest EMT
on his local crew. Before coming to the
College of Medicine he graduated from
Bates College with a major in biology.
He completed a one-year emergency
medical residency at Orlando Regional
Medical Center in Orlando, Fla., and
later a two-year family medicine residency
in Memphis, Tenn. Upon relocating to
Ft. Lauderdale, he initially worked in the
ER of a local hospital; however, he missed
the connection with his patients to which
he had become accustomed during his
family practice work. He joined a private
practice, Las Olas, and later purchased
the business, ultimately moving and
renaming the practice Urgent Care of
Wilton Manors.
O. L. Dugan, M.D.’42
Dr. Dugan died June 3, 2011, at Our
Lady of the Meadows in Richford, Vt.
He was 95 years old. He was born in
Lore City, Ohio; he moved to Vermont
at the age of five and later graduated
from Newport High School. He received
a degree in electrical engineering from
Wentworth Institute of Technology before
attending the College of Medicine. In the
fall of 1943, as a Lieutenant in the U.S.
Army Medical Corps, he was dispatched
to the South Pacific, where he attained
the rank of Major upon his discharge. He
practiced country medicine in Swanton
for 33 years and was known for his $7
house calls, and his trademark whistle.
Edward A. Keenan Jr., M.D.’44
Dr. Keenan died on April 18, 2011, in the
Green Mountain Nursing Home in Essex
Junction, Vt., at age 90. He graduated
from Edmunds High School and UVM
before coming to the College of Medicine.
Following internship and residency, he
began his medical practice in Brandon
and later moved to Essex Junction. He
retired in 1987, and volunteering became
an even more important part of his life.
Dr. Keenan served in both the Army and
Navy in World War II and the Navy at
Pearl Harbor in the Korean War.
S. Victor Savino, M.D.’64
Dr. Savino died on March 10, 2011, in
Raton, N.M., from natural causes. He
was born in Northampton, Mass., in
1931. He graduated from St. Michael’s
High School in Northampton before
earning a degree in chemistry from the
University of Massachusetts at Amherst.
His college career was interrupted by two
years of military service in the U.S. Army.
Following his honorable discharge from
the service, he worked as a laboratory
technologist at Cooley Dickinson Hospital
in Northampton and was later chief
laboratory technologist at Franklin County
Hospital in Greenfield, Mass. In 1960,
accompanied by his wife and two young
sons, he began medical school at the
University of Vermont. He then completed
both his internship and residency in
Burlington. In 1968, he started his
anatomic and clinical pathology practice
at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Albuquerque,
N.M., and shortly thereafter became the
chief pathologist for the hospital system.
In 1972, he founded S.E.D. Medical
Laboratories, an outpatient medical
reference laboratory that still serves its
medical community today.
Faculty
Washington
Winn, M.D.
Dr. Winn died
on July 3, 2011
at the age of 70.
He was born in
Richmond, Va.,
and attended St.
Christopher’s
School and
later graduated
magna cum laude from Yale University.
He attended medical school at the
University of Virginia and later received
his MBA from the University of Vermont.
Dr. Winn and his family moved to
Vermont in 1977, where he joined the
Department of Pathology. He was named
a full Professor of Pathology in 1984.
During his tenure, he was director of the
Clinical Microbiology Laboratories, a
teacher, advisor and mentor. As a member
of the College of American Pathology,
he traveled to many places in the United
States and abroad advising laboratories on
quality methods and standards. A major
accomplishment was his contribution
of chapters to and later as editor of
Koneman’s Color Atlas and Textbook of
Diagnostic Pathology. He was an active
member of St. Timothy Anglican Mission
and a board member of the Burlington
Emergency Shelter.
We note the passing in August of Gino
Dente, M.D.’41, and Sumner Yaffe,
M.D.’54. Full obituaries for Drs. Dente
and Yaffe will appear in the next issue.
the place where your medical career began.
Recall the good times. Renew old friendships.
Reconnect with faculty. Revisit
June 8–10
2012
1942, ’47, ’52, ’57, ’62,
’67, ’72, ’77 ’82, ’87, ’92, ’97, ’02 & ’07!
attention classes of
The UVM Medical Alumni Association invites you and your family to plan now
to join your classmates for Reunion 2012 — June 8–10, 2012. Come back to
Burlington and the UVM campus, your home during medical school. You may
have lost contact with your classmates and former teachers, but Reunion will
give you the chance to reconnect, rekindle old friendships, check out favorite
places, talk with faculty, meet the medical students of today, and experience
first-hand the growth and evolution of your medical alma mater.
For more information, call the UVM Medical
Development & Alumni Relations Office at
(802) 656-4014 or email [email protected]
events include: Medical Education Today Session • Tours of the College, including the new Clinical Simulation Laboratory •
Alumni Awards and Reception • Medical Alumni Picnic • Nostalgia Hour • Class Receptions
40
V E R M O N T
M E D I C I N E
www.med.uvm.edu/alumni
F A L L
2 0 1 1
41
2011
r e u n i o n
6
2
1
Back
[
]
in Style
3
4
5
7
8
For hundreds of college of Medicine alumni and their
families, the second weekend in June was time to
return to the place where their medical careers began.
recipients, gave a presentation to today’s medical students on his recent Doctors Without Borders experiences
Medical Reunion 2011 started off Thursday night with a special dinner for Medical Alumni Association
totaled nearly $3 million. Saturday was a packed day, with tours of the campus and the new clinical simulation laboratory
award recipients at Burlington Country Club
followed by lunch with friends and family 11
9
1
2
3
. Friday night was time for
the “Legends and Leaders” celebration of achievements in Davis Auditorium, where the members of the 50th reunion class received their gold
medallions
5
6
, and the awardees, including A. Bradley Soule Award recipient Marga Sproul, M.D.’76
was presented to Dean Morin
. Bruce Leavitt, M.D.’81, one of this year’s award
10
4
11
7
8
, were formally recognized. A large check
, symbolizing the record-setting philanthropy for the College by reunion classes — and donations ultimately
9
and kid’s activities 10 ,
12 13 , reminiscing at Nostalgia Hour 14 15 , before heading off to more formal nighttime class dinners.
13
14 15
12
Learn more about next year’s reunion at:
www.med.uvm.edu/alumni
42
V E R M O N T
M E D I C I N E
If your class year ends in a 7 or a 2,
mark your calendars now for reunion ’12
June 8–10, 2012
UVM Med Photo
43
PROFILE IN GIVING
Return on Investment
May 22, 2011
4:26 p.m.
Family Time: Several generations join together to celebrate with newly-minted physician
Dino Barhoum, M.D.’11, a few minutes after the conclusion of commencement.
photograph by andy duback, UVM Medical Photography
This year, while cleaning out the house that her late parents Bartlett H. Stone, M.D.’41 and Mable L. Stone had
shared for over 50 years, Pam Stone Kennedy, their daughter, found a yellowed envelope that fluttered out of an
old book of poetry. “It was from the UVM Admissions Office,” Kennedy explains. “Inside it I found a notice of a $100
scholarship given to my father for medical school in 1939.”
Dr. Stone received both his undergraduate and medical degrees from UVM. After graduation from the College
of Medicine he served his country in World War II, and then became an OB/Gyn surgeon in the Boston area. “His
years at UVM were extremely important to him, and he tried his best to attend every reunion,” his daughter recalls.
Both Kennedy and her daughter are also UVM graduates.
“Because my father held such affection for UVM,” says Kennedy, “It was important for him to find a way to
thank the school for the opportunities that it provided him, and to help others to experience the type of education
he felt so fortunate to have received. Throughout their lives my parents worked tirelessly to build my father’s
medical practice — a practice he truly loved, and which allowed him to leave a sizable endowment to the College
of Medicine to aid Vermont students in pursuing their dreams of becoming doctors. Looking back on it now, the
$100 scholarship my father received in 1939 may not look like much. But that money allowed him to pursue his
dream to become a physician. He saved the lives of soldiers in World War II, delivered thousands of babies and
provided surgeries to many women through his practice and missionary work in Puerto Rico, and inspired his
own children and grandchildren to pursue their dreams and educational goals.”
For more information about how you can
support the college of medicine and its
students, please contact the medical
development and Alumni relations office.
44
V E R M O N T
M E D I C I N E
University of Vermont college of medicine
Medical Development & Alumni Relations Office
(802) 656-4014 | [email protected]
www.med.uvm.edu/giving
Non-Profit Org.
U.S. POSTAGE
PAID
Burlington VT
Permit No. 143
Vermont medicine
89 Beaumont Ave.
Burlington VT 05405
PROFILE IN GIVING
A Gift from One
Generation to Another
Millicent Percy will never meet the children who benefit
from her help, but her generosity will help yield new
knowledge to fight cancer in young people for years to come.
When she passed away in 2010, she left a substantial gift in her
will to fund leukemia research at the University of Vermont, in
honor of her brother-in-law, Hebert Bowen Comings (UVM ’45).
Millicent Percy’s bequest is helping Barry Finette, M.D., Ph.D.,
professor of pediatrics and associate professor of microbiology
and molecular genetics, in his pediatric cancer research at the
Vermont Cancer Center.
For more information about how you can support the
college of medicine and its students, please contact
the medical development and Alumni relations office.
University of Vermont college of medicine
Medical Development & Alumni Relations Office
(802) 656-4014 | [email protected]
www.med.uvm.edu/giving