Biomedical and Health Sciences
- Faculty Publications and Projects
- Faculty Promotions and Updates
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Further Details
Faculty and Student Publications and Projects
Eyal Amiel, Ph.D., co-edited a two-part review series, “The Immunometabolism of Infection,” highlighting new research into immune cell nutrition. Published in British Society for Immunology, the reviews provide new insight into the metabolic signals that guide the dynamic conversation between microbial pathogens and the mammalian hosts they aim to occupy. Learn more >>
Dimitry Krementsov, Ph.D., and Theresa Montgomery, Ph.D. candidate, published the following:
Theresa L. Montgomery, Axel Künstner, Josephine J. Kennedy, Qian Fang, Lori Asarian, Rachel Culp-Hill, Angelo D’Alessandro, Cory Teuscher, Hauke Busch, and Dimitry N. Krementsov. Interactions between host genetics and gut microbiota determine susceptibility to CNS autoimmunity. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. November 3, 2020 117 (44) 27516-27527; October 19, 2020; https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2002817117 Learn more >>
Kirsten Isgro, Ph.D., presented at an externally-led patient focused drug development virtual meeting with the FDA and the National Organization for Rare Diseases. The meeting brought the Krabbe disease community voice, experience and perspectives to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for improved understanding for work in drug development.
Kirsten Isgro, Ph.D., attended a conference of the Academy of Communication in Healthcare.
Melissa Scheiber, Ph.D., received a UVM OVPR EXPRESS grant to extend preliminary findings and pursue mechanisms underlying the effect of levonorgestrel (a commonly prescribed progestin) on human breast cancer progression. The data generated will justify using an embryonic zebrafish xenograft model to determine metastatic potential of breast cancer cells treated with levonorgestrel. OVPR EXPRESS (Early EXtra Promotion of Research and Scholarly Success) is an internal, competitive funding program designed to stimulate research and scholarship by new junior faculty members.
Faculty Promotions and Updates
Kate Moreau, M.A.T., MLS (ASCP), was appointed Manager and Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (CLIA) Director for the Community Health Centers of Burlington.
Koela Ray, M.S., Senior Lecturer for Medical Laboratory Science, was appointed Faculty Associate, UVM Center for Teaching & Learning. Ray provides confidential, one-on-one consultations with colleagues addressing remote teaching challenges.
Communication Sciences and Disorders
- Faculty Promotions and Updates
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Faculty Promotions and Updates
Elizabeth Adams, Au.D., CCC-A, CH-AP. CH-TM, Clinical Professor, was appointed Faculty Associate, UVM Center for Teaching & Learning. Adams provides confidential, one-on-one consultations with colleagues addressing remote teaching challenges.
Interprofessional Education
- Interprofessional Orientation for Students and Faculty
- Student Workshop
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Further Details
Interprofessional Orientation for Students and Faculty
Introduction to Interprofessional Roles in Health Care, the annual orientation event arranged by Mary Val Palumbo, D.N.P., APRN, took place remotely on September 25. Students from various majors in CHNS, Larner College of Medicine, College of Education and Social Services and College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and the Albany College of Pharmacy gathered on Zoom in small groups to learn from each other and share their perspectives. Faculty from all departments met with students in small groups for a “Health Professional Shuffle.” to discuss how the combined contributions of different health professionals improves outcomes for patients, families, communities and positively impacts interprofessional relationships.
Student Workshop
An interprofessional case study night took place on November 5. Students from various majors in CHNS, Larner College of Medicine, College of Education and Social Services and College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and the Albany College of Pharmacy met on Zoom to discuss the care of a stroke patient.
Integrative Health
- Faculty Honors
- Faculty Publications and Projects
- Program Updates
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Further Details
Faculty Honors
David Låg Tomasi, Ph.D., Ed.D.- Ph.D., M.A., MCS, AAT, was named Full Ordinary Member of the Academy of Sciences of Siena and the Academy of Sciences in Rome. This title, the academies’ highest achievable academic rank, qualifies Dr. Tomasi to apply for any higher-level public research grant from the European Union, which he could then use for research at UVM.
Faculty Publications and Projects
David Låg Tomasi, Ph.D., Ed.D.-Ph.D., M.A., MCS, AAT, published the following:
Webb, Sophia & Tomasi, David. (2020). Human Gastrointestinal Microbiota and Neural Activity: Effects of Probiotics on Mental and GI Health. Journal of Medical Research and Health Sciences. 3. 1070-1077. 10.15520/jmrhs.v3i9.244.
Tomasi, David & Wisniewski, Aaron & Wisniewsi, Sam & Gates, Sheri & Reyns, Emily. (2020). Video: Olfactory Virtual Reality (OVR) for Wellbeing and Reduction of Stress, Anxiety and Pain. Virtual Reality. 8. 2020.
This research, which uses a virtual and altered reality (VAR) device that includes a scent component in conjunction with visual virtual reality to create a more immersive, realistic, experience was featured in Seven Days and ABC-22.
Susan Whitman PA-C, NBC-HWC, won the program award for taking the most Center for Teaching and Learning courses in a single year and introducing amazing innovative, student centric teaching practices into her remote classroom. She has quickly become a sought-after resource among department faculty for teaching innovation.
Program Updates
For the past year and a half, UVM has had pending approval as a National Board of Health and Wellness Coaches (NBHWC) educational provider. As of November 2020, with the completion of the first cohort of Integrative Health and Wellness Coaches, UVM is now a fully approved NBHWC educational provider.
Eighteen students in the first cohort of Integrative Health and Wellness coaching qualified to sit for the National Board of Health and Wellness Coaches certification exam in February.
UVM Integrative Health is forming a Vermont collaborative of health and wellness coaches to share best practices. If you are a NBHWC-eligible or certified health coach and would like to join please contact cara.feldman-hunt@med.uvm.edu
A $2.5 million estate commitment from Dr. Margaret “Peggy” Rosenfield ‘74 established a new endowed professorship focused on integrative health and culinary medicine at CNHS. The gift also significantly augment the Kathryn J. Smith Memorial Scholarship Fund, established in 2003 by Dr. Albert and Patricia Smith in memory of their daughter, Kathryn Smith, nursing ’77, which support juniors and seniors majoring in nursing. Read more >>
Nursing
- Faculty Research and Projects
- Faculty Updates
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Faculty Research and Projects
Laura Lewis, Ph.D., R.N., published the following:
Laura Foran Lewis, Caroline Ward, Noah Jarvis, Eleni Cawley. “Straight Sex is Complicated Enough!”: The Lived Experiences of Autistics Who are Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Asexual, or Other Sexual Orientations. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders. September 23, 2020. Read more >>
The publication is based on research by Ward, Jarvis and Cawley, nursing students who graduated in 2019, under the faculty mentorship of Professor Lewis, and presented at the 2019 UVM Student Research Conference.
Mary Val Palumbo DNP, APRN, GNP-BC, published the following:
Mary Val Palumbo, Betty Rambur, Two Different Primary Care Approaches for Caring for People With Dementia and Their Families. The Journal for Nurse Practitioners, Volume 16, Issue 10., P756-761, November 1, 2020. Read more >>
Faculty Updates
Farewell to the following faculty members:
Carol Buck-Rolland, Ed.D., APRN, announced plans to retire. She began her career at UVM in 1992.
Stuart Whitney, Ed.D., RN, CNL, announced plans to retire. He began his career at UVM in 1987.
Rehabilitation and Movement Science
- New Faculty
- Faculty Updates
- Publications and Projects
- Undergraduate Student Research Presentations and Publications
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Further Details
New Faculty
Elizabeth Harding, Ph.D., joined CNHS as Clinical Assistant Professor in Exercise Science. Just prior to joining UVM, Harding completed her doctorate at the University of New Mexico where she became focused on physical activity interventions for cancer rehabilitation and movement variability with aging and injury. Harding teaches an evidence-based practice course for students in the Physical Activity and Wellness master’s degree program. The course engages students in selecting populations and health concerns, seeking out evidence on interventions, and applying the evidence to design a health promotion campaign. She also teaches a special topics course on exercise and active aging for junior and senior exercise science students. A competitive swimmer, avid bicyclist and runner, Harding makes a point of trying a new sport every year. She’s sampled longboarding, roller derby, surfing, stand-up paddle boarding and rock climbing. Cross-country skiing is next on her list.
Margaret (Ellie) Meyer, OTD, OTR, CAPS, ECHM, joined the department as Academic Fieldwork Coordinator. Meyer recently graduated with her clinical doctorate from Boston University and will be working exclusively on setting up the fieldwork program for the developing Occupational Therapy program.
Faculty Updates
Reuben Escorpizo, PT, M.Sc., D.P.T. was appointed to Interim Physical Therapy Program Director in the Department of Rehabilitation and Movement Science.
Faculty Publications and ProjectsReuben Escorpizo, PT, M.Sc., D.P.T., was selected to serve as a specialty chief editor for the the newly launched publication, Frontiers in Rehabilitation Sciences. The journal’s editorial board includes researchers from worldwide institutions. Learn more >>
Victoria Priganc, Ph.D., OTR, CHT, CLT, has been invited to serve a 3.5 year term as an Accreditation Evaluator with the Accreditation Council for Occupational Therapy Education, starting in January, 2021.
Victoria Priganc, Ph.D., OTR, CHT, CLT was a Co-Guest Editor for a Special Issue in the Journal of Hand Therapy titled, “Innovation in Hand Therapy.”
Donna Smith, PT, D.P.T., NCS, GCS, and Rebecca Ouellette-Morton, PT, M.S., D.P.T., received the Physical Therapy Learning Institute’s Education Influencer Award for their poster/platform presentation “Growing Community Partnerships: How to Build and Sustain a Clinical Practice Collaboration.” The award is given to a presentation that has the potential to have a positive influence toward excellence in physical therapy education.
Undergraduate Student Research Presentations and Publications
Sophie John, Exercise Science ’20, presented the following with Karen Westervelt, PT, ATC, NBC-HWC, Ph.D. and Susan Kasser, Ph.D.:
John S., Westervelt, K., Kasser S. (2020) Incorporating Nutrition into Physical Therapy Practice; An Exploratory Study on Education and Attitudes. Poster presentation at the International Conference on Health Wellness and Society. Paris France, September 2020 and APTA MA/CT/NH/RI Regional Conference Nov 7, 2020.
The manuscript was also accepted for publication by the International Journal of Health, Wellness and Society.
Kristen Mackie, Exercise Science ’19, presented the following with Susan Kasser, Ph.D., Jeremy Sibold, Ed.D., ATC, Karen Westervelt, PT, ATC, NBC-HWC, Ph.D.:
Mackie, K., Kasser, S, Sibold, J, Westervelt K (2020) Yoga for State Anxiety Reduction in University Students. Poster presentation at the International Congress on Integrative Medicine and Health (April 2020) and abstract published in the Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine and Global Advances in Health and Medicine.
Student Services
- Student News
- Staff Update
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Further Details
Student News
Our student body is 1,306 students strong, including a bright, talented incoming fall class of 243 first-year and 279 graduate students who we expect will continue our tradition of excellence as evidenced by our retention, graduation and certification exam pass rates. Our programs produce health care professionals who are ready to enter the work force.
CNHS students in various majors worked in the UVM COVID testing center this fall, assisting their peers with their routine weekly COVID-19 tests. More than 150,000 tests were administered since the start of the semester. Learn more >>
Staff Update
Lauren Singh and Sam Spanierman have moved on to opportunities outside of UVM. We wish them well!