On Thursday, March 19, University of Vermont medical students, residents and faculty gathered to close one chapter of medical education and open the next at the annual Student Clinician Ceremony. The event allows students to pause and recognize the responsibility inherent in becoming a physician by distinguishing and formally recognizing their mentors through presentation of the Arnold P. Gold Foundation Humanism and Excellence in Teaching Award. Members of the Class of 2016, who are completing their clerkship year, honored residents who contributed to their education, as well as welcomed the Class of 2017, who are beginning their clerkships. The ceremony took place in Davis Auditorium at the University of Vermont Medical Center.
Following opening remarks from William Jeffries, Ph.D., senior associate dean for medical education, students heard from Mark Levine, M.D., UVM associate dean for graduate medical education and professor of medicine. The keynote speaker was UVM’s 2014 Leonard Tow Humanism in Medicine Award recipient, A. Evan Eyler, M.D., M.P.H., professor of psychiatry and family medicine.
To mark the beginning of clerkships at the College’s four clinical training sites – UVM Medical Center, Danbury and Norwalk Hospitals in Connecticut, St. Mary’s Medical Center in West Palm Beach, Fla., and Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor – members of the Class of 2017 were presented with a gift.
By reciting the Oath they first uttered upon receiving their white coats, the Class of 2017 reaffirmed a commitment to professionalism and respect for patients, fellow students, and teachers as they begin the clinical care and decision-making component of the Vermont Integrated Curriculum. During the next 12 months, they will receive training in surgery, internal medicine, neurology, psychiatry, family medicine, pediatrics, and obstetrics and gynecology. In addition, they will participate in four “Bridge” courses, which cover topics such as patient safety; evidence-based medicine; simulation; palliative care; global health; professionalism; health care finance and other topics.
Levine and Tania Bertsch, M.D., associate dean for clinical education and professor of medicine, presented the Arnold P. Gold Foundation Humanism and Excellence in Teaching Awards to six residents who were selected based on votes from members of the Class of 2016. A number of residents from the UVM Medical Center and affiliate sites were nominated for the award.
The 2015 Arnold P. Gold Foundation Humanism and Excellence in Teaching Award winners are:
Salman Al Jerdi, M.D., neurology at UVM Medical Center, completed a pre-medical program in 2008 and earned a medical degree, both from Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar in 2012. He received the Resident Teaching Award in May 2013 from the UVM College of Medicine Class of 2014 as an instructor of neurology. In 2015, he plans to begin research on the topic of “Next generation genomic sequencing of cluster headache pedigrees.”
Mayo Fujii, M.D.’13, surgery at UVM Medical Center, graduated from Middlebury College in 2005 with a B.A. in Neuroscience and earned her M.D. from UVM in 2013. She was the inaugural recipient of the Mildred A. Reardon M.D. Award for service to the College of Medicine in 2013. She is currently working on a quality improvement project on “Evaluating Surgical Resident Practice Habits” and is an inaugural resident member of the UVM Medical Center’s Medication Safety Subcommittee.
Zachary Kanouse, M.D., surgery at UVM Medical Center, earned his medical degree from the University of Louisville School of Medicine in 2011 and his B.A. in Biology with a minor in Environmental Studies from Transylvania University in 2007. His study, titled “Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction Practices of South Asian Association of Regional Cooperation Knee Surgeons: A Pilot Study,” was published in the Journal of Orthopaedics. In addition, his work on “Total Knee Arthroplasty in Motivated Patients with Knee Osteoarthritis and Athletic Activity Approach Type Goals: A Conceptual Decision-Making Model,” was published in Disability and Rehabilitation.
Lynn Pesta, M.D., medicine at UVM Medical Center, graduated from Western Michigan University in 2006 with a B.S. in Biological Sciences with a minor in Chemistry and earned her medical degree in 2012 from Wayne State University School of Medicine in Detroit, Mich. She is currently on the Wellness Committee at the UVM Medical Center, helping to create a supportive environment for residents and organizing outside activities to promote social connections.
Mark Schwayder, M.D., pediatrics at UVM Medical Center, acquired his medical degree in 2012 from Oregon Health and Science University School of Medicine, received an M.S. degree in Computer Science in 2004 and completed two undergraduate degrees in Computer Science and Philosophy in 2002, all at Tufts University. He was the first in his class in medical school to be inducted into the Gold Humanism Honor Society and is certified in neonatal resuscitation.
Christopher Trevino, M.D., neurology at UVM Medical Center, earned a medical degree from Baylor College of Medicine in 2013 and a B.S. in Chemistry and Biology in 2009 from University of Texas-Pan American, graduating with honors. He’s been honored with the Preliminary Internal Medicine Resident of the Year in 2014 and the Good Catch Award in 2014 from the UVM Medical Center. He is a resident member of the American Academy of Neurology and active member of the Society of Neuro-Oncology.
Nominees for the 2015 Arnold P. Gold Foundation Humanism and Excellence in Teaching Award are:
Anesthesiology
Nicholas Reynolds, M.D., UVM Medical Center
Internal Medicine
Omar Shri Buddhu, M.D., Danbury Hospital
Barbara Decker, M.D., UVM Medical Center
Edward Dunbar, M.D., UVM Medical Center
James Enser, M.D., UVM Medical Center
Glenda Euceda, M.D., Danbury Hospital
Brendan Everett, M.D., UVM Medical Center
Jonathan Halevy, M.D., UVM Medical Center
Marcus Hook, M.D., UVM Medical Center
Damon Houghton, M.D., UVM Medical Center
Bradley Jones, M.D., UVM Medical Center
Lirum Krveshi, M.D., Danbury Hospital
Rachel McEntee, M.D.’12, UVM Medical Center
Michael Martinelli, M.D., Danbury Hospital
Katherine Menson, M.D., UVM Medical Center
Maria Milan, M.D., Danbury Hospital
Lynn Pesta, M.D., UVM Medical Center
Nicholas Phillips, M.D.’14, UVM Medical Center
Jeremy Porter, M.D., UVM Medical Center
Samreen Raza, M.D., UVM Medical Center
Patrick Sandiford, M.D., UVM Medical Center
Tara Scribner-Metcalf, M.D., UVM Medical Center
Joshua Stopak, M.D., UVM Medical Center
Samuel Stoyak, M.D., UVM Medical Center
Moussa Takla, M.D., UVM Medical Center
Susanna Thach, M.D.’13, UVM Medical Center
Gayathri Thampatty, M.D., UVM Medical Center
W. Gabriel Tharp, M.D., Ph.D.’14, UVM Medical Center
Natalia Usatii, M.D., Danbury Hospital
Matthew Vanderloo, MD, UVM Medical Center
Kaitlyn Vennard, MD, UVM Medical Center
Matthias Wacker, MD, UVM Medical Center
Jonathan Wilfong, MD, UVM Medical Center
Dmitry Yaranov, M.D., Danbury Hospital
Family Medicine
Rudxandra Aguiar, M.D., Danbury Hospital
Raymond Baxter, M.D., Eastern Maine Medical Center
John (Jay) Chisholm, M.D., UVM Medical Center
Erin Feller, M.D., UVM Medical Center
Lincoln Heath, M.D.’12, UVM Medical Center
Kuang-Ning (Annie) Huang, M.D.’13, UVM Medical Center
Brady Didion, M.D., UVM Medical Center
Catherine Kelley, M.D.’13, UVM Medical Center
Gordon Powers, M.D., UVM Medical Center
David Reisman, M.D.’14, UVM Medical Center
Peter Wilhelm, M.D.’08, UVM Medical Center
Katie Wright, M.D.’13, Eastern Maine Medical Center
Neurology
Salman Al Jerdi, M.D., UVM Medical Center
Ali Babi, M.D., UVM Medical Center
Edward Boyer, M.D., UVM Medical Center
Adam Darby, M.D., UVM Medical Center
Mario Pizzini, M.D., UVM Medical Center
Kiran Rajneesh, M.D., UVM Medical Center
Erica Sweet, M.D., UVM Medical Center
Christopher Trevino, M.D., UVM Medical Center
Obstetrics-Gynecology
Sara Buhmaid, M.D., UVM Medical Center
Victoria Chase, M.D., UVM Medical Center
Nicolas Garol, M.D., UVM Medical Center
Karina Haber, M.D., Danbury Hospital
Holli Jakalow, M.D., UVM Medical Center
Bronwyn Kenny, M.D., UVM Medical Center
Candice Lovato, M.D., Danbury Hospital
Lauren MacAfee, M.D., UVM Medical Center
Kelly McCaffery, M.D., UVM Medical Center
Laura Merrill, M.D., UVM Medical Center
Corrie Miller, M.D., Danbury Hospital
Sarah Moses, M.D., UVM Medical Center
Lia Nelson, M.D., UVM Medical Center
Adrian Salinas, M.D., Danbury Hospital
Brooke Schlappe, M.D., UVM Medical Center
Brandon Seagle, M.D., Danbury Hospital
Vaya Tanamai, M.D., Danbury Hospital
Lorraine Toner, M.D., Danbury Hospital
Judy Yeh, M.D., Danbury Hospital
Pediatrics
Daniela Chan, M.D., UVM Medical Center
Ross Cleveland, M.D., UVM Medical Center
Rachel Cohen, M.D., UVM Medical Center
Jennifer Covino, M.D.’13, UVM Medical Center
Shannon Evans, M.D., UVM Medical Center
Lauren- Faricy, M.D., UVM Medical Center
Allison Foertsch, M.D., UVM Medical Center
Whitney Irwin, M.D., UVM Medical Center
Jamie Mehringer, M.D., UVM Medical Center
Rachel Millner, M.D., UVM Medical Center
Colleen Moran, M.D.’11, UVM Medical Center
Sean Pyper, M.D., UVM Medical Center
Peter Reed, M.D., UVM Medical Center
Courtney Riley, M.D., UVM Medical Center
Mark Shwayder, M.D., UVM Medical Center
Michelle Yang, M.D., UVM Medical Center
Psychiatry
Michael Boggs, M.D., UVM Medical Center
Christopher Bondi, M.D., UVM Medical Center
Dustin Dippen, M.D., UVM Medical Center
Patricia Fintak, M.D., UVM Medical Center
Sarah Guth, M.D.’11, UVM Medical Center
Julia Knight, M.D., Ph.D.’13, UVM Medical Center
Amber Kostial, M.D., UVM Medical Center
Jessica Oehlke, M.D., UVM Medical Center
Sara Pawlowski, M.D., UVM Medical Center
Molly Rovin, M.D.’14, UVM Medical Center
Anjali Varigonda, M.D.’14, UVM Medical Center
Surgery
Christopher Birch, M.D., UVM Medical Center
Khaldoun Bekdache, M.D., Danbury Hospital
Stuart Blackwood, M.D., Danbury Hospital
John Brunkhorst, M.D., UVM Medical Center
Alfred Croteau, M.D., UVM Medical Center
Larson Erb, M.D.’12, UVM Medical Center
Mayo Fujii, M.D.’13, UVM Medical Center
Nathan Grohmann, M.D., UVM Medical Center
Fuyuki Hirashima, M.D., UVM Medical Center
Jessie Janowski, M.D.’10, UVM Medical Center
Zachary Kanouse, M.D., UVM Medical Center
Stacey Keith, M.D., UVM Medical Center
Rebecca Kirschner, M.D., UVM Medical Center
Chit-ta Lin, M.D., UVM Medical Center
Sarah Lomas, M.D.’09, UVM Medical Center
Nathan Mauser, M.D., UVM Medical Center
Bryan Monier, M.D., UVM Medical Center
Charles Parsons, M.D., UVM Medical Center
Reshma Patel, M.D., UVM Medical Center
Alejandra Perez-Tamayo, M.D., UVM Medical Center
Sarah Pesek, M.D., UVM Medical Center
Joseph Platz, M.D.’11, UVM Medical Center
Diego Ramos-Valadez, M.D., UVM Medical Center
David Stockwell, M.D., UVM Medical Center
Sean Wrenn, M.D., UVM Medical Center
Michael Wright, M.D., UVM Medical Center