The University of Vermont Medical Group (UVMMG) at the UVM Medical Center recognized the work of several faculty members at a reception held on January 8, 2015 at the College of Medicine. Research and education awards were presented to UVMMG physician members in honor of their exceptional efforts in these respective areas.
The UVMMG is comprised of more than 475 physicians representing all fields of medicine who are devoted to advancing patient care through clinical and laboratory research, and educating the next generation of providers.
The 2015 recipient of the Senior Researcher of the Year award, which recognizes a faculty member who is 10 years or more out from graduation from residency or fellowship training, is Martin LeWinter, M.D., professor of medicine at the UVM College of Medicine and director of the Heart Failure and Cardiomyopathy Program. LeWinter is internationally recognized for his contributions to the understanding of the basic mechanisms of heart failure, and to the development of testing of new modalities for its treatment. He has received many honors, served in numerous editorial positions and participated extensively in National Institutes of Health (NIH) study sections. LeWinter has received continuous NIH funding for 35 years and is the principal investigator for a U01 and R01 grant through 2019.
The Junior Researcher of the Year award recognizes exemplary performance in representing the UVMMG in the advancement of medical research. Nominees must be less than 10 years out from graduation from residency or fellowship training. Markus Meyer, M.D., assistant professor of medicine at the UVM College of Medicine, is the recipient of the 2015 award. Meyer is internationally known for helping to determine the contribution of cardiac myocyte remodeling to heart-failure progression. He has an impressive list of publications and awards, and was the first SPARK-VT recipient from the Department of Medicine.
Two research teams received 2015 University of Vermont Medical Center-funded Investigator-Initiated Awards. Anne Dixon, M.D., UVM professor of medicine and director of pulmonary and critical care medicine, and Ryan Walsh, M.D., UVM assistant professor of radiology, have been awarded a Two-Year Research Grant for their work on “Airway Compliance in the Asthmas of Obesity.” The team also includes Jeffrey Klein, M.D., UVM professor of radiology, and Jason Bates, Ph.D., UVM professor of medicine. Nikoletta Sidiropoulos, M.D., UVM assistant professor of pathology and laboratory medicine, and Frances Carr, Ph.D., professor of pharmacology, also received a Two-Year Research Grant for their work, “Molecular Tumorigenesis of Papillary Thyroid Microcarcinoma.” Their team includes William Brundage, M.D., UVM professor of surgery and otolaryngologist; Muriel Nathan, M.D., Ph.D., professor of medicine and endocrinologist; Alison Krywanczyk, M.D., first-year resident in pathology; and Christine Cairns, M.D., resident in otolaryngology.
The Graduate Medical Education (GME) Educator of the Year award recognizes demonstrated excellence in teaching and mentoring teaching residents and/or fellows, going above and beyond to stimulate intellectual curiosity and professionalism in those he or she supervises, and serving as a source of inspiration – both as a person and a physician. The awardee for this year is Thomas Lahiri, MD, professor of pediatrics and director of the Cystic Fibrosis Program. Lahiri has been recognized for taking advantage of every opportunity to teach, enriching the resident experience and developing more informed, inquisitive and confident physicians, as well as for teaching by example “some of medicine's most vital lessons about patient care.”
The Continuing Medical Education (CME) Educator of the Year award recognizes a continuing commitment to the continuing education mission by an individual who provides meaningful learning opportunities for our local and regional physicians and allied health care providers. The recipient of this year’s CME Educator award is Peter Weimersheimer, M.D., associate professor of surgery and chief of emergency medicine. Weimersheimer, course director for the annual Emergency Medicine Conference, is a frequent speaker at CME activities, created the Emergency Medicine Grand Rounds, and typically receives rave reviews for his presentations.
(Mindy Clawson, communications specialist in the UVM Medical Center’s marketing and communications office, contributed to this report.)
