in practice v e r m o n t Clerkships Third-Year Students in

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University of Vermont College of Medicine
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Third-Year Students in
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ALSO FEATURED:
 Dr. Susan Wallace Studies
DNA Damage & Repair
 Palliative Care in Focus
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1939, ’44, ’49, ’54, ’59,
’64, ’69, ’74, ’79, ’84, ’89, ’94, ’99 & ’04!
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From the Dean
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College News
Hall A
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President’s Corner
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Class Notes
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Development News
38
Obituaries
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Damage Control
Cells are constantly under assault from a wide variety of toxic
agents in the environment. Susan Wallace, Ph.D., professor
and chair of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, has spent
her career expanding our understanding of this constant
process of damage and repair, and the ways it relates to cancer
care and other therapies.
By Edward Neuert
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to join your classmates for Reunion 2009 — June 12–14, 2009. Come back to
Burlington and the UVM campus, your home during medical school. You may
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have lost contact with your classmates and former teachers, but reunion will
For more information, call the UVM Medical
Development & Alumni Relations Office at
(802) 656-4014 or email [email protected]
and new Courtyard Building • Alumni Awards and Reception • Medical Alumni Picnic • Nostalgia Hour • Class Receptions
Register today for your reunion! www.med.uvm.edu/alumni
Quality of Life, and Death
The College of Medicine takes an integrated approach to
teaching medical students about palliative care, death, and
dying — a critically important step on the path to becoming
a competent, caring physician.
By Sona Iyengar
give you the chance to reconnect, rekindle old friendships, check out favorite
Events Include: Medical Education Today Session • Tours of the College, including the Medical Education Center
In Practice
Vermont Medicine follows clerkship students through inpatient
wards at Fletcher Allen and in private practices in Vermont as
they polish their clinical skills under the guidance of faculty
and preceptors.
The UVM Medical Alumni Association invites you and your family to plan now
first-hand the growth and evolution of your medical alma mater.
Burlington’s health status, white coats for a new class,
the return of the “Howard Marbles,” and more.
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Attention Classes of
places, talk with faculty, meet the medical students of today, and experience
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On the cover: photograph of Justin Smith ’11 by Raj Chawla/UVM Med Photo
FROM T H E DE A N
It has been a season for rites of passage here at the
College of Medicine. In February we gathered in the
classical interior of Ira Allen Chapel as 113 members of
the Class of 2012 participated in the 2009 White Coat
Ceremony. A few weeks later, in Carpenter Auditorium,
the Class of 2011 celebrated their entrance into clinical
clerkships at the Student Clinician’s Ceremony. And,
come mid-May, the Class of 2009 will enter Ira Allen
Chapel to formally receive their medical degrees.
Recognizing important milestones by public
ceremony is integral to our education of the next
generation of physicians and scientists. It is appropriate
that at meaningful moments we pause to recognize
accomplishments, achievements, and the exciting
challenges ahead. Along with the White Coat Ceremony of our first-year
students, this issue of Vermont Medicine highlights our second-year students
taking a moment at the end of the Foundations level of the curriculum to
honor the educators and staff who have helped them along the way.
We hope you’ll also enjoy following some of our third-year students who
are in the middle of clinical clerkships, making their way though the hospital
halls and clinical practices with a skilled preceptor at their side as they take on
increased responsibilities for providing care to patients and their families. An
important part of medical education is learning about palliative care, and the
Vermont Integrated Curriculum engages our students, our faculty, and our
community in innovative ways that enhance learning for everyone involved. It is
also a pleasure to highlight the work of esteemed researcher, mentor, and teacher
Dr. Susan Wallace, who passed her own milestone recently, as she entered her
third decade as chair of the Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics.
While we are celebrating the work of our current and future physicians and
scientists, we acknowledge that these are difficult times across our nation, for
individuals, businesses, and educational institutions. We are not immune from
the economic hardships that have come into acute focus in the last six months.
Due to a significant decrease in funding, we will have to make some tough decisions
while we increase our efforts to rise to the challenges that lie ahead. But our
key missions remain the same, and we are committed to the important work of
preparing for the future. The discoveries in the laboratory today will become the
therapies of tomorrow, and the physicians and scientists who are being educated
here now will go on to serve our community long after the current crises have
faded. This is our enduring legacy, and we are committed to seeing it continue.
Frederick C. Morin III, M.D.
Dean, University of Vermont College of Medicine
Magazine Honors
UCDA Design Competitions; Excellence in Illustration (July 2008)
AAMC-GIA Robert G. Fenley Writing Award of Excellence (March 2008)
AAMC-GIA Award of Distinction; External Publications (March 2007)
AAMC-GIA Award of Distinction; External Publications (Nov. 2006)
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Raj Chawla, UVM Med Photo
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College News
SPRING 2009
Editor
Edward Neuert
Assistant Dean for
Communications & Planning
Carole Whitaker
Assistant Dean for Development
& Alumni Relations
Rick Blount
Contributing Writers
Jennifer Nachbur
Joshua Brown
Assistant
Aliza Mansolino-Gault
Art Director
Steve Wetherby, Scuola Group
University Of Vermont
College Of Medicine
Dean
Frederick C. Morin III, M.D.
Interim Senior Associate Dean for
Medical Education
Robert Low, Ph.D.
Senior Associate Dean for
Clinical Affairs
Paul Taheri, M.D.
Senior Associate Dean for
Research & Academic Affairs
Russell P. Tracy, Ph.D.
Senior Associate Dean for
Finance & Administration
Brian L. Cote
Editorial Advisors
Marilyn J. Cipolla, Ph.D.’97
Christopher S. Francklyn, Ph.D.
James C. Hebert, M.D.’77
Russell Tracy, Ph.D.
UVM’s Home is
the “Healthiest” City
The health of people in Burlington was in the headlines
across the nation in November, as the Center for Disease
Control (CDC) Selected Metropolitan/Micropolitan
Area Risk Trends (SMART) database ranked the city as
the “healthiest city in the nation.”
Ninety-two percent of Burlington residents surveyed
by the CDC stated that they were in good or great health.
Vermont’s largest metropolitan area also registered some of
the lowest levels of obesity and diabetes in the nation, and
high levels of regular exercisers. Contrasting Burlington’s
standing was Huntington, W.V., which
ranked lowest in the database.
Another Vermont metro area,
the Barre region, placed eighth
on the CDC database. Burlington
has also been named a top city
for outdoor activities, the arts,
One of the healthiest cities in the nation, according to recent Centers
for Disease Control data, Burlington is seen here from the west with
the College of Medicine at top.
safety and overall quality of life by Outside magazine,
The New York Times, Arts & Entertainment, Traveler, and
other national media.
Class of 2012 Receives White Coats
There’s a single piece of clothing in a doctor’s life that not
only symbolizes achievement and professionalism, but also
the great responsibility a physician agrees to bear when he
or she chooses to practice medicine. Wearing the white
coat, a tradition adopted by physicians in the late 19th
century, is a rite of passage that most U.S. medical schools
have marked with the White Coat Ceremony for the past
15 years. Members of the University of Vermont College of
Medicine Class of 2012 were “cloaked” for the first time at
this ceremony in Ira Allen Chapel on February 20.
UVM’s current first-year medical class includes 113
students, four of whom are M.D.-Ph.D. students. Half of
the students majored in the sciences and about 28 percent
of the class are Vermonters.
Vermont Medicine is published three times
a year 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:
University of Vermont College of Medicine
Alumni Office, Given Building, 89 Beaumont
Ave., Burlington, VT 05405.
Telephone: (802) 656-4014
Letters specifically to the editor may be
e-mailed to: [email protected]
Members of the Class of 2012 (at left) watch their classmates being cloaked; (at center) Michael Visker receives his coat from the ceremony
speaker, Lewis First, M.D.; (at right) Tessa Scripps gets a post-ceremony hug.
Top: Raj Chawla, UVM Med Photo. Bottom: UVM Med Photo
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Student Projects Put Science into Practice
If you don’t own a car or live near a bus route, getting to
the doctor or dentist can be an enormous challenge, even if
that care is free. Recognition of that barrier led Burlington’s
Safe Harbor Clinic and Committee on Temporary Shelter
to partner with a group of second-year University of
Vermont medical students who undertook the challenge
to determine solutions to the problem as part of their
public health training.
Transportation and health access was the focus of
one of 16 UVM public health projects performed in
collaboration with the United Way of Chittenden County
during the fall 2008 semester and highlighted during a
January 21 Poster Presentation and Celebration event at
AmiLyn Taplin ’11 (center) speaks to residents of the Burlington
Housing Authority as part of her group’s public health project.
the College of Medicine. Implemented in 2004, the Public
Health Projects are the primary focus of the Medical
Student Leadership Group (MSLG) II course in the
Vermont Integrated Curriculum. The course is led by
Associate Dean for Public Health Jan Carney, M.D., who
developed this innovative approach to teaching public
health with the United Way Volunteer Center. Students
partner with faculty mentors to apply the principles and
science of public health while working to both meet the
needs and improve the health of the community. The program is gaining national, regional and
statewide recognition. Carney and Ruthann Hackett from
the United Way Volunteer Center published a paper on
their “Community-First” model in the journal Education
for Health last April and several groups’ projects have been
presented nationally at the American Public Health
Association meeting. In January, Vermont legislators had
an opportunity to learn about a project conducted with the
Peace and Justice Center of Vermont to define the public
health impact of varying employer sick day policies at a
luncheon in Montpelier. Yet another project addressed a
regional challenge — recruiting and retaining American
Red Cross blood donors in New England.
“Building on skills learned in their first-year leadership
groups, and using practical research methods, students have
worked with medical school faculty and community agencies
to find creative ways to put science into practice,” said Carney.
“We know that our students will become better physicians
by understanding public health and the challenges of
improving it, and we are proud of their accomplishments.”
Colchester Research
Facility Completed
The final phase of renovation in the new section of the
College’s Colchester Research Facility is now complete,
with new space that includes offices and labs, as well as
three conference rooms, lobby reception areas, and a lunch
room and kitchen for staff.
Built originally in the 1980s as the home of Aquatech,
a manufacturer of industrial water and wastewater treatment
systems, the Starbuck Family Wing (dedicated in 2006)
has been home to College of Medicine researchers
from biochemistry, medicine, and pathology since the
mid 1990s. Now the research team from endocrinology
has moved to the brand new laboratories, with others to
follow throughout the spring.
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Research Milestones
Tracy Co-authors JAMA Ginkgo Memory Study
An article in the November 19 Journal of the American Medical Association co-authored by
University of Vermont Professor of Pathology and Biochemistry Russell Tracy, Ph.D., reported
that the herb Ginkgo biloba was not effective in reducing the rate of dementia or Alzheimer’s
disease after several years’ use. Jointly sponsored by the National Center on Complementary
and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM), the National Institute on Aging and the National Heart,
Lung and Blood Institute, the clinical trial sought to examine whether taking Ginkgo biloba
had beneficial effects on memory and cognition in more than 1,500 elderly study participants.
“This was the flagship trial for NCCAM,” said Tracy, who was a member of the study’s steering
committee, as well as leader of the core laboratory for the trial. “I’m very excited that this
carefully done study came out as cleanly and with such clear results as it did. The committee is
enormously happy to have information on this widely used over-the-counter supplement.”
Francklyn and Minajigi Partner on PNAS Study
Professor of Biochemistry Christopher Francklyn, Ph.D., and Anand Minajigi, a graduate
student in biochemistry, published a paper titled “RNA-assisted catalysis in a protein enzyme:
The 2’-hydroxyl of tRNAThr A76 promotes aminoacylation by threonyl-tRNA synthetase” in the
November 18 Proceedings of the National Academy of Science (PNAS). Francklyn and Minajigi
specialize in molecular genetics, specifically on the structures and mechanisms of intracellular
enzymes that relate to potential targets for cancer-related therapy. The project reported on
in the PNAS paper focused on using E. coli threonyl-tRNA (ThrRS) to closely examine the
mechanism of amnoacyl-transfer. In the study, Minajigi and Francklyn examined how different
residues in the ThrRS active site contributed to enzyme function (catalysis), also testing
functional groups on the ATP and tRNA substrates. “This project has really opened up some
exciting directions for the lab,” said Francklyn. “The work with Anand has been a wonderful
collaboration. He has a gift for visualizing important scientific questions, and the determination
to keep polishing the experiments until they really shine.”
Newhouse Research Examines Potential Alzheimer’s Disease Treatments
Paul Newhouse, M.D., professor of psychiatry and director of the Clinical Neuroscience
Research Unit, is currently the site leader for several clinical research trials related to
Alzheimer’s Disease. The sixth-leading cause of death in the United States, Alzheimer’s Disease
(AD) destroys nerve cells in the brain, causing such hallmark symptoms as problems with
memory, learning, reasoning or judgment, loss of the ability to speak or understand someone
else speaking, disorientation and a decline in the ability to perform everyday tasks. One study
Newhouse leads is evaluating the effectiveness of an investigational medication hoped to
improve the memory and other cognitive functions of people with AD. Patients between the
ages of 50 and 90 years old who are currently taking donepezil (also known as Aricept, a
popular AD treatment) may be eligible to participate. Other AD trials run by Newhouse include
a national study using Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography (SPECT) imaging to
understand the disease process and an examination of whether short-term estrogen use will
enhance the effects of donepezil in women with early AD.
Hughes Nicotine Paper is Highest-Cited in Field
With the purchase of the entire building and
renovation of the new space, the College now has a total
of 72,000 square feet of research space in Colchester, just
three miles and a few minutes’ drive from main campus.
Top: Raj Chawla, UVM Med Photo. Bottom: Mario Morgado
Professor of Biochemistry Christopher
Francklyn, Ph.D. (left), and graduate student
Anand Minajigi in the Francklyn Lab.
Professor of Psychiatry and Director of
the Clinical Neuroscience Research Unit
Paul Newhouse, M.D.
A paper authored by John Hughes, M.D., professor of psychiatry and psychology, was recently
identified by Essential Science Indicators as the highest cited paper in the research area of
Nicotine Replacement Therapy. Titled “A meta-analysis of the efficacy of over-the-counter
nicotine replacement,” the paper was originally published in the journal Tobacco
Control in March 2003. Peter Callas, Ph.D., research associate professor of
mathematics and statistics, is a co-author on the paper.
Right: Raj Chawla, UVM Med Photo; Andy Duback.
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3 Questions
Looking Back:
The Return of the Howard Marbles
There are probably no other historical artifacts at the
College of Medicine that have had as peripatetic an
existence as the “Howard Marbles.” These two four-foot
high tablets of Vermont stone have hung on walls, and
gathered dust in storage rooms, in every home the College
has occupied since the 1880s.
Apparently commissioned by the College’s seven
faculty members in 1884, the tablets honor John Purple
Howard, then Burlington’s most prominent philanthropist.
Howard was retired from his successful career as a hotel
owner when he was approached in 1883 by the school,
which had outgrown its cramped quarters in Pomeroy
Hall. Howard bought and renovated the Underwood house
across from the northwest corner of the University Green.
Within a year the College had moved in. A Latin
inscription on one tablet translates as: “If you seek his
monument, look around you.”
It is assumed that tablets hung in this building for
the next 20 years, until the disastrous fire of December 2,
1903 that consumed the College. Saved by an enterprising
brigade of students, along with books, specimens, and
cadavers, the tablets spent the next six decades in storage.
They were rehung in the old Soule Medical Alumni
Building in the 1960s. The tablets had been in storage
since the Soule Building was demolished in 2002 to make
room for the Medical Education Center. Now, 125 years
after they were carved to honor the College’s bond with
its community, they hang again in the Given Building just
outside Carpenter Auditorium.
for Naomi Fukagawa, M.D., Ph.D.
Naomi K. Fukagawa, M.D., Ph.D., Professor of Medicine and Associate
Program Director of the Clinical Research Center, was appointed this past
fall by the US Departments of Agriculture and Health and Human Services
to serve on the 2010 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee. The members
of this committee are prominent researchers from institutions across
America, selected for their expertise in dietary intake, human metabolism,
behavioral change, and health. Dr. Fukagawa is a board-certified
pediatrician and an expert in nutritional biochemistry and metabolism.
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Q:You are one of 13 national
experts appointed last October
to the 2010 Dietary Guidelines
Advisory Committee. What
will your role be on this
committee and how will your
recommendations be utilized?
The tablets (top) honor philanthropist John Purple Howard, a bust of
whom (above left) has adorned Old Mill. Above right is the College’s
second home, donated by Howard in 1884.
Players and Fans Sport Pink for VCC
Once again this year, before “March Madness” began, the
UVM Men and Women’s basketball teams took part in the
WBCA (Women’s Basketball Coaches Association) Pink Zone™
initiative. The campaign, formerly known as WBCA Think Pink,
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is a global unified effort to raise breast cancer awareness on
the court, across campuses, and in communities.
The event, organized by Vermont Athletics, is meant to
help raise breast cancer awareness, with proceeds from t-shirt
sales, raffles and more going directly to support breast cancer
research at the Vermont Cancer Center.
On February 14, the UVM women’s team faced Albany
at UVM’s Patrick Gym, where they used a superlative defense
effort to beat Albany 48–32. The women’s team sported pink
uniforms at this game. The next afternoon, the UVM men’s
team took on SUNY-Stony Brook in the same venue, and
scrored an overtime 69–64 victory. Fans were encouraged to
wear pink at both games and, indeed, the stands at Patrick
were filled with people clad in pink.
Top: Ed Neuert. Howard bust: William Lipke. Bottom: Shane Bufano
A: The Committee’s charge is to
review new data and determine
whether changes in the
recommendations should be made.
Obesity and chronic diseases
significantly influence the health
of Americans; one of the important
issues is whether nutritional
recommendations could be made
for healthy Americans to help avoid
the development of these problems.
I serve as liaison for three subcommittees
and am a member of the Nutrient
Adequacy and Science Subcommittees.
The report, to be completed by
2010, will be given to the USDA
and HHS, who will then implement
the recommendations. The Committee
is quite aware that the public has been
confused by the Dietary Guidelines
Pyramid and that very few individuals
actually adhere to the recommendations.
We hope that we will be able to
develop recommendations that are
more user-friendly and hence easier
to implement.
Raj Chawla, UVM Med Photo
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Q:You’ve served in leadership roles
for several national associations.
What have you and other
scientists in your field learned
in the past 20 years that has
affected nutritional policy and
practice at the national level, as
well as in primary care practices?
A: In the past 20 years, we’ve learned
a lot about specific issues such as
obesity, age-related changes in body
composition and physical activity.
What we haven’t successfully done is
to integrate the findings. So we can
make one little recommendation in
one area, but then we have to face the
impact that has on other areas. Often
times we haven’t done a good job
about melding things and bringing
it together so that it’s not confusing
for people. In general, basic needs for
good health have not changed; it’s the
specific needs of an individual and
under specific conditions that have
been fine-tuned. The challenge we
face is to have health policy and
recommendations based on integration
of the knowledge we’ve gained about
specific nutrients and conditions.
The importance of balanced meal
plans, access to fresh foods, and
daily physical activity have been
emphasized across all age groups
but the general principles really
have not changed over the decades.
Naomi Fukagawa, M.D., Ph.D.
3
Q:What’s going on in your field
currently and which studies do
you find most exciting and why?
A: Integration of data from seemingly
disparate fields is key. I see food and
nutrients as environmental factors
that influence health just as pollution,
water quality, and industrial
processing do. The interaction
between environmental factors to
influence disease development or
progression is one of my current
interests. For example, are people
with diabetes more susceptible to the
health effects of air pollution? Does
combustion of biodiesel vs.
petrodiesel fuel differ in their effects
on lung or cardiovascular health? Is
one better, worse or the same as the
other? Should food crops be diverted
to fuel production? These are all really
interesting and important questions.
“The public has been confused by
the Dietary Guidelines Pyramid…
we hope that we will be able to
develop recommendations that
are more user-friendly.”
—Naomi Fukagawa, M.D., Ph.D.
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Assistant Professor of Orthopaedics and Rehabilitation and Associate Professor of Engineering James Iatridis, Ph.D., studies lower back pain.
Spine Researcher Earns Kudos from Two Presidents
Americans spend more than $50 billion each year seeking
relief from lower back pain. Unfortunately, there are
few easy or early treatments. But Assistant Professor of
Orthopaedics and Rehabilitation and Associate Professor
of Engineering James Iatridis, Ph.D., is on a mission to
find them.
Iatridis’s work to understand lower back pain and develop
prevention strategies recently received the highest award
given by the U.S. government to young scientists.
In December, President George W. Bush recognized Iatridis
and 66 other winners of the Presidential Early Career Award
for Scientists and Engineers in the Grand Foyer of the
White House.
In an on-campus recognition ceremony on Jan. 15,
UVM president Daniel Mark Fogel also honored Iatridis,
congratulating him for his award, and noting his “exceptional
work both as an engineer and as a bioscientist, to help
millions — indeed perhaps billions — of people with back
pain, neck pain, and spinal degeneration — so that they
can live better lives.”
Iatridis is the first researcher at UVM ever to receive
the PECASE award, which provides $1.5 million in
research funds over the next five years.
Second only to headaches, lower back pain sends
millions of people to the doctor and is a leading contributor
to missed work, according to the National Institutes of
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Health. Iatridis’s research explores the intervertebral
disc, the fibrous flexible pads between the 26 vertebrae
in the human spine. “In prevention of intervertebral disc
degeneration, my work has focused on biomechanical
factors, including defining healthy and damaging loads on
the spine,” said Iatridis. “The goal is, quite simply, avoiding
damaging loads and promoting healthy loads.”
“There are now relatively few clinical treatments for
intervertebral disc degeneration that involve early or
minimally invasive interventions,” he says, which is why
he and his team of graduate students have several projects
looking for better treatments by studying intervertebral
discs in animal models and human tissue.
In one promising line of investigation with collaborators
across UVM and around world, Iatridis aims to find cell
therapy techniques that will allow adult spine cells to act
more like young cells do during growth, letting damaged
discs heal.
The program begin in 1996, when the National Science
and Technology Council was commissioned by President
Clinton to create a program to support and honor outstanding
scientists and engineers early in their research careers. Nine
federal departments annually nominate candidates for the
Presidential Early Career Awards for Scientists and Engineers.
Iatridis was one of 12 nominees presented by the National
Institutes of Health for the most recent round of awards.
Top: Sally McCay. Right: UVM Med Photo. Bottom left: Jordan Silverman
AAMC Recognizes Med
Student Marathoners
Transitions
Prize-Winning Project Continues
MacLean Named Interim
Associate Dean for Primary Care
The Association of American Medical Colleges Group on
Institutional Advancement (AAMC GIA) has given its
Award of Excellence to the College of Medicine’s Class of
2011 and the Medical Development & Alumni Relation
Office for their project that combined endurance-level
running with leading-edge science to better the lives of
young patients.
The Award of Excellence recognized the student-initiated
fundraising project, supported by the Development &
Alumni office, through which more than 40 class members,
joined by staff members, trained for the Memorial Day
KeyBank Vermont City Marathon. The effort was driven
by Matthew Meyer and David Diller from the class of ’11
and their desire to promote wellness and unity in their class
by engaging their classmates in a community service
activity. The student team used their run and a related
silent auction to raise nearly $13,000 to fund
the work of pediatric oncologist Giselle Sholler, M.D.,
assistant professor of pediatrics, through the Penelope &
Sam Fund. Sholler’s research at the Vermont Cancer Center
is focused on helping patients with neuroblastoma, an
often-fatal cancer that afflicts very young children.
The effort continues with a new team that will run
in the May 24, 2009 marathon.
Dean Morin announced in September the
appointment of Charles MacLean, M.D.,
associate professor of medicine, as interim
associate dean for primary care. MacLean
will maintain his faculty appointment and
role as research director for the Office of
Primary Care, and continue his teaching,
research and clinical practice within the
Primary Care Internal Medicine division.
(Below) The Class of 2011 team. (Bottom) The scene on race day.
Charles MacLean, M.D.
Low Named Interim Head of
Medical Education
Robert Low, Ph.D., professor of molecular
physiology and biophysics, began serving
as Interim Senior Associate Dean for Medical
Education on December 1, 2008. A national
search is underway to replace Lewis First,
M.D., who stepped down as senior associate
dean in order to assume the editorship of
the journal Pediatrics and continues as
professor and chair of pediatrics.
Robert Low, Ph.D.
Branda Named Interim
Director of VCC
Richard Branda, M.D., professor emeritus
of medicine and pharmacology, was named
interim director of the Vermont Cancer
Center in December by Dean Morin and
Melinda L. Estes, M.D., president and CEO
of Fletcher Allen Health Care. He replaced
Bernard Levin, M.D., who served as interim
director since May 2008.
Richard Branda, M.D.
Tracy to Step Down
Russell Tracy, Ph.D., has announced he
will be stepping down as Senior Associate
Dean for Research and Academic Affairs,
and returning to his role as principal
investigator, professor of pathology and
biochemistry, and director of the Laboratory
for Clinical Biochemistry Research. Tracy
became Interim Dean for Research in 2000,
and was appointed Senior Associate
Dean in 2001. Following a national search
Russell Tracy, Ph.D.
a new Senior Assoc. Dean will be named.
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Second-Year Students Celebrate Foundations
Completing the challenging 18-month-long Foundations
level of the Vermont Integrated Curriculum (VIC) calls
for celebration. On January 29, the Class of 2011 did just
that, holding a celebration and awards ceremony that
recognized the accomplishments of exceptional
teachers, courses, and supporters.
Speaking to the class at the celebration, Associate
Dean for Student Affairs Scott Waterman, M.D., noted
“You’ve completed 542 days, 11 courses, and 38 exams.”
The Foundations level of the VIC is designed to
provide students with a fundamental understanding of
health and illness, integrating basic science and clinical
skills, and prepare for the clerkship level, where patient
care immersion begins.
Notables
Awards presented by the Class of 2011 at
the Foundations Celebration event were:
Outstanding Foundations Course:
Cardiovascular, Respiratory and Renal Systems
Foundations Course Director Award:
William Hopkins, M.D.
Foundations Teaching Award: William Raszka, M.D.
The Dean Warshaw Integration Award:
Richard Salerno, M.D.
The Silver Stethoscope Award (a.k.a. “Inspirational
Cameo of the Year”): Jean Szilva, M.D.
Above and Beyond Award: Ellen Cornbrooks, Ph.D.
Best Support Staff (Non-teaching): Sarah Keblin
American Medical Women’s Association (AMWA)
Gender Equity Award: Pamela Gibson, M.D.
Wellness Committee Peer Recognition Award:
Presented jointly to second-year medical students
Matthew Meyer and David Diller “for their ability
to create a team atmosphere and community of
inclusion” in organizing and leading the UVM
College of Medicine Marathon Team.
William Raszka, M.D., accepts the Foundations Teaching Award.
A University of Vermont
faculty member since 1984,
Paula Duncan, M.D., professor
of pediatrics, has been a quiet,
collaborative and diligent force
in her field for decades. The impact
of her years of contributions
resulted in a windfall of
recognition in 2008, as Duncan
received four national awards,
a statewide award and a UVM College of Medicine student
award. Duncan was co-recipient of a U.S. Health Resources and
Services Administration Maternal Child Health Bureau
Director’s award. She also received three American Academy
of Pediatrics (AAP) awards — the Oral Health Service Award,
Job Lewis Smith Award and Clifford Grulee Award. Vermont
AAP members unanimously voted to jointly award Duncan
and her UVM colleagues Joseph Hagan, M.D., clinical
professor of pediatrics, and Judith Shaw, Ed.D., M.P.H., R.N.,
research associate professor of pediatrics and executive director
of the Vermont Child Health Improvement Program, with the
2008 Green Mountain Pediatrician award. The three also
shared the HRSA MCHB Director’s award. Traditionally, the
Green Mountain award goes to an individual chapter member
who has shown outstanding service and dedication to the
care of children. Duncan, Hagan, and Shaw were honored for
their vision, work, and leadership as editors of the third edition
of Bright Futures: Guidelines for Health Supervision of Infants,
Children and Adolescents, which was published in 2008.
Roger C. Young, M.D., Ph.D.,
Alumnus’ Book Offers Lessons from War
It is not often that a medical textbook makes national
headlines, but the book that alumnus Dave Lounsbury, M.D.’79,
co-edited received prominent media coverage when it was
published this past summer. Lounsbury is a retired U.S. Army
colonel and was director of the Borden Institute and editor-inchief for textbooks of military medicine at Walter Reed Army
Medical Center.
War Surgery in Afghanistan and Iraq: A Series of Cases
appeared in August, and stories in the New York Times and on
National Public Radio detailed some of the struggles Lounsbury
and his colleagues went through to get the book published,
after meeting resistance from within the Army.
The 83 cases reviewed in the book are shockingly gruesome.
But, Lounsbury says, seeing them and learning the new
techniques Army surgeons have developed to deal with the
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V E R M O N T
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results of Improvised Explosive
Devices and other new tactics
of insurgent war are very
important. “The average Joe
Surgeon, civilian or military,
has never seen this stuff,”
Lounsbury told the Times. “And
they need to see this on the plane
before they get there, because there’s a learning curve to this.”
As of this spring, the book was part of the collections of
most U.S. medical school libraries. A Journal of the American
Medical Association reviewer commented that “The book
becomes almost a tutorial essay of what can and should be
done when delivering trauma care on the battlefield. To my
knowledge, no similar book has ever been put together.”
Raj Chawla, UVM Med Photo
professor of obstetrics, gynecology
and reproductive sciences at the
College of Medicine, was elected
to the national Board of Trustees of
the March of Dimes Foundation, the
leading nonprofit organization for
pregnancy and baby health.
Karen Richardson-Nassif, Ph.D.,
associate dean for faculty and
staff development and diversity,
and colleagues received the Best
Paper Award for 2007 from the
Research In Medical Education
Committee of the Association
of American Medical Colleges
at the organization’s annual
meeting in San Antonio in November 2008. The paper, titled
“Crafting Successful Relationships with the IRB,” was
published in a special supplement to the October 2007
issue of the journal Academic Medicine.
Left Column: UVM Med Photo. Right Column: Ed Neuert
The Multidisciplinary
Stroke Center at
Fletcher Allen Health
Care (whose staff
members, Christopher
Commichau, M.D.,
Mark Gorman, M.D.,
Melissa Lowrey, and
Joan Blondin, appear at
left, clockwise from
upper left) recently received a Certificate of Distinction for
Primary Stroke Centers from the Joint Commission, an
independent, not-for-profit organization that accredits and
certifies more than 15,000 health care organizations and
programs in the United States. The Multidisciplinary Stroke
Center, now the only Joint Commission-certified stroke center
in Vermont, offers comprehensive care including acute
stroke care, post-stroke care, and stroke education and
prevention. “We are very pleased that the Joint Commission,
the nation’s premier health care accreditation and certification
organization, has recognized our Stroke Center’s commitment
to high quality academic health care in service to the
community,” said Commichau, associate professor of neurology
and neurosurgery. Commichau co-leads the Stroke Center
along with Dr. Mark Gorman, associate professor of neurology,
and directs the Neurology Residency Program.
Two College of Medicine faculty members were appointed to
the Fletcher Allen Health Care Board of Trustees on December 9.
Russell Tracy, Ph.D., professor of pathology and biochemistry
and senior associate dean of research and academic affairs,
and Ruth Uphold, M.D., professor of surgery emerita and
attending physician and medical director of Fletcher Allen’s
Emergency Department, will each serve four-year terms.
Ödul “Laurie” Amburgey, M.D.,
a maternal-fetal medicine fellow
at the University of Vermont
College of Medicine, was selected
as one of four recipients of a
2008 Vision Grant from the
Preeclampsia Foundation for
her study of brain vessel function in preeclamptic women.
Christopher French, ’09 received a 2008 Student Scholarship
in Cardiovascular Disease and Stroke from the Scientific Councils
of the American Heart Association. This award supports
French’s work exploring the effect of erythropoietin on
myocardial infarction in the laboratory of Burton Sobel, M.D.,
professor of medicine and biochemistry. French gave an oral
presentation on his work at the American Heart Association
meeting in New Orleans in November, for which he won a
travel grant from the AHA.
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Damage Control
Cells are constantly under assault from toxic agents in the environment.
Chair of Microbiology & Molecular Genetics Susan Wallace, Ph.D., has spent
her career understanding how a cell can recover from 10,000 “hits” a day,
and how that process sheds light on cancer care and other therapies.
w
by Edward Neuert
“
|
photography by Mario Morgado
e don’t deal with very extraordinary damage, really — we’re focused on the
kind you get just because you live and breathe,” says Susan Wallace, Ph.D.,
gesturing toward her door and the laboratory beyond as she sits in her Stafford
Hall office, a white-walled rectangle filled with the accoutrements of a successful,
busy career. Though she may feel the subject is not extraordinary, to a casual
listener her work sounds very important indeed — a career spent in basic research of the very
blueprint of biological systems, DNA, and the agents that can and will repeatedly tear apart the
fabric of life in all our cells and, often, knit it back together in less than the blink of an eye.
On her desk and on her office table sit piles of publications, her own and others, and reams
of grant material she’s working through on a sunny January morning as she prepares her most
recent National Cancer Institute program project grant submission. Just around the corner, in
her lab, researchers, graduate students, and post-doctoral associates work away at their benches
and computer screens. As founding chair of the Department of Microbiology and Molecular
Genetics, which she has led for 21 years, her responsibilities lie not only within these lab walls,
but also with the dozens of other faculty members and their labs up and down the halls of
Stafford, a structure she took some knocks for, literally, in the days before its construction.
Her career spans both the genetic revolution, and the sea change in women’s roles in
scientific research. She has, through insight, hard work, and ceaseless mentoring, built a body
of over 120 published articles, and helped form the careers of other scientists and physicians
across the nation. “Susan has shown herself to be extraordinary in both the actual practice
of science itself, and in the development of young scientists,” says Senior Associate Dean for
Research and Academic Affairs Russell Tracy, Ph.D. “Both of which, I think, have played
critical roles in shaping research at the College of Medicine and throughout the University.
She’s been consistently funded by the NCI, even when they were funding only ten percent
of their applications. She’s played a mentoring role with faculty around the country, and, if
that wasn’t enough, she’s one of the top ten people in the world in her field.”
Professor and Chair of the Department
of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics
Susan Wallace, Ph.D. (at center above) with
some of the members of her laboratory staff.
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We humans think of ourselves as leading, for the most
part, fairly quiet lives in which violence, we hope, is a pretty
rare occurrence. But it’s not just the sudden, very apparent
jolts in life — the traffic accident, the falls, the boxing ring
roundhouses — that threaten our status quo. Indeed, at the
cellular level, quiet life is drowned out by a constant barrage
of atoms and molecules that tear away at our DNA in
ways that would stop us in our tracks were it not for a
complementary group of molecular repair teams that have
evolved to quickly stitch things back together so that, most
of the time, our cells need never know what hit them.
“The NIH person said to me ‘Susan, you know,
we’ve never given a grant to a woman with
children before, and we’re not sure we should.’
Well, they gave that grant to me, and it’s the
one that earned MERIT status twice.”
Within cells, a wide variety of toxic agents cause these
assaults. Ionizing radiation, several different chemicals,
and the normal oxidative metabolism that has governed
our cells since oxygen became a major component of our
atmosphere eons ago all combine to produce a welter of
free radicals — atoms or molecules within the cell that
have had an electron knocked away, and now have a single
unpaired electron circling their outer shell. This free
electron provides a sort of handhold, an opportunity for
these molecules to combine and react with others, and
these reactions increase the possibilities of DNA damage.
Six to ten thousand of these types of damage take place in
each cell every day, and they must be repaired, or the cell
could die. If this repair system did not exist, we humans
would not be around to study it — mice who have had
this cellular repair system removed cannot survive the
embryo stage. Besides cellular death, damage can lead to
mutation and unregulated cell division — the formation
of cancerous tumors.
Early in her career, Wallace focused on identifying
enzymes that could recognize and repair damage to DNA
caused by free radicals. She identified the first enzyme
known to be involved in the recognition of free radical
damage. Though her work involved studying this reaction
within the E. coli bacteria, the reactions were so fundamental
that they are identical to those that occur today within
human cells. “This was something that was selected for
back in the primordial soup,” says Wallace. She performed
years of work to determine what would happen to cells
that did not have this enzyme. “When it is missing,
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you get a lot of mutations, and when you get a lot of
mutations, of course, you get cancer. So that’s why our
efforts have been supported by the NCI.” Wallace has been
continuously funded by the NCI since 1971, and one
of her grants has been honored twice by the prestigious
MERIT award. She is currently the principal investigator
on two NCI RO1 grants, and a program project grant.
She is director of the Vermont Cancer Center’s Genome
Stability and Expression Program. At the national level,
she has served on the NCI’s Radiation Study Section, the
National Academy of Sciences Board on Radiation Effects
Research, and many other groups.
Over the course of her career, Wallace has collaborated
with many of her colleagues. When Sylvie Doublié, Ph.D.,
came to UVM in 1998, with a specialty in x-ray
crystallography, the two scientists began working together
on solving the actual structures of DNA glycosylases, the
family of enzymes at work in DNA repair. Together they
are trying to figure out how damage is identified and where
the specificity of certain glycosylases for repairing certain
damages comes from. “For more than 20 years I’ve been
interested in what happens to the DNA damages that don’t
get repaired before the DNA replicates,” Wallace says. These
replications can lead to mutation and cancer development.
Working with Doublié, Wallace has been able to tell,
among other things, why certain damages cause mutation.
A new program project grant Wallace has recently
applied for will hopefully fund a new translational research
effort with adjunct professor Joann Sweasy, Ph.D., of Yale
Dr. Wallace reviews a crystal gel in her lab with post-doctoral
fellow Matthew Hogg, Ph.D.
Crystal-Clear Insight at the Atomic Level
In order to use x-ray crystallography, a pure crystal of a protein has to be grown. The liquid-filled baths (above left) are part of this task.
Once a crystal has been isolated, an x-ray beam directed through it will bounce off the electrons and protons in its molecules. The pattern
of this diffraction can be collected, processed though computer programs, and yield a visual image (above right) of the protein’s structure.
University. This project will explore how certain protein
variants in the human population influence mutation
frequency and other factors to see if this in fact increases
the risk for those individuals to certain types of cancer.
V
For Wallace, the path to a career in science began along a
stream in New York’s rural Putnam County when she was
eight years old. She was a city girl — her family lived in
the Park Slope section of Brooklyn — but often visited her
grandfather’s summer house upstate, and there she would
accompany a family friend, a member of the clergy who
taught biology at New York’s Cardinal Hayes High
School, on his trips into the woods to collect specimens
of salamanders and crayfish from the local streams and
ponds. “From that point on,” she says. “I organized my
life and my curriculum around the fact that I was going
to be a scientist.”
That determination served her well through high
school and her chemistry major at Marymount College,
then on through graduate work at Berkeley and Cornell
School of Medical Sciences, where she transferred after
getting married. She received her first faculty position at
City University of New York/Hunter College, and moved
to New York Medical College in 1976, all while also raising
three children in suburban Croton-on-Hudson. Life for
a female scientist in those days required an extra dose of
determination. “I’ll never forget interviewing for my first
post-doc position, when everything seemed to be going
so well until the chair of the department saw my eightmonths-pregnant belly,” she remembers. “I got my rejection
letter the very next day, explaining that they wouldn’t
support a woman who had children.” Also particularly
memorable was the site visit paid to her lab as part of her
first NIH grant submission. “The NIH person said to me
‘Susan, you know, we’ve never given a grant to a woman
with children before, and we’re not sure we should.’
Well, they gave that grant to me, and it’s the one that
earned MERIT status twice. I still have it.”
In 1988, the late Norman Alpert, Ph.D., chair of
physiology at UVM from 1966 to 1995, and then-dean
of the College of Medicine William Luginbuhl, M.D.,
lured Wallace northward to found the Department of
Microbiology and Molecular Genetics (MMG). One
important initial task was to build the department’s
home, Stafford Hall. Federal funding helped pay for the
building, but a deep distrust among certain members of
the public of anything with the word “genetics” connected
to it led to four years of legal and procedural delays. At
the 1992 Stafford groundbreaking, protesters disrupted the
ceremony and knocked Wallace to the ground. She got
up unscathed, and a year later the department moved into
its new home, where MMG labs flourish on four floors.
Today, in addition to her research, Wallace values
the many opportunities she has to foster future generations
of scientists. She not only mentors graduate students and
post-doctoral fellows, but also inspires many students who
pursue her department’s undergraduate major and rotate
through its labs. And every year she contributes to the
molding of new physicians through her teaching of
first-year med students in the Foundations level of the
Vermont Integrated Curriculum (VIC). “I hope that, in
the time I have with each class, I’ve taught them the basics
of molecular biology, and where to go to find out more,”
she says. “So much of what they’re going to use — drugs,
individualized cancer therapies — will be based in some
way on molecular biology. A big focus of the VIC is
to make them lifelong learners. I give them, I hope, a
feeling for all there is — and will be — to learn in the
years ahead.” VM
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For UVM medical students, clinical clerkship level is the moment they’ve imagined, with
both expectation and a touch of anxiety, for many years: the time when they interact
with real patients and treatment teams. This February, Vermont Medicine followed
third-year clerkship students through hospital wards and private practice exam rooms
to show them engaged in the crucial Level Two of the Vermont Integrated Curriculum.
IN
PRACTICE
by Edward Neuert
Associate Professor of Family Medicine
Candace Fraser, M.D. and Adetola Fadeyibi ’10
at Colchester Family Practice
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|
photography by Raj Chawla
pring brings many signs of new beginnings to Vermont. On the medical campus, March marks the
beginning of the doctor–patient experience in the lives of medical students: the clinical clerkship.
In the Vermont Integrated Curriculum (VIC), students complete the 18-month Foundations level in
February of their second year, and take step 1 of their USMLE boards. Then it’s time to don the white
coat and head out to practices across Vermont and Maine for the next twelve months in Level 2 of the VIC.
“The clinical clerkship is designed to expose students to a whole range of clinical settings and disciplines,
and to allow them to develop their decision-making skills and apply what they’ve learned in Foundations,” says
Tania Bertsch, M.D., the Clinical Clerkship director. Bertsch works with eight individual clerkship directors to
direct the activities of more than 100 second- and third-year students as they work though cases in Surgery, OB/
GYN, Psychiatry, Inpatient Internal Medicine, Neurology, Pediatrics, Outpatient Internal Medicine, and Family
Medicine. Three “Core Bridges” within the level foster a multidisciplinary look at the experiences of students.
It is a level of learning no physician ever forgets, a time when a career aspiration starts to feel like an
actual career. “This is probably one of the two times in your medical education — the other is the first year
of residency — when you feel like you’re integrating knowledge at the fastest pace you can, on your feet,”
says family medicine clerkship director David Little, M.D.’75. “You’re really at last acting like a physician.”
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LEVEL 2
CLERKSHIP
Core Bridge 1
Patient & Student roles/
responsibilities
Nutrition/dietary needs
Infection control
Interpreter services
Information access
Surgery
Surgery/
OBGYN Bridge
Technical/procedural skills
Informed consent
Perioperative care
Breast disease
Abdominal diseases
Surgical documentation
Obstetrics/
Gynecology
NEUROLOGY
Clerkship students experience the practice of neurology
in a variety of settings around the main and UHC
campuses at Fletcher Allen. At left, prior to meeting
with a sleep-disordered patient, Nicholas Weinberg
reviews his case file with Hrayr Attarian, M.D.,
associate professor of neurology and medicine and
the director of the Vermont Regional Sleep Center.
Below and bottom right, Shams Helminski works
with Assistant Professor of Neurology James Boyd,
M.D. and a patient. Bottom left, Professor of Neurology
Rup Tandan, M.C.R.P., explains an examination detail
to Alia Whitehead. The 15-week clerkship integrates
blocks of psychiatry, inpatient internal medicine,
and neurology, are followed by a one-week
interdisciplinary “cognitive bridge.”
Core Bridge 2
Gene-environment
interactions
Addiction
Pain management
Nutrition/Supplements
Prevention of medical error
Global health
Psych/Int med/
Neuro Bridge
Sensory deficits
Substance abuse
Sleep disorders
Movement disorders
Cognitive dysfunction
Psychiatry
Inpatient
Internal
Medicine
Neurology
Core Bridge 3
FAMILY MEDICINE
In one clerkship block, students rotate among pediatrics,
outpatient internal medicine, and family medicine
experiences. Adetola Fadeyibi spent a week in early
February working at Colchester Family Practice. “It’s
important for the student to have time with just the
patient and themselves,” explains Family Medicine
clerkship director David Little, M.D.’75. At top and right,
Fadeyibi interviews and examines; above, she compares
notes with Associate Professor Candace Fraser, M.D.
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Health care/Financing
Palliative care/
End-of-life care
Complementary &
alternative medicine
Pediatrics
Peds/int med/
fam med Bridge
Chronic disabilities
Risk detection/prevention
Domestic violence
Advanced interview skills
Outpatient
Internal
Medicine
Family
Medicine
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LEVEL 2
CLERKSHIP
Core Bridge 1
Patient & Student roles/
responsibilities
Nutrition/dietary needs
Infection control
Interpreter services
Information access
Surgery
Surgery/
OBGYN Bridge
Technical/procedural skills
Informed consent
Perioperative care
Breast disease
Abdominal diseases
Surgical documentation
Obstetrics/
Gynecology
PEDIATRICS
Core Bridge 2
Gene-environment
interactions
Addiction
Pain management
Nutrition/Supplements
Prevention of medical error
Global health
SURGERY
The surgery clerkship begins well before a scalpel is ever
taken in hand. Maggie Holmes, below left and right with
Associate Professor of Surgery Laurence McCahill, M.D.,
experienced the full scope of pre-operative consultation
with members of the Department of Surgery working
in the Vermont Cancer Center at Fletcher Allen.
McCahill lead a multidisciplinary treatment team
that examines patients and plans their surgical options.
Holmes would later continue into surgery with
McCahill. (Above and right) Justin Smith observes
a surgery and works with Clinical Instructor of
Anesthesiology Anthony Fritzler, M.D.; Mark Healy, M.D.
and Brenda Healy, M.D. performed the surgery.
Psych/Int med/
Neuro Bridge
Sensory deficits
Substance abuse
Sleep disorders
Movement disorders
Cognitive dysfunction
Psychiatry
Inpatient
Internal
Medicine
Part of the clerkship experience is the classic clinical
teaching situation, morning rounds at the Vermont
Children’s Hospital. Below: Kelly Mebust, Abigail
Woodhead, Whitney Barkhuff, and Hijab Zubairi greet
a young patient with Clinical Associate Professor
Christa Zehle, M.D. and pediatrician Aimee Pollack, M.D.
At left, Terry Stein, M.D., visits a young patient and
her family with medical student Lyle Gerrity. Above,
Gerrity spends that afternoon in pediatric radiology
session with Associate Professor of Radiology and
Pediatrics Jan M. Gallant, M.D.’89. VM
Neurology
Core Bridge 3
Health care/Financing
Palliative care/
End-of-life care
Complementary &
alternative medicine
Pediatrics
Peds/int med/
fam med Bridge
Chronic disabilities
Risk detection/prevention
Domestic violence
Advanced interview skills
Outpatient
Internal
Medicine
Family
Medicine
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by Sona Iyengar
Quality
of life and death
The UVM College of Medicine takes an integrated approach
to teaching medical students about palliative care, death,
and dying — a critically important step on the path to
becoming a competent, caring physician.
irginia Fry held up a half-inch cube of bright pink clay and rubbed
it back and forth in her hands. In the audience, 75 medical and nursing
students played with similarly sized cubes of all colors — green, blue, yellow,
white, magenta, and fluorescent orange. “I’m going to demonstrate making
worms, so you all leave here with a competency in clay-worm making,” Fry
said, drawing smiles and laughs from the crowd. Fry, a Vermont artist, bereavement
counselor, and hospice worker, uses clay and many other art supplies when she
cares for children who are dying. “When we’ve got so much feeling about what’s
going on, it’s very important to use a feeling medium,” she said.
Her presentation, and her approach to offering concrete advice for working
with patients, came as part of a series of lunchtime lectures and panel discussions
offered for students during Palliative Care Week, an annual event organized by
the Palliative Care student interest group at the College of Medicine. This year the
series ran through the second full week of January. Students Alycia Horn ’11 and
Abby Gross ’11 coordinated this year’s activities with support from the MadisonDeane Initiative — a program of the Visiting Nurse Association of Chittenden
and Grand Isle Counties that promotes quality end-of-life care — the Vermont
Palliative Care Collaborative and the College’s Department of Family Medicine,
the Palliative Care Service at Fletcher Allen Health Care, and the American Medical
Student Association. For medical students, the program offered a look at issues
they will face throughout their medical education, and throughout their careers.
Palliative care programs focus on relieving pain and other symptoms and
improving quality of life in patients with serious or life-threatening illness. Their
numbers are increasing in hospitals throughout the country. Palliative care differs
from hospice care in that it can be offered at any time during a person’s illness
alongside curative therapy, while hospice care is usually offered to terminally ill
patients at the last stage of their illness when treatment is no longer an option.
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“Our culture still thinks of death and dying as
unacceptable,” says Brookes Cowan, Ph.D., M.S.W., a
clinical associate professor of medicine, medical sociologist
and gerontologist. Although palliative and hospice care
programs are on the rise at hospitals and medical schools
throughout the country, Cowan says this type of care
continues to be underutilized by patients and families.
“The greatest barrier to hospice utilization in the U.S.
is physician reluctance to refer,” Cowan told the students.
“You all play a pivotal role in changing the culture of the
next generation of care for people.”
Alycia Horn and Abby Gross’s involvement in the
effort stems from their mutual interest in palliative care.
They both see a need to raise awareness of end-of-life issues
among medical students. “To be a well-rounded doctor is
really important,” Gross said. “No matter what you go
into, you’re going to come across a situation where you’re
going to need to educate yourselves or your patients about
palliative care. It’s inevitable.”
Added Horn: “Whether I go into Family Medicine or
Internal Medicine, I’m going to have to tell people they’re
going to die and I want to be able to give them options. I
want to be more in touch with what they’re going through.”
Vermont Earns High Marks
Ten years ago, there were almost no palliative care programs
in U.S. hospitals, according to a recent report by the
Center to Advance Palliative Care, a national organization
based at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York
City. Today, 53 percent of hospitals with 50 or more beds
have a program. Vermont offers palliative care at all of
its acute care hospitals, and was ranked the highest in
the nation for access to palliative care programs in the
Center’s report.
Fletcher Allen Health Care began its Palliative Care
service in 1998 and today performs approximately 700
palliative care consultations in the hospital, said Allan
Ramsay, M.D., UVM associate chair and professor of
Family Medicine and medical director of Palliative Care.
“The more consultations we do, the more exposure students
have to palliative care in the hospital,” he said.
“I decided then that even if I didn’t specifically
become a palliative care doctor, I wanted to
learn more about helping people cope with
dying so that I can be there for my patients
when the time comes.”
—Alycia Horn ’11
Ramsay’s own involvement with palliative care has
grown and evolved as the discipline gained momentum in
schools and hospitals. He joined the palliative care service
in 2005 when he was tapped to be its leader, after practicing
family medicine for more than 25 years. Although Ramsay
didn’t originally plan a career in palliative medicine, it was
a natural progression after serving as a hospice medical
director. “I have always wanted close relationships with
my patients, and palliative care provides very intense
relationships over a short period of time,” he said.
The advancement of palliative care efforts in the
Green Mountain State has been aided since 2007 by the
work of the Vermont Palliative Care Collaborative. Funded
by more than $325,000 in gifts by an anonymous donor,
the group is a cooperative venture by the College of Medicine
and UVM’s College of Nursing and Health Sciences,
Fletcher Allen Health Care, and the Visiting Nurse
Association (VNA) of Chittenden and Grand Isle Counties,
as well as individual community members. The group has
overseen distribution of funds to support medical student
events such as Palliative Care Week, a physician fellowship
program at UVM/Fletcher Allen, enhancements in UVM’s
nursing programs in end-of-life care, and support for VNA’s
community outreach through its Madison-Deane Initiative.
An Integrated Approach
Alycia Horn ’11 (at left) along with her classmate Abby Gross and
Allan Ramsay, M.D. (at right) organized the 2009 Palliative Care Week
at the College.
As more hospitals offer palliative care services, medical
schools are expanding and increasing instruction in
end-of-life care.
U.S. medical schools’ overall offerings in death and
dying increased from 1975 to 2005, according to a 2006
study in the American Journal of Hospice and Palliative
Medicine, with 100 percent of medical schools, beginning
in 2000, offering some part of their curriculum focused
on death and dying. The study, authored by George E.
Dickinson, Ph.D., of the College of Charleston, South
Carolina, found that palliative care was offered in 94
percent of U.S. medical schools.
However, a more recent survey of U.S. medical schools
published in the Journal of Palliative Medicine indicated
there is still a need for a standardized medical school curriculum
in palliative care and end-of-life issues. The November 2008
survey found that a minority of schools responding required
courses or clinical rotations in palliative care.
At UVM, medical students currently receive 25 to
28 hours of structured palliative care instruction during
their pre-clinical years, said Ramsay, who takes part in
much of that teaching.
The College’s curriculum includes lectures that cover
a wide range of end-of-life issues, and students are exposed
to thinking about death and dying right from the first
weeks of medical school. First-year students in “Introduction
to Clinical Decision Making” learn about informed consent,
advanced directives and living wills, and quality of life
issues. During medical student leadership groups that
run longitudinally through the first year, students discuss
the place of death and dying in medicine, the differences
in mourning practices among various cultures, and they
explore their own personal responses to death and dying.
During the “Generations” course students take at the
start of their second year, they explore in more depth death
and dying across childhood, adolescence, and later life, and
include the role of spirituality and health. Other courses
during the Foundations level of the curriculum, particularly
the Neuroscience and Attacks & Defenses courses, deal
with the physiology of pain and palliative care.
“The Generations course is organized around the
‘epochs’ of human life,” explains course director William
Pendlebury, M.D.’76, professor of medicine, neurology,
and pathology, and director of the UVM Center on
Aging. “The last of these epochs focuses, of course, on what
happens near the end of life. As one component of study,
the class breaks into five groups to do field studies at five
different elder-care facilities. They then form into seminar
groups to share their findings and perceptions.”
During the clinical years, students focus on working
with multidisciplinary clinical teams in hospice situations,
and they also have the option of doing clerkships or
rotations in palliative care. In addition, the curriculum
includes workshops on how to break bad news using
standardized patients and role-playing, and how to deal
with hydration, nutrition, and sedation at the end of life.
A Life, a Death, and
Lessons Remembered
The husband of a College of Medicine alumna
shares his experiences with medical students,
and underscores the value of compassionate care.
Steve Burke of Underhill, Vt., remembers well that day in late
November 2001, when his wife Kathy Maguire, M.D.’74, first told
him she had Parkinson’s Disease.
She had been tired a lot, something she and Steve attributed
to her rigorous schedule. A gifted physician and retinal surgeon,
Maguire ran Green Mountain Eye Center in Burlington with
Thomas Cavin, M.D., in addition to raising three teenage children.
Maguire had been to see a neurologist that day, and when she
returned to meet Burke at his workplace in Williston, he could
immediately tell something was wrong.
“It was just overwhelming,” Burke said. “It fell into the
category of: ‘I have cancer.’ Life was never the same after that.”
Maguire, then 51, had multiple systems atrophy, also known as
Shy-Drager syndrome — a Parkinson-related progressive disorder
of the central and autonomic nervous systems. Over the next six
years, until her death in June 2007, she gradually lost all mobility
and muscle function, losing her ability to walk, speak, and
perform most other bodily needs. Burke shared his wife’s story
with medical students during Palliative Care Week at the College
of Medicine, sitting on a panel of family members who told
end-of-life stories about their loved ones.
As Maguire’s disease progressed, Burke left his job and
eventually became her full-time caregiver. The couple tried to
continue doing things Maguire liked — getting outside as much
as possible and spending two winters in Florida, where they
would go for rides on a side-by-side recumbent bicycle. While the
weather was good, the care in Florida wasn’t up to the level of
care in Vermont, Burke said. One of the most difficult situations
was when the doctor would look right over Maguire’s head and
speak to Burke. “When you look at her, she’s this little woman in
a wheelchair, slumped over, stiff as a board,” Burke said. “She had
a catheter and a feeding tube, but she had this brilliant mind and
knew exactly what was going on.”
He urged the students never to make assumptions about what
patients do or don’t know. “You’ve got to treat patients — each one
of them — like they’re the most favored person in your life.”
(continued on page 26)
24
V E R M O N T
M E D I C I N E
Raj Chawla, UVM Med Photo
S P R I N G
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President’s Corner
26
Class Notes
29
Development News
31
2009 MAA Awards
35
New Lectureships
37
Obituaries
38
HALL A
they would die, and they just wanted it to be as painless
as possible. It made me deal with my own mortality,
and I started seeing death as something that could be
comfortable, not just sad.”
Horn’s experience as a first-year medical student
during the 2008 Palliative Care Week — specifically the
panel discussion with family members — also had a big
impact. “I decided then that even if I didn’t specifically
become a palliative care doctor, I wanted to learn more
about helping people cope with dying so that I can be
there for my patients when the time comes.”
Lessons Learned
Advancement of palliative care community education is aided by
the Madison-Deane Initiative (MDI) of the VNA, with help from the
Vermont Palliative Care Collaborative. MDI’s cooperative efforts have
produced teaching and resource materials including annual conferences
and lectures as well as the Guide to Palliative Care in Vermont.
“Our medical school has enthusiasm from the
students and that’s what drives change,” Ramsay said.
“There’s an understanding in these upcoming generations —
whether it’s at the fellowship, resident or student level —
that this is really important stuff.”
Alycia Horn’s knowledge of and interest in palliative
care stemmed in part from her experience working as a
home health aide the summer before she started medical
school. She spent time with people who were elderly and
found their views on dying to be vastly different from
those of her peers. “In many cases, the older individuals
just wanted to be comfortable and surrounded by friends
and family. They were OK with the fact that eventually
Vermont Scores Highest
Marks in Palliative Care
Vermont received the highest grade available —an
A with 100% compliance — for having palliative care
programs in all of its hospitals, according to a report by
the Center to Advance Palliative Care and the National
Palliative Care Research Center, which was published
in the October 2008 Journal of Palliative Medicine. The
report’s scores were based on data from the American
Hospital Association. The Center to Advance Palliative
Care describes palliative care as the medical subspecialty
focused on relief of the pain, symptoms, and stress of
serious illness. This approach aims to ensure the highest
quality of life possible for patients and their families,
making treatment available to patients with serious
illness regardless of prognosis and with or without
curative treatment.
26
V E R M O N T
M E D I C I N E
Horn and other students packed into the Case Method
Classroom in the Medical Education Center — with standing
room only at times — to hear the presentations during the
2009 Palliative Care Week.
From learning that people from all walks of life and all
socio-economic strata can be underserved when it comes to
palliative care, to hearing first-hand accounts from family
members who had lost a loved one, to watching a film
about the founders of the hospice movement, to finding
out how to talk to kids about death, students were exposed
to a broad range of topics and perspectives to augment
their formal education.
The week also featured a panel of five physicians who
shared advice on a subject that often worries students:
breaking bad news to patients and families. “Prepare
yourselves before you go into the room,” said Zail Berry,
M.D., Ph.D., a palliative medicine specialist and UVM
clinical associate professor of Medicine. “You want to help
ease them into it. I make sure the look on my face matches
how serious or sad this is.” Students also heard important
perspective from family members. “Telling us what’s going
on is really important because we can see it in your face
anyway,” said Bob Pasco, whose wife died six months after
being diagnosed with esophageal cancer in 2002. “Give it
to us straight.”
Rebecca Brooks, a panel member who cared for her
late husband before his death from lymphoma, said they
received good care at the end of his life but could have used
hospice care earlier on. “The doctors were very direct and
clear,” she said, further noting, “Another plus, the doctors
were able to be genuinely sad when the news was bad.”
Melissa Marotta ’12 was especially interested in the
panel discussion about how to deliver bad news. “When I
started medical school, they asked you about your greatest
fear,” Marotta said. “Giving bad news — that was mine.”
While delivering bad news may never be easy,
with guidance and advice from their teachers Marotta
and her classmates know they’ll be prepared when the
time comes. VM
Raj Chawla, UVM Med Photo
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 a very
different facility across campus in the Medical Education Center, 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.
PHOTORGRAPHER
Bottom:
Raj Chawla,
NAME,
UVM PHOTOGRAPHER
Med Photo
NAME
S P R I N G
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HALL A
PRESIDENT’S CORNER
Recently I received a note from the UVM medical
student who is this year’s recipient of the scholarship
I endowed a couple of years ago and the first line of
the note reads as follows: “As the first in my family to
graduate college, I never imagined that I would
accomplish so much, but it is only with your help.”
This and the rest of the student’s heartfelt letter
elicited many emotions, but the primary one that sticks
with me as I make my way around a cold, windy Chicago
city is the sense of being a helpful part of something
much larger than myself. This letter is my annual
membership card to the continuum of medical education
at the University of Vermont College of Medicine.
Reading student letters inevitably draws one back
to one’s own time in medical school and to thoughts of what it would be like to
be in the short white coat today. I believe that the classmates of my generation
would have loved to have had access to the technological advances and knowledge
available to today’s students — but not at the new price. As if medical school
weren’t test enough of one’s various kinds of intelligence, we now live in an
era of combination — economic, interpersonal, political, and social pressures
that have a profound effect on today’s students. I see this everyday with my own
students here in Chicago.
However, as times like this test us, they also offer the opportunity to assess
and act upon our core beliefs — to determine which things in our life are most
important despite the ephemeral concerns. In 1950, Nobel Laureate William
Faulkner offered a template for responding by noting that writers of the time
seemed preoccupied with nuclear annihilation. Faulkner urged writers instead
to pay more attention to “the old verities and truths of the heart,” among which
he counted “love and honor and pity and pride and compassion and sacrifice.”
Each of these truths is worthy of its own essay, but for my purposes the most
important are compassion and
sacrifice. Through both supporting
“As the first in my family to
and testing me, UVM gave me
graduate college, I never imagined the skills to put my compassion
into action. UVM transformed
that I would accomplish so much,
my desire to care into the
ability
to care.
but it is only with your help.”
Each of us is the
beneficiary of the generosity
of those before us. At times like these, some may find it a little more difficult
to support the next generation of physicians. But at the same time you must ask
yourself: If it hadn’t been for UVM, would I be a doctor? We have a privilege
and responsibility to give the next generation of medical professionals the
advantages others gave to us. Please join me in generously supporting the
College of Medicine and its students at this difficult time.
Ruth Andrea Seeler, M.D.’62
Medical Alumni Association President
“100% of the women in the Class of ’62”
University of Vermont
College of Medicine
development &
alumni relations office
Assistant Dean
Rick Blount
Development Operations Manager
Ginger Lubkowitz
Director, Major Gifts
Manon O’Connor
Director, Medical Annual Giving
Sarah Keblin
Director, Medical Alumni Relations
Cristin Gildea
Development Officer
Travis Morrison
Assistants
Jane Aspinall
James Gilbert
Ben Fuller
University of Vermont
Medical Alumni
Association
alumni executive committee
Officers (Two-Year Terms):
President
Ruth A. Seeler, M.D.’62 (2009–2011)
President-Elect
James C. Hebert, M.D.’77 (2009–2011)
Treasurer
Paul B. Stanilonis, M.D.’65 (2009–2011)
M.D. Class Notes
Upcoming Events
If you have news to share, please contact your class agent or the Medical
Development and Alumni Relations office at [email protected]
or (802) 656-4014. If your email address has changed, please send it
to [email protected].
1943
1949
Francis Arnold Caccavo
(M.D. Dec. 1943)
51 Thibault Parkway
Burlington, VT 05401
(802) 862-3841
[email protected]
’09
James Arthur Bulen
4198 North Longvalley Rd.
Hernando, FL 34442
(352) 746-4513
[email protected]
Carleton R. Haines
(M.D. Dec. 1943)
88 Mountain View Road
Williston, VT 05495
(802) 878-3115
Harry M. Rowe
(M.D. March 1943)
65 Main Street
P.O. Box 755
Wells River, VT 05081
(802) 757-2325
[email protected]
1944
r e u n i on
r e u n i on
’09
Wilton W. Covey
357 Weybridge Street
Middlebury, VT 05753
(802) 388-1555
Joseph C. Foley
32 Fairmount Street
Burlington, VT 05401
(802) 862-0040
[email protected]
Edward S. Sherwood
24 Worthley Road
Topsham, VT 05076
(802) 439-5816
[email protected]
1950
Simon Dorfman
8256 Nice Way
Sarasota, FL 34238
(941) 926-8126
1951
Edward W. Jenkins
Secretary
Mark Pasanen, M.D.’92 (2009–2011)
1945
Executive Secretary
John Tampas, M.D.’54 (ongoing)
Robert E. O’Brien
7460 South Pittsburg Ave.
Tulsa, OK 74136
(918) 492-7960
414 Thayer Beach Road
Colchester, VT 05446
(802) 862-0394
[email protected]
1952
Members-At-Large (6-Year Terms):
Mark Allegretta, Ph.D.’90 (2003–2010)
Naomi R. Leeds, M.D.’00, M.P.H. (2004–2010)
H. James Wallace, III, M.D.’88 (2004–2010)
Suzanne R. Parker, M.D.’73 (2008–2010)
Carleton R. Haines, M.D.’43 (2006–2012)
Jacqueline A. Noonan, M.D.’54 (2006–2012)
Betsy Sussman, M.D.’81 (2007–2012)
Don P. Chan, M.D.’76 (2009–2014)
Leslie S. Kerzner, M.D.’95 (2009–2014)
Frederick Mandell, M.D.’64 (2009–2014)
H. Gordon Page
9 East Terrace
South Burlington, VT 05403
(802) 864-7086
1947
George H. Bray
110 Brookside Road
New Britain, CT 06052
1948
Residency Map, 2008
March 18, 2009
Class of 2009 Dinner
Sheraton Hotel Burlington
March 19, 2009
Match Day — Class of 2009
UVM Campus
April 18, 2009
Alumni Executive Committee Spring Meeting
Burlington, Vt.
April 24, 2009
American College of Physicians Reception
6:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.
Philadelphia Marriott
May 17,
2009
Commencement:
2:30 p.m.,
Ira Allen Chapel
Reception to follow in the Ambulatory Care Center,
Fletcher Allen Health Care
June 12–14, 2009
Medical Reunion 2009
Arthur S. Kunin reports that he’s “still
on my hind-legs. We were well taught,
some 56 years ago. As advanced medicine
becomes more detailed and complex,
our foundation here was excellent.”
1953
Commencement, 2008
Richard N. Fabricius
17 Fairview Road
Old Bennington, VT 05201
(802) 442-4224
F or u pdates on e v ents see :
www.med.uvm.edu/alumni
S. James Baum
1790 Fairfield Beach Road
Fairfield, CT 06430
(203) 255-1013
[email protected]
28
V E R M O N T
M E D I C I N E
UVM Med Photo
S P R I N G
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1954
r e u n i on
1960
’09
HALL A
John E. Mazuzan Jr.
366 South Cove Road
Burlington, VT 05401
(802) 864-5039
[email protected]
1955
Marshall G. London
M.D. CLASS NOTES
102 Summit Street
Burlington, VT 05401
(802) 864-4927
[email protected]
1956
Ira H. Gessner
1306 Northwest 31st Street
Gainesville, FL 32605
(352) 378-1820
[email protected]
Larry Coletti
34 Gulliver Circle
Norwich, CT 06360
(860) 887-1450
[email protected]
Peter Ames Goodhue
Stamford Gynecology, P.C.
70 Mill River Street
Stamford, CT 06902
(203) 359-3340
Clinton Street
P.O. Box 772
Waverly, PA 18471
(570) 563-2215
[email protected]
Martin Bloomfield writes; “Judy and I
are living in Florida and would welcome
old friends: [email protected].”
1965
Larry Schine sends “Greetings to all my
97 Quechee Road
Hartland, VT 05048
(802) 436-2138
[email protected]
classmates from the class of 1960. Drop
by if you are in the area. Winter address:
15743 Loch Maree LN Delray Beach, FL
33446 (561) 498-0361.”
1961
’09
Jay E. Selcow
27 Reservoir Road
Bloomfield, CT 06002
(860) 243-1359
[email protected]
Jay E. Selcow writes: “I’m still enjoying
retirement very much. I teach secondyear medical students at the University of
Connecticut Medical School once a week
and I’m on a planning committee of the
American Academy of Pediatrics, which
puts together board review courses. I visit
frequently with family in San Francisco
and New York City. I am looking forward
to seeing my classmates again at our 50th
Reunion in June 2009.”
M E D I C I N E
George A. Little
Joseph H. Vargas III
574 US Route 4 East
Rutland Town, VT 05701
(802) 775-4671
[email protected]
The UVM COM Fund: Strong Support from
Alumni, Parents and Friends
Alumni pledged over $114,000 this past semester through
the College’s most recent annual fall phonathon, and more
alumni, friends, and parents made end-of-calendar year
pledges in 2008, bringing the total raised, as we passed the
halfway mark for this fiscal year (July 1, 2008 to June 30,
2009), to over $350,000 toward a goal of $725,000.
Online giving gave a boost to donations this December,
as did gifts made in honor and in memory of loved ones.
Young alumni, who are most recently recipients of
financial assistance and programming funded through the
College of Medicine Fund, make up a significant percentage
of donors to the COM Fund — over 10% — an impressive
number for graduates who
are out of medical school
for less than ten years.
1962
Ruth Andrea Seeler
G. Millard Simmons
1967
1963
John F. Dick II
P.O. Box 60
Salisbury, VT 05769
(802) 352-6625
P.O. Box 607
Colchester, VT 05446
(802) 865-9390
[email protected]
1968
H. Alan Walker
229 Champlain Drive
Plattsburgh, NY 12901
(518) 561-8991
David Jay Keller
4 Deer Run
Mendon, VT 05701
(802) 773-2620
[email protected]
1964
’09
Anthony P. Belmont
211 Youngs Point Road
Wiscasset, ME 04578
(207) 882-6228
[email protected]
Timothy John Terrien
14 Deerfield Road
South Burlington, VT 05403
(802) 862-8395
Todd Gladstone
[email protected]
Courtyard Naming Opportunities
Throughout this past fall and early winter, a frequent sight in
the Given Building hallway has been people gazing through
the viewing windows that show the progress of the Courtyard
Building now under construction in the center of Given. The
new building will add much-needed office space and allow for
more extended use of laboratory space within Given. Steelwork
for the 35,000 square-foot structure is complete, and the
building is on schedule for occupation this summer. Several
naming opportunities are available within the Courtyard to
honor philanthropic support of the College of Medicine
missions. To find out more about the conference rooms and
other venues available for naming, please contact the Medical
Development and Alumni Relations Office at (802) 656-4014.
S. Victor Savino reports: “I’ve recently
accepted a position as Chief Medical
Officer at Lovelace Medical Center in
Albuquerque, New Mexico.”
Larner Scholars 2009.
In 1985, Helen and Robert Larner, M.D.’42, established the
Larner Endowment Fund at the College of Medicine. They
were guided by a small set of clear goals: to provide significant
support for financially needy and meritorious students at
Dr. Larner’s medical alma mater, to help as many medical
students as possible, and to create a culture of “giving back.”
Today, the Larner Fund is well into its third decade, and the
fund has changed to help students even more, by providing
loan deferments through residency years, and extended
repayment periods. Some of the latest Larner Scholars
gathered in mid-January for a group photo to honor the
Larners’ efforts.
3165 Grass Marsh Drive
Mount Pleasant, SC 29466
[email protected]
2431 North Orchard
Chicago, IL 60614
(773) 472-3432
[email protected]
generosity as he planned his estate, his legacy will also live
on for years to come at the College of Medicine. Dr. Fishman’s
$50,000 bequest to the College is undesignated, which
will allow its use to fulfill some of the school’s most pressing
current needs. Dr. Fishman was a surgeon who practiced at
both Central Maine Medical Center and St. Mary’s Regional
Medical Center before retiring in 1986.
Larner Scholars Gather in Thanks
Robert George Sellig
31 Overlook Drive
Queensbury, NY 12804
(518) 793-7914
[email protected]
r e u n i on
Development News
1966
John J. Murray
1959
V E R M O N T
Lester H. Wurtele is “Still practicing
radiology, although very part-time.
I was in Stowe for an imaging course in
October. I am playing tennis, traveling
and enjoying grandchildren. I look
forward to our 45th reunion in June.”
Melvyn H. Wolk
17 Chapman Street
Nashua, NH 03060
(603) 882-6202
[email protected]
1958
30
15 West 81st Street
New York, NY 10024
(212) 874-6484
[email protected]
Wilfrid L. Fortin
1957
r e u n i on
Marvin A. Nierenberg
Shelly Weiner is “Looking forward to
seeing everyone at our 45th reunion! If
any classmates are in the Naples, Florida
area this winter, please look us up. Email
Address: [email protected].”
Fishman Gift Meets College’s Current Needs
Louis Fishman, M.D.’50, who passed away in October
2008, left a legacy of more than three decades of care for
his patients in central Maine. Now, thanks to Dr. Fishman’s
Right: Samir Elabd. Left: UVM Med Photo
The Babbott Legacy
The estate of Frank L. Babbott
Jr., M.D., M.P.H., a longtime
faculty member of the College
who died in March of 2008,
has left a sizeable bequest
to the College. Dr. Babbott
was an emeritus clinical
associate professor of
Frank L. Babbott Jr., M.D., M.P.H.
medicine at the College of
Medicine at the time of his
death. He joined the faculty in 1963, after having practiced in
Rochester, N.Y., receiving an M.P.H. degree from the Harvard
School of Public Health, and directing field studies in Alaska,
Finland, and Greenland. The Babbott Family has a name that
is well known to members of the College community; Frank
Babbott’s brother, David Babbott, M.D., is an emeritus
professor of medicine. News about the bequest’s use will
appear in a future Vermont Medicine issue.
S P R I N G
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31
1969
r e u n i on
1972
’09
M.D. CLASS NOTES
HALL A
Susan Pitman Lowenthal
200 Kennedy Drive
Torrington, CT 06790
(860) 597-8996
[email protected]
David Byrne writes: “I’m hoping to retire
F. Farrell Collins Jr.
205 Page Road
Pinehurst, NC 28374
(910) 295-2429
1970
Philip L. Cohen
Raymond Joseph Anton
1521 General Knox Road
Russell, MA 01071
(413) 568-8659
[email protected]
John F. Beamis Jr.
24 Lorena Road
Winchester, MA 01890
(781) 729-7568
[email protected]
1971
Wayne E. Pasanen
117 Osgood Street
North Andover, MA 01845
(978) 681-9393
[email protected]
Wayne E. Pasanen reports: “I am still
VP of medical affairs at Lowell General
Hospital, but I am no longer practicing
in ED. I am now the medical director
of several sites in eastern Massachusetts
providing methadone treatment as well.”
moved back to Vermont and are living
on Joe’s Pond in West Danville. I work
part time in the St. Johnsbury area.
Our son Chris, class of 2002, is an
internist in Burlington.”
James M. Betts
715 Harbor Road
Alameda, CA 94502
(510) 523-1920
[email protected]
1975
Cressey Brazier writes: “My apologies
for not being at our 35th reunion. One
daughter, Cressica, received her masters
in architecture from Columbia University
in May and the other, Shireen, graduated
from University of Oregon Law School.
We are moving to downeast Maine,
home in progress.”
1974
Douglas M. Eddy
5 Tanbark Road
Windham, NH 03087
(603) 434-2164
[email protected]
’09
1976
Don P. Chan
Cardiac Associates of New Hampshire
Suite 103
246 Pleasant Street
Concord, NH 03301
(603) 224-6070
[email protected]
Michael Gerrity writes: “My daughter,
Colleen, just entered her first year at
UVM College of Medicine and is
enjoying it. She seems to be working
harder than I remember working but
its positive culture remains intact.”
23rd Annual Imaging Seminar
September 25–27, 2009
The Stoweflake Resort & Spa
Stowe, Vt.
1980
Northeastern Genitourinary
Oncology Symposium
(Previously the Regional Urologic Cancer
Update Symposium)
April 17–18, 2009
Hilton Conference Center
Burlington, Vt.
7th Annual Northern New England
Critical Care
October 22–24, 2009
The Stoweflake Resort & Spa
Stowe, Vt.
2415 Victoria Gardens
Tampa, FL 33609
[email protected]
Andrew Weber reports: “This year we
vacationed at the Florida Keys for deep
sea fishing and Yellowstone National Park
for fly fishing. We are going to Israel this
winter for gefilte fish.”
1982
David and Sally Murdock
[email protected]
Ronald Blatt writes: “I’m living in
Connecticut with my wife Elise, three
kids (Brandon 6, Gregory 2, Ariella
7 months). My office is in Manhattan,
we’re busy but still having fun.
1977
Mark A. Popovsky
22 Nauset Road
Sharon, MA 02067
(781) 784-8824
[email protected]
1978
1983
Essex Pediatrics, Ltd.
89 Main Street
Essex Junction, VT 05452
(802) 879-6556
Mario Morgado
Women’s Health Issues Conference
May 6–8, 2009
Sheraton Hotel & Conference Center
South Burlington, Vt.
35th Annual Family Medicine
Review Course
June 9–12, 2009
Sheraton Hotel & Conference Center
South Burlington, Vt.
Vermont Summer Pediatric Seminar
June 18–21, 2009
The Equinox
Manchester, Vt.
Primary Care Sports Medicine
September 23–25, 2009
Sheraton Hotel & Conference Center
Burlington, Vt.
Primary Care Behavior Health Conference
November 16, 2009
Sheraton Hotel & Conference Center
Burlington, Vt.
Child Psychiatry for the
Primary Care Physician
November 17, 2009
Sheraton Hotel & Conference Center
Burlington, Vt.
F or information contact :
University of Vermont
Continuing Medical Education
128 Lakeside Avenue Suite 100
Burlington, VT 05405
(802) 656-2292
http://cme.uvm.edu
College of Medicine alumni receive a special 10% discount
on all UVM Continuing Medical Education conferences.
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]
Michael Narkewicz reports: “We have
just returned from dropping our youngest
off at college. I am still in Denver at the
Children’s Hospital. I am excited about
leading a new multicenter study in cystic
fibrosis liver disease, while continuing
to direct the fellowship and pediatric
liver center.”
Paul McLane Costello
M E D I C I N E
Vermont Geriatrics Conference
April 7, 2009
Capitol Plaza
Montpelier, Vt.
Craig Wendell Gage
recently received the National Council on
Quality Assurances Recognition Award.
“Our son Justin lives and works in New
Haven and our daughter, Alex, is a junior
at Brown. Larry and I just came back
from a hiking trip in Patagonia!”
V E R M O N T
Sarah Ann McCarty
2009 Conference Schedule
1018 Big Bend Road
Barboursville, WV 25504
(304) 691-1094
[email protected]
1981
Gail Povar reports that her practice
32
’09
Richard Nicholas Hubbell
Ellen Andrews
Lawrence Moss writes: “I am continuing
as Director of Breast Imaging at UMass
Memorial Health Care in Worcester,
Mass.”
Continuing Medical Education
80 Summit Street
Burlington, VT 05401
(802) 862-5551
[email protected]
195 Midland Road
Pinehurst, NC 28374
(910) 295-6464
[email protected]
483 Lakewood Drive
Winter Park, FL 32789
(407) 628-0221
[email protected]
r e u n i on
r e u n i on
Joe Hebert reports: “Pam and I have
1973
at the end of 2009. Patti and I are looking
forward to the 40th reunion in June!
We are enjoying our four grandchildren.”
1979
Cajsa Schumacher
78 Euclid Avenue
Albany, NY 12203
[email protected]
1984
r e u n i on
1986
’09
Richard C. Shumway
34 Coventry Lane
Avon, CT 06001
(860) 673-6629
[email protected]
1985
Vito D. Imbasciani
1915 North Crescent Heights Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90069
(323) 656-1316
[email protected]
Darrell Edward White
29123 Lincoln Road
Bay Village, OH 44140
(440) 892-4681
[email protected]
Dora Anne Mills writes: “I am happily
continuing to serve the people of Maine
as the state’s public health director for
13 years now. My two children, ages 6
and 9, and my husband ski at Sugarloaf
and enjoy the lake in the summer —
keep life very full and fun.”
S P R I N G
2 0 0 9
33
HALL A
1987
1992
1997
James Michael “Mick” Jaeger returned
Mark Eliot Pasanen
Julie Smail
1234 Spear Street
South Burlington, VT 05403
(802) 865-3281
[email protected]
390 Bridge St.
South Hamilton, MA 01982
(978) 468-1943
[email protected]
to the Department of Anesthesiology at
the University of Virginia after a one-year
sabbatical at the University of Florida
to complete a critical care medicine
fellowship. He hopes to retire from the
Navy reserves next year. “Judy, Lauren
and Audrey are doing well,” he reports.
Please email [email protected]
if you’d like to serve as 1987 class agent.
M.D. CLASS NOTES
1988
H. James Wallace III
416 Martel Lane
St. George, VT 05495
(802) 872-8533
[email protected]
Lawrence I. Wolk
5724 South Nome Street
Greenwood Village, CO 80111
(303) 771-1289
[email protected]
1989
r e u n i on
’09
Peter M. Nalin
13216 Griffin Run
Carmel, IN 46033
(317) 962-6656
[email protected]
Judith Ford Baumhauer recently was
elected the first woman president of the
Eastern Orthopaedic Association (EOA),
a regional professional organization
representing 1,200 orthopaedic surgeons
from Maine to Florida. She is professor
and chief of the Division of Foot and
Ankle Surgery in the Department of
Orthopaedics at the University of
Rochester Medical Center.
1990
Barbara Angelika Dill
120 Hazel Court
Norwood, NJ 07648
(201) 767-7778
[email protected]
Brad Watson
Amy and Jon Martin write: “We have
landed in Hartford, Conn. Jon is a new
staff neurosurgeon at the Children’s
Hospital and I am working part-time
doing radiology in a local private practice
group. Our girls, Elsa (6) and Kate (3)
are thriving! All the best to you!”
[email protected]
Joanna Weinstock reports: “I taught
1993
Joanne Taplin Romeyn
22 Patterson Lane
Durham, CT 06422
(860) 349-6941
1994
r e u n i on
’09
Holliday Kane Rayfield
P.O. Box 819
Waitsfield, VT 05673
(802) 496-5667
[email protected]
1995
Allyson Miller Bolduc
252 Autumn Hill Road
South Burlington, VT 05403
(802) 863-4902
[email protected]
Steven Stetson writes that this has been
an exciting year for him. “It was thrilling
to be a featured surgeon on several
episodes of TLC’s ‘Ten Years Younger’
makeover show this past spring. Friends
Dane Dixon, Warren Wulf and Ted
Mason are doing well also.”
Lynne Tetreault reports: “I am loving
my eleventh year of pediatric practice
in Maine. I got engaged in November,
to Steven Corry, a senior chief in the
coast guard. We plan to make our home
in Maine.”
1996
Anne Marie Valente
66 Winchester St., Apt. 503
Brookline, MA 02446
[email protected]
Patricia Ann King, M.D., Ph.D.
1991
John Dewey
15 Eagle Street
Cooperstown, NY 13326
[email protected]
2009 MAA Awards Announced
832 South Prospect Street
Burlington, VT 05401
(802) 862-7705
[email protected]
first-year students in doctoring skills this
fall semester. Very different with the new
integrated curriculum and standardized
patients (same exam as in “our day”).”
A. Bradley Soule Award
Michael W. Abdalla, M.D.’58
Emeritus Professor and
former Chair of Pediatrics,
University of Kentucky
College of Medicine.
Director of the Prosthetic/Amputee
Clinic and Clinical Professor of Surgery,
UC Irvine School of Medicine.
Orthopedic Surgeon,
Orange Orthopedic Medical Group.
Cheryl M. Coffin, M.D.’80
Halleh Akbarnia
2011 Prairie Street
Glenview, IL 60025
(847) 998-0507
[email protected]
Scott Musicant writes: “Carrie and I
now have two boys. Zachary will be 2
in February and Jacob is 5 months old.
Vascular surgery practice is going well
in San Diego.”
1999
’09
Everett Jonathan Lamm
11 Autumn Lane
Stratham, NH 03885
(603) 929-7555
[email protected]
Deanne Dixon Haag
4215 Pond Road
Sheldon, VT 05483
(802) 524-7528
Service to Medicine & Community Award
Jacqueline A. Noonan, M.D.’54
Distinguished Academic Achievement Award
1998
r e u n i on
At Medical Reunion 2009 in June, ten graduates of the College of Medicine will be honored for their achievements in the clinic,
in research, and in life. More detailed information about each of these recipients will appear in future issues of Vermont Medicine.
Professor of Pathology; Vice-Chair
for Anatomic Pathology; Ernest W.
Goodpasture Professor of Investigative Pathology-Translational
Research, Vanderbilt University
School of Medicine
Mary Cushman, M.D.’89
Director, Thrombosis and
Hematosis Program, Fletcher Allen
Health Care. Professor of Medicine
(Hematology/Oncology) and
Pathology, University of Vermont
College of Medicine.
Avram R. Kraft, M.D.’64
Clinical Associate Professor of
Gastrointestinal and Endocrine
Surgery, Northwestern University
Feinberg School of Medicine. Director,
Center for Compassion in Medical Care
at Evanston Northwestern Healthcare.
Burnett S. Rawson, M.D.’39
Urologist (retired) formerly of Pearl
River, NY. Former Chief of Surgery,
Nyack Hospital in Nyack, New York.
Recent Alumni Award
Jonathan D. Glass, M.D.’84
Darren Bruce Bean, M.D.’99
Director, MDA/ALS Center; Director,
MDA Clinic; Director of the Neuromuscular Division of the Department of Neurology; Professor of
Neurology & Pathology, Emory
University School of Medicine.
Dr. Bean was an emergency medicine
physician in Madison, Wisconsin. He
was killed on May 10, 2008 in the
crash of a Med Flight helicopter that
was making a return trip after safely
delivering a patient to a hospital.
Erik Nelson writes: “Sarah and I are
alive and well and living in Virginia. We
left Boston and MGH last summer and
joined a radiology group in Winchester
at the northern end of the Shenandoah
Valley. We’re enjoying the slower pace,
warmer weather and added time with our
2-year-old daughter, Tenley.”
Ian Greenwald, M.D.’99
Medical Director, Rural Metro Ambulance North Georgia Operations; Sandy
Springs, Ga., and other local fire and
rescue departments. Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine, Emory
University School of Medicine.
Christa Zehle reports: “I continue to love
my work as a pediatric hospitalist here at
Vermont Children’s Hospital. The pediatric
hospitalist program has been successful
and is growing, which is exciting. I hope
to see many of my classmates at our
10-year reunion in 2009.”
Eva H. Lathrop, M.D.’99
Family Planning Fellow & Associate
Professor of Obstetrics & Gynecology,
Emory University School of Medicine.
Clinician, Feminist Women’s Health
Center, Atlanta, Georgia.
Awardees are honored on the MAA display in Given.
34
V E R M O N T
M E D I C I N E
S P R I N G
2 0 0 9
35
HALL A
2000
Jay Edmond Allard
Two Lectureships Inaugurated
USNH Yokosuka
PSC 475 Box 1757
FPO, AP 96350
[email protected]
Honoring the Memory of
a Neurological Pioneer
Michael Jim Lee
71 Essex Lane
Irvine, CA 92620
[email protected]
Naomi R. Leeds
52 Garden St. Apt. 48
Cambridge, MA 02138
[email protected]
M.D. CLASS NOTES
Malcolm Schinstine writes: “My wife,
Lisa, daughter Tori, and I have been living
on the Big Island of Hawaii for over a
year now. I am the medical director of the
laboratory at Hilo Medical Center. Lisa
has become an avid paddler, but I have
yet to take advantage of living in paradise.
Some of the Class of 2000 have visited
and all are welcome!”
2001
Ladan Farhoomand
1481 Regatta Road
Carlsbad, CA 92009
(626) 201-1998
[email protected]
Joel W. Keenan
Greenwich Hospital
Five Perryridge Road
Greenwich, CT 06830
[email protected]
JoAn Louise Monaco
Suite 6-F, 5E
4618 Warwick Blvd.
Kansas City, MO 64112
(816) 753-2410
[email protected]
Anna Murchison writes: “My husband,
training in child psychiatry at NYU in
2007 I was hoping to return to Vermont
(and even bought a new Subaru Outback
to prove it!) but alas, the downside of
subspecialization is urban living. I can’t
complain though — I direct pediatric
consultation liaison psychiatry at the
University of Chicago’s Comer Children’s
Hospital and I am absolutely loving it.
I do miss the Green Mountains. If
anyone’s visiting Chicago please get in
touch [email protected].”
2002
Jonathan Vinh Mai
15 Meadow Lane
Danville, PA 17821
(570) 275-4681
[email protected]
Kerry Lee Landry
(919) 732-9876
[email protected]
Mary O’Leary Ready
[email protected]
Maureen C. Sarle
Jurij, and I welcomed a new member into
our family this spring, Alexandra.”
[email protected]
Jennifer Juhl Majersik reports: “Loren,
and our two boys (Max 3, Emmett, 1)
and I have moved from Ann Arbor,
Mich., to Salt Lake City, Utah. I’ve
accepted a position as an assistant
professor in neurology and will be
researching stroke genetics. Loren will
be telecommuting to Michigan for
General Motors. Come Visit!
[email protected].”
in January 2008, and I am working in
two busy emergency departments in the
Phoenix area and I am serving as the
medical director of the Tempe Fire
Department. I am also expecting a boy
in December 2008.”
Christina Manning (Scully) and Peter
Manning (2003) report: “We are living
in Kennebunk with our two kids (Noah,
4, and Kathryn, 21 months) and enjoying
life by the sea. We miss the mountains of
Vermont, though, and come back to hike
and ski when we can.”
36
Paul Jones writes: “After finishing
V E R M O N T
M E D I C I N E
Thuan Nguyen writes: “I got married
2003
Omar Khan
2004
r e u n i on
Jillian S. Sullivan
[email protected]
Steven D. Lefebvre
[email protected]
2005
Julie A. Alosi
[email protected]
Richard J. Parent
[email protected]
2006
William C. Eward
[email protected]
Deborah Rabinowitz
debbie.rabinowitz@ uvm.edu
Good news from Elaine Stone Parker.
She was wed to Mr. Benjamin Elias on
November 16, 2008.
2007
(Above, left) David McFadden, M.D., Mark Ferguson, M.D., Martin Wennar, M.D., and Carol Streeter at the inaugural Wennar Lecture.
(Above, right) Dr. Ferguson spoke on surgical professionalism.
Allison Collen
[email protected]
Wennar Endows Examination of Medical Professionalism
Scot Millay
[email protected]
A combination of current and estate gifts totaling more
than $250,000 from Martin Wennar, M.D., retired St. Albans
surgeon and clinical associate professor of surgery at the
College of Medicine, supports the annual Martin H. Wennar,
M.D. Lectureship in Professionalism at UVM, as well as related
educational activities that encourage professionalism among
physicians and other health professionals. The inaugural
Martin H. Wennar, M.D. Lectureship in Professionalism was
held Thursday, January 8 in the Davis Auditorium in the
Medical Education Center at the University of Vermont/
Fletcher Allen Health Care. Featured speaker Mark Ferguson,
M.D., Professor of Thoracic Surgery at the University of
Chicago, discussed “Surgical Professionalism: Unmasking the
Hidden Curriculum through Improved Clinical Decisions.”
2008
Mark Hunter
21 Lindenwood Drive
South Burlington, VT 05403
[email protected]
33 Clearwater Circle
Shelburne, VT 05482
(802) 985-1131
[email protected]
Alyssa Wittenberg
Scott Goodrich
Ashley Zucker
309 Barben Avenue
Watertown, NY 13601
[email protected]
’09
Faculty, friends, students, and alumni of the
College gathered on November 13, 2008 to honor
the memory of the founding chairman of the
Department of Neurology with the inaugural
George A. Schumacher Lectureship. Dr. Schumacher
became the first professor of neurology at the
College in 1950, and chaired the Department of
Neurology from 1969 to his retirement in 1978.
The focus of his academic and clinical scholarship
was multiple sclerosis, and the Schumacher
Criteria is still widely used in establishing diagnosis.
(Above, left) Fred D. Lublin, M.D. gave the first Schumacher lecture.
(Above, right) Schumacher family members Heidi, Cajsa, and Jeff with
Fred D. Lublin, M.D., professor of neurology at
Dean Morin and Chair of Neurology Robert Hamill, M.D.
New York’s Mount Sinai School of Medicine gave
the inaugural lecture on “New Horizons in Treating
Schumacher, M.D., are both members of the College’s class of
MS: A Different Take on Holism.” The event was made possible
1974, and his granddaughters Erika and Heidi are members
by a gift from the Schumacher family. Dr. Schumacher’s son
of the classes of 2008 and 2010, respectively.
and daughter-in-law, Jeff Schumacher, M.D., and Cajsa
7649 Briarcrest Lane
Orange, CA 92869
[email protected]
2209 Albany Street
Durham, NC 27705
[email protected]
Mario Morgado
Raj Chawla, UVM Med Photo
Dr. Wennar, who practiced general surgery in St. Albans
from 1976 until his retirement in 2002, received his medical
degree from Albany Medical College. A champion of formalized
quality improvement initiatives in the community hospital
setting, Dr. Wennar was responsible for introducing
gastrointestinal endoscopy and minimally invasive surgery
to Northwestern Medical Center in St. Albans, Vt. Dr. Wennar
served as President of the Franklin County Medical Society
and served on the Board of Governors of the American College
of Surgeons. He founded and currently chairs the Martin H.
Wennar, M.D. Health Education Scholarship Fund, which,
since 1980, has provided scholarship aid to Franklin County,
Vt.-area students entering health-related fields. He has
participated in teaching medical students at UVM since 1996.
S P R I N G
2 0 0 9
37
Obituaries
OBITUARIES
HALL A
Nathaniel Gould, M.D.’37 38
Dr. Gould, an
internationally
renowned
orthopaedic
surgeon, died in
Birmingham, Ala.,
on November 1,
2008. He was 95. Dr. Gould had been a
resident of Brookdale Place in Homewood
for the past three years. A native of Barre,
Vermont, he entered general practice
in the farming community of Barnet,
from his graduation from the College of
Medicine in 1937 until May, 1941. After
enlistment in the U.S. Army prior to Pearl
Harbor, he was initially stationed in Iceland
with American troops to protect the
shipping lanes of the Lend-Lease program
to England. In 1943, he was reassigned
to England where he became the Chief of
Orthopaedics at the 168th Station Hospital.
He returned to the United States in
1945 and relocated his practice to
St. Johnsbury, Vermont until 1950, when
he obtained his formal residency training
in New York and Boston. After practicing
at the Massachusetts General, he became
the Chief of Orthopaedics at the Brockton
Hospital in Massachusetts, remaining at
that location until 1975. After a year with
Care-Medico in Tunisia, North Africa
treating children with club feet, in the
Dominican Republic, and finally in Israel
as a foot and ankle consultant, he joined
the full time faculty of the University of
Vermont, Department of Orthopaedics
in Burlington, where he remained for
the next ten years, retiring as Associate
Professor Emeritus. In 1969, he initiated
the founding of the American Orthopaedic
Foot (and Ankle) Society and served as its
third President. He was a founder of the
Orthopaedic Research Society, Eastern
Orthopaedic Association, New England
Orthopaedic Society, and the Vermont
Orthopaedic Society. Dr. Gould was
recognized by Orthopaedics Today as
its first selection for its “Pioneers in
Orthopaedics” series, and by the University
of Vermont Medical Alumni Association
as a 2002 Academic Achievement Award
recipient.
V E R M O N T
M E D I C I N E
Ethan V. Howard Jr., M.D.’44
Dr. Howard died Oct. 9, 2008, at his
home in Bow, N.H. He was born Jan. 12,
1921, in Burlington, Vt., and graduated
from Burlington High School, Class of
1937. He earned his bachelor’s of science
degree from the University of Vermont
in 1941 and his M.D. from the University
of Vermont, College of Medicine, in
1944. He served his internship at the
Bishop DeGoesbriand Hospital in
Burlington. After his military service,
he served a year residency at Elliot
Hospital and went on to establish a
private practice in Manchester, N.H..
He closed his practice in 1971 and served
at the VA Hospital until retirement.
Dr. Howard was a member of Manchester
and Hillsborough County Medical
Societies, the Manchester Board of Health
and served on the board of directors
for the Salvation Army. He was a past
president of Elliot Hospital Staff in the
1960s, and was a former trustee of the
Manchester Visiting Nurse Association.
George Stedman Huard M.D.’46 Dr. Huard died on November 30, 2008,
at Eisenhower Memorial Hospital in
Rancho Mirage. Calif. He was born
on August 30, 1922 in Burlington, Vt.
After graduating from the College of
Medicine in 1946, he was drafted into
the Army and served as a flight surgeon
at West Point. Following his discharge, he
completed an internship at the Huntington
Memorial Hospital in Pasadena, Calif. He
practiced medicine for 62 years, attending
to patients in Pasadena, Beverly Hills, and
ultimately Palm Springs. He retired from
practice at age 85.
Anthony L. Danza, M.D.’49
Dr. Danza, a longtime resident of New
Rochelle, N.Y., died on November 2,
2008. He was a retired general and
thoracic surgeon.
Louis Fishman, M.D.’50
Dr. Fishman died Oct. 6, 2008 at his
home in Auburn, Maine. He was born in
Detroit, Mich., on March 24, 1922. In
the 1930s, he moved with his family to
Burlington, Vt. Educated in Burlington
schools, he graduated from Burlington
High School, Class of 1941, and the
University of Vermont, Class of 1944.
During World War II, he served in the
U.S. Navy as a communications officer,
and was discharged as an ensign. In 1950,
he graduated from the University of
Vermont College of Medicine, and after
his internship and residency programs
opened a solo practice in thoracic surgery
in Lewiston. Board certified in both
general and thoracic surgery, he was on
the staff of Central Maine Medical
Center and the courtesy staff at St. Mary’s
Regional Medical Center. He eventually
served as both the president of the
medical staff and as chief of surgery
at CMMC, retiring in 1986.
Norman O. Gauvreau, M.D.’50
Dr. Gauvreau died on Sept. 22, 2008 in
Portland, Maine, where he had recently
moved. He was born on Jan. 16, 1921,
in Lewiston, Maine. During his military
service in World War II, he flew over
100 combat missions in the Solomon
Islands and Philippine Islands, flying F4U
Corsairs with his flight squadron. After
the war, he returned to Pensacola Naval
Air Station in Florida, where he served as
a flight instructor. From 1946 to 1950, he
flew P-47 fighter aircraft with the Vermont
Air National Guard in Burlington,
Vt. He later attained the distinction of
serving as a commissioned officer in all
four branches of the Armed Services:
Marine Corps fighter pilot, Army Air
Corps Reserve fighter pilot, Air Force
reserve fighter pilot, Navy physician,
and also as a member of the U.S. Coast
Guard Auxiliary. In 1946, he graduated
from Bowdoin College and entered the
University of Vermont College of Medicine.
From 1956 to 1958, he interrupted his
general medical practice in Lewiston,
Maine, to pursue a residency in obstetrics
and gynecology at Cambridge City Hospital
in Cambridge, Mass. He returned to
Lewiston and reestablished his medical
practice with a specialty in obstetrics and
gynecology. During his practice, he served
as chief of obstetrics and gynecology at St.
Mary’s Hospital in Lewiston, was on the
courtesy staff at Central Maine Medical
Center, and was designated the Maine
Section Chairman of the American
College of Obstetrics and Gynecology.
He retired from medical practice in 1990.
A. Frederick Friedman, M.D.’53
William Halpern, Ph.D.
Dr. Friedman died at his home in
Norwell, Mass., on November 21, 2008.
He was 91. Dr. Friedman was a retired
internal medicine physician.
Dr. Halpern died
on July 29, 2008,
at the age of 84,
after a brief
struggle with
pancreatic cancer.
After graduating
from City College of New York in 1944,
he served two years in the U.S. Navy as
an electronic technician, and then taught
at Rutgers University while receiving
his M.Sc. in electrical engineering. He
entered the industrial sphere in 1948
where, among other projects, he worked
on the development of airborne submarine
detectors and the first gyroscope permitting
flights over the polar route. In 1953, he
established a company that developed
several novel instruments for remote
measurement of blood pressure, and the
early detection of breast cancer. After
selling his company in 1960, he joined
Beckman Instruments in Palo Alto, Calif.
as chief applications engineer. Pursuing
his love of physiology, he received an
M.S. degree from Stanford in 1966.
Dr. Halpern continued his academic
pursuits at the University of Vermont,
where he met Dr. Norman Alpert and
received a Ph.D. in Physiology and
Biophysics in 1969. He spent the next
21 years on the faculty of the College of
Medicine, teaching and training many
students and postdoctoral associates as he
ascended to the rank of full professor.
His research was continually funded
by numerous grants from the National
Institutes of Health and the American
Heart Association, and the Halpern
laboratory was a spawning ground for a
number of successful scientists. He served
on several NIH Study Sections, and on
the editorial board of prestigious journals
such as Circulation Research (1983–1990),
Hypertension (1981–1983), and Blood
Vessels (1980–1991; now, the Journal of
Vascular Research). In 1997, Dr. Halpern
was inducted into the Vermont Academy
of Science and Engineering.
He was an inventor, and a pioneer
of in vitro vascular methodology. He is
recognized internationally for his many
contributions to the field of scientific
instrumentation, and resistance artery
biology in health and disease.
Dr. Halpern lectured widely on his
scientific investigations in the United
States, as well as in Australia, Asia and
Europe and, after retiring from the
University of Vermont in 1990, founded
David W. Fagell, M.D.’58 Dr. Fagell died on October 23, 2008 after
a lengthy illness. He was 76. Dr Fagell
lived in Lynnfield and Chilmark, Mass.,
and practiced surgery for many years.
Artemas J.W. Packard, M.D.’60 Dr. Packard, known as “Tim” to his
friends and family, died at his home in
Plaistow, N.H. on Oct. 29, 2008. He was
75. Born in Hanover, N.H., Dr. Packard
received his B.S. from the University of
Vermont in 1956, and his M.D. from the
College of Medicine in 1960. He served
in the U.S. Army as a Lieutenant Colonel
and Flight Surgeon from 1962 until
1987. Dr. Packard’s career focused on
practicing family medicine, concluding
with a private practice in Plaistow, with
additional endeavors in forensic as well
as aviation medicine.
Otis P. Tibbetts, M.D.’67
Dr. Tibbetts died suddenly on September
3, 2008 at his home in Auburn, Maine.
He was 72. Dr. Tibbetts was graduated
from the U.S. Military Academy at West
Point in 1959. That year, a small group of
cadets sought commissions in the Marine
Corps, the first to be allowed to join in
this manner since 1814. He was one of
seven Marine officers commissioned June
3, 1959. After his discharge from the U.S.
Marine Corps, he decided to pursue a
career in medicine. He graduated from
the College of Medicine in 1967, and
interned at Maine Medical Center in
Portland the following year. Deciding to
go into anesthesiology, he completed his
residency in Johnstown, Penna. in 1971,
and moved his family to Auburn, where
he practiced anesthesia at Central Maine
Medical Center for the next 30 years,
retiring in 2001. He was a member of
the Maine Medical Association, The
St. Andrews Society, The Mayflower
Society, The Androscoggin Fish and
Game Association, American Society of
Anesthesiology and The Association of
Graduates of the U.S. Military Academy
at West Point.
Living Systems Instrumentation, where he
continued to work until only a few weeks
before his death. As a person, he was a
gentle, thoughtful man with a unique
sense of humor and an observant eye. He
reveled in life’s idiosyncrasies and ironies,
loved to dance, and was a good friend to
many. With his passing, the world has
lost an original thinker, an outstanding
scientist, and a fine man.
—Prof. George Osol, Ph.D.
Peter A. Felder, M.D.’69 Dr. Felder died in early November, 2008.
He practiced radiology for many years in
Waukegan, Ill.
Timothy J. Wargo, M.D.’74
Dr. Wargo died on Sept. 1, 2008, the
day before his 61st birthday, at the
Worcester UMass Medical Center. A long
time Fayston, Vt., resident, he will be
remembered as a dedicated physician and
healer, pioneer in integrative medicine,
spiritual leader, storyteller, gaming and
paddling enthusiast, and a resonant
voice in his community. He owned and
operated a family medical practice in
Waitsfield, and was the music minister
for Our Lady of Snows Church.
Faculty
Raymond F. Kuhlmann, M.D.
Dr. Kuhlmann passed away peacefully at
his South Burlington home on August 16,
2008. He was 94. He received his medical
degree from Washington University in
St. Louis, Mo. Following completion of
a surgical internship at the University of
Minnesota, he enlisted in the Army and
served as a general surgeon on the Island
of Aruba during World War II. After
completion of an orthopaedic residency
program at the Massachusetts General
Hospital he moved with his family to
Vermont. He entered the practice of
orthopaedics in Burlington with Dr. John
Bell, as one of only three orthopaedists in
the state of Vermont, and later established
a solo practice in Burlington, in addition
to his work as a faculty member at the
College of Medicine. He was active in
the Vermont medical community, helping
staff the Health Department’s Crippled
Children’s Clinics around the state
and served as Acting Chairman of the
College of Medicine Department of
Orthopaedic Surgery.
S P R I N G
2 0 0 9
39
January 20, 2009
12:07 p.m.
Medical students and their family members gather in the student lounge to watch the
swearing-in of the nation’s 44th president.
photograph by Raj Chawla
40
V E R M O N T
M E D I C I N E
Your Generosity Makes a Real Difference
Though the thank-you notes are addressed to Ruth Seeler, M.D.’62 in her role as Medical Alumni Association
president, the many cards that arrive each semester from grateful students are really written to the hundreds
of alumni and friends who have supported the College of Medicine Fund. These students have just begun the long,
hard journey to becoming a physician. They’re grateful, not only for the chance to attend medical school, but also for
all the acts of generosity every year that help provide them with financial help along
the way.
As Dr. Seeler notes, it is this important assistance that, in a very real way,
helps transform the desire to care into the ability to care for many graduates.
For more information on how you can support
scholarships through the UVM College of
Medicine Fund, contact Sarah Keblin:
(802) 656-0802 | [email protected]
University of Vermont College of Medicine
Medical Development & Alumni Relations Office
(802) 656-4014 | [email protected]
www.med.uvm.edu/giving
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PROFILES IN GIVING
Giving Back, With Thanks
In the five decades since he received his medical degree, Richard G. Caldwell, M.D.’60 has helped countless patients
in need of the healing hands of a skilled surgeon. As a family, the Caldwells have offered a helping hand to many
others through their philanthropy.
That commitment to service led them to fund the Richard G. and Carol Caldwell Breast Center in Park Ridge, Ill.
It has also led the Caldwells to be consistent donors to the College of Medicine, in recognition of the important role
education played in Dr. Caldwell’s successful career. The Richard G. Caldwell, M.D. Family Scholarship is an endowed
fund that will assist medical students in perpetuity on their paths to becoming physicians.
For more information about how you can
support the College of Medicine 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