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Graduate Student Earns NIH Grant
NIH K Award Boosts Tick-Borne Disease Research
A new K08 award from the National Institutes of Health will support research by Peter Hyson, M.D., on babesiosis, a tick-borne disease. The $800,000 grant provides five years of salary support and protected time for Dr. Hyson to develop an independent research program investigating babesiosis and developing more effective medications for treatment.
“If the drugs I am studying are found to be effective at treating babesiosis, they could become the standard of care going forward,” Hyson said.
Read more about Dr. Hyson’s research and K08 award
Tarte Awarded Prestigious NIH F31 Ruth L. Kirschstien Predoctoral Fellowship
Megan Tarte, a graduate student in pathology in the Janssen-Heininger Lab, has been awarded a prestigious National Institutes of Health (NIH) F31 Ruth L. Kirschstein Predoctoral Fellowship and also received several honors at the recent Gordon Research Seminar and Conference in Castelldefels, Spain.
Under the mentorship of Yvonne Janssen-Heininger, Ph.D., University Distinguished Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, vice chair for research, and co-leader of the Cancer Cell Research Program at the UVM Cancer Center, Tarte will be researching protein oxidation in lung fibrosis. More specifically, the work will focus on how these protein oxidations contribute to the abnormal behavior of lung epithelial cells. The fund will also support advanced training in cutting-edge redox proteomics to fine-map locations of cysteine oxidations in the laboratory of Edward Chouchani at Harvard Medical School.
In addition to her NIH Fellowship, Tarte also received a travel award to attend the Gordon Research Seminar and Conference in Castelldefels, Spain. There, she earned the Best Poster Award and the Poster Preview (Pitch) Award.
How Do You Stay Safe in the Sun in a State with High Rates of Melanoma?
Dermatologist Santana VanDyke, M.D., assistant professor of medicine at the Larner College of Medicine, was a featured guest on the July 10 episode of Across the Fence, where she spoke with host Amy Finley about summer sun safety.
There are definitely benefits of sunlight, including vitamin D synthesis, decreased risk of high blood pressure and diabetes, and a positive impact on our mood, Dr. VanDyke says. But to protect your skin while spending time in the sun, it’s important to avoid the hottest times of the day, which is usually 10 a.m.–4 p.m.; use broad-spectrum UVA and UVB sunscreen of SPF 30 or higher, and reapply every couple of hours (more frequently if you’re swimming or sweating heavily); and seek shade when you can. There’s also sun protective clothing, where the fabric is woven in such a way that it protects against sun exposure.
Across the Fence is a daily 15-minute television program co-produced by UVM Extension and WCAX-TV informing viewers about activities being conducted by University of Vermont faculty, staff, and students that benefit viewers and their communities. The longest running farm, home, and community television program in the country, Across the Fence airs weekdays at 12:15 p.m. on WCAX-TV Channel 3.
The “UVM Rally Against Cancer” Team at the 2026 Dragon Boat Festival
Burlington’s Waterfront Park transformed into a hive of athletes, retail and food vendors, exhibits, entertainment, and more for the 20th annual Lake Champlain Dragon Boat Festival August 8–9, hosted by Dragonheart Vermont. Part competition, part community celebration, and now one of Burlington’s biggest summer events, more than 50 dragon boat teams raced to raise money for breast cancer survivors and Vermont cancer organizations.
The “UVM Rally Against Cancer” team—including Larner community members Whitney Feininger, medicine-hematology/oncology; and Ceilidh Kehoe, medical communications—came in second for Division D at the Dragon Boat Race on August 9, with a time of 1:03:16, a close runner-up to the Union Bank “Stay Local Go Fast” team’s 1:02:85. UVM Rally Against Cancer also won second prize in the tent decorating and drummer costume contest with the theme “Platinum.”
Founded by Linda and John Dyer, Dragonheart Vermont was built on a simple idea: that the rhythm, teamwork, and sheer physical challenge of dragon boating could give breast cancer survivors something powerful back. Not just fitness. Not just friendship. A reason to show up, push hard, and feel strong again.
What started in the summer of 2004 as a group of breast cancer survivors in a borrowed dragon boat paddling on Lake Champlain is today an organization with hundreds of supporters, more than 200 members across 10 teams, with seven long boats, two small boats, and multiple practices each week on Lake Champlain.
In addition to races, the festival included food, music, activities, and the annual flower ceremony honoring those lost to breast cancer.
U.S. News & World Report Ranks UVM Medical Center #1 in Vermont
U.S. News & World Report has released its 2026–27 Best Hospitals Rankings & Ratings list, which features the University of Vermont Medical Center (UVMMC) as a Best Regional Hospital, ranked #1 in Vermont. UVMMC is rated High Performing in 13 adult procedures and conditions, including abdominal aortic aneurysm repair, colon cancer surgery, heart arrhythmia, heart attack, and heart bypass surgery.
To be named a Best Regional Hospital, a facility needs to offer a full range of general medical and surgical services (as opposed to a specialty hospital); earn eight or more ratings of High Performing in the Best Hospitals Procedures & Conditions ratings and Maternity Care; and have at least five more High Performing procedures and conditions than Evaluated ratings across procedures and conditions and maternity care.
Nationwide, 505 hospitals were recognized as Best Regional Hospitals.