The University of Vermont Medical Group at Fletcher Allen recently presented research and education awards to seven of its physician members to recognize their exceptional teaching and research efforts. The UVM Medical Group consists of approximately 450 physicians from all fields of medicine devoted to advancing patient care through clinical and laboratory research, and educating the next generation of providers.
“These awards recognize the important scholarship of our members in addition to the excellent patient care they provide,” said Howard Schapiro, MD, interim president of the UVM Medical Group and interim senior associate dean for Clinical Affairs at the University of Vermont. “The value of having an academic medical center is rooted in the expertise and professionalism our physicians develop through research and teaching, and how that expertise provides direct benefits to patients and improves the education of medical students, residents and fellows.”
These two awards each come with a $50,000 grant funded by Fletcher Allen for two years of medical research. They were created to help align the academic missions of Fletcher Allen and the UVM College of Medicine and enhance multidisciplinary and multi-department projects.
This year’s two winning teams are:
• Isabelle Desjardins, MD, medical director of Inpatient Psychiatry and and associate professor. She leads a team of researchers developing a suicide risk assessment tool that attempts to model the critical thinking of psychologists and psychiatrists. An additional goal of the project is creating a uniform assessment tool across different hospital settings that can be used by providers who are not psychiatrists.
• David Krag, MD, surgical oncologist and S.D. Ireland Professor of Surgery. He is leading a team including Bruce Tranmer, MD and Steven Emmons, MD, that is researching the use of vaccines in treating glioblastoma, the most common and most
Research and Education Recognition Awards
Winners each receive a $1,000 cash prize and a $3,000 research grant.
Junior Researchers of the Year
• Kalev Freeman, MD, PhD, emergency medicine specialist and assistant professor at the UVM College of Medicine. Dr. Freeman is principal investigator of the Trauma Physiology Laboratory and director of emergency medicine research. His current research focus is on vascular changes following traumatic brain injury.
• Renee Stapleton, MD, PhD, pulmonologist and critical care physician, and assistant professor of medicine. Her research interests include end-of-life preferences in patients with chronic illness, and the role of nutrition in critical care.
Senior Researcher of the Year
Winner receives $1,500 cash and a $6,000 education grant
• Mary Cushman, MD, medical director of the Thrombosis and Hemostasis Program at Fletcher Allen, and professor of medicine and pathology. She is recognized as a leading expert in cardiovascular disease epidemiology and has a particular interest in racial and ethnic disparities.
CME Educator of the Year
Winner receives $1,500 cash and a $6,000 education grant.
• Mark Hamlin, MD, director of Anesthesia Critical Care, medical director of Respiratory Care Services and associate professor of anesthesiology. He has twice received the Anesthesiology Teacher of the Year Award and is course co-director for Northern New England Critical Care conferences.
GME Teacher of the Year
Winner receives $1,500 cash and a $6,000 education grant.
• John Lawrence, MD, pediatric surgeon and associate professor of surgery. He has received numerous teaching awards in his career and is known for challenging residents and students to think thoroughly about each patient encounter, and for holding them to high standards.
Fletcher Allen Health Care, together with our partners at the University of Vermont College of Medicine and the College of Nursing and Health Sciences, is Vermont’s academic medical center. Fletcher Allen, along with Central Vermont Medical Center, CVPH Medical Center and Elizabethtown Community Hospital, are members of Fletcher Allen Partners, established to develop a more coordinated system of care throughout the region. Fletcher Allen’s mission is to improve the health of the people in the communities it serves by integrating patient care, education and research in a caring environment. Fletcher Allen also serves as a regional referral center -- providing advanced care to approximately one million people in Vermont and northern New York -- and as a community hospital for approximately 150,000 residents in Chittenden and Grand Isle counties.
Located in Burlington, the University of Vermont College of Medicine was founded in 1822 as the nation’s seventh medical school. One of only 137 medical schools in the US, the College and teaching hospital Fletcher Allen Health Care comprise Vermont’s academic medical center, where more than one-third of Vermont’s physicians were educated or trained. Enrollment currently includes 449 medical students, 147 graduate and post-doctoral students, and 290 residents and fellows. The College received $78 million in external research funding in 2011, and employs 762 full-time faculty and 415 staff, with over 1100 part-time faculty participating in medical education of students around the region.
