Zailing Xing, Ph.D., a postdoctoral associate at the University of Vermont in the lab of Larner Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine Tracy Madsen, M.D., Ph.D., was a finalist for the 2026 American Heart Association (AHA) Systemic Inflammation Data Challenge, a national competition in which investigators had the opportunity to conduct a research project on the role of inflammation in cardiovascular disease. 

Using the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, Dr. Xing completed an analysis evaluating the contributors to higher levels of systemic inflammation in women compared with men as measured by high sensitivity C-reactive protein, a known biomarker of cardiovascular disease risk. She found that sex hormones and cardiometabolic markers such as body mass index likely explain a large proportion of the sex differences in inflammation, knowledge that helps us better understand inflammation and cardiovascular disease in women. Xing presented her work in November at the AHA Scientific Sessions Conference in New Orleans and won third prize among all national participants; the associated manuscript is currently in preparation.

Dr. Madsen’s team studies women’s health with a focus on sex differences in cardiometabolic disease and stroke. For this project, Xing was mentored by Madsen and Mary Cushman, M.D.’89, M.Sc., University Distinguished Professor of Medicine and Pathology & Laboratory Medicine and co-director of the Vermont Center for Cardiovascular and Brain Health.

UVM Health nephrologist Macaulay Onuigbo, M.B.B.S., professor of medicine in the Division of Nephrology at the Larner College of Medicine, was featured in a recent article about his work collaborating with UVM colleagues in biomedical engineering to develop a new solution for patients to reduce blood clots during dialysis treatment.

When blood clots kept blocking a 74-year-old patient’s dialysis filter, the treatments went from life saving to long, stressful, and sometimes impossible to finish. Dialysis is a lifeline for patients whose kidneys are no longer able to remove toxins and excess fluid from the blood. Normally, blood thinners like heparin can help prevent clots during treatment. But after surgery or in situations where blood thinners can’t be used, patients are left with few safe options.

Dr. Onuigbo had been working closely with Adam Locke, a senior dialysis technician with UVM Medical Center home dialysis training and support. Drawing on his hands-on experience, Locke noticed a pattern: The clots always began forming at the same spot inside the dialysis filter. He decided to try something simple—rotating the filter by hand every 15 minutes. To everyone’s surprise, the clots stopped forming.

Onuigbo has since partnered with the UVM College of Engineering and Mathematical Sciences to turn the idea into something lasting. The improvised hand-rotation has since grown into a fully prototyped device called the Hemodialysis Filter Rotator (HDFR), with a pending U.S. patent and growing international interest. The latest version includes smart features like Bluetooth connectivity, a companion smartphone app, and sensors that monitor rotation speed and angle. Onuigbo hopes to launch a pilot study at UVM Medial Center soon.

“This is exactly where academic medicine shines,” Onuigbo says, “when a committed and dedicated multidisciplinary team can combine clinical insight with engineering innovation to find a new solution for an old problem.”

The Aequitas Health Honor Society (AHHS) has announced the selection of Larner medical students Sarah Chiavacci ’27, Nicki Nikkhoy ’27, and Javier Rincon ’26 as the recipients of the society’s 2025 Fellow Project Grant in the amount of $500, for their menstrual equity project to install dispensers at Larner’s clinical branch campus in Connecticut, Nuvance/Northwell Health.

In its award letter, AHHS wrote, “Your menstrual equity project was evaluated by our review committee and received the highest score among all submissions. The committee recognized your project as implementation-ready, noting that you have already secured institutional permission for system-wide installation, with a clear deliverable that addresses period poverty.”

This is the second year in a row that Larner fellows have received a national grant.

The Vermont Psychological Association (VPA) Board of Directors has selected Lee Rosen, Ph.D., associate professor of psychiatry at the Larner College of Medicine, director of student well-being, and clinical educator of psychological science at the University of Vermont, as the recipient of the 2025 VPA Service Award, for outstanding contributions to the field of psychology.

A steady and insightful supervisor, mentor, teacher, and clinician, Dr. Rosen epitomizes compassionate ethical practice. He presented the 2021 ethics talk “Positive Ethics in Clinical Practice” to the Vermont Psychological Association and New Hampshire Psychological Association. Students, trainees, and colleagues overwhelmingly offer glowing reports of Rosen’s humor, curiosity, and warmth.

The VPA Board of Directors is united in honoring the diverse contributions Rosen has made, and continues to make, not only to the field of psychology but also to the health, well-being, and professionalism of healers across disciplines.

The Teaching Academy at the Larner College of Medicine held a two-day, hybrid Snow Season Education Retreat January 15 and 16, 2026, at the Dudley H. Davis Center on the UVM campus. Open to all UVM Larner College of Medicine faculty, students, and staff at all teaching sites throughout the University of Vermont Health system and the clinical branch campus, Nuvance/Northwell Health in Connecticut, the event featured a plenary, poster session, workshops, and networking, as well as a Teaching Academy Induction and Award Ceremony.

Teaching Academy Director Katie Huggett, Ph.D., assistant dean for medical education, welcomed participants and introduced plenary speaker Eva Aagaard, M.D., professor of medical education, vice chancellor for medical education, and senior associate dean for education at Washington University School of Medicine, whose remarks were titled “Becoming: Professional Identity Formation in Medical Education.” Dr. Aagaard discussed both intentional and unintentional professional identity formation; forces in society, health care, and individual learning environments and how these shape professional identity; and implications of these shaping forces, including how they do or do not alter professional values and the potential impact our values and behaviors have on the trust we are granted by society and the patients we serve.

In addition to several poster sessions and workshops, the retreat included a Teaching Academy Induction and Award Ceremony on January 16 at which the following awards were conferred:

Teaching Academy Awards

• Learner Assessment - Stephen Berns, M.D., Family Medicine 
• Innovation in Curriculum Development or Pedagogy - Lauren Iacono, D.O., Pediatrics, and Whitney Calkins, M.D., Family Medicine
• Frederick C. Morin III, M.D., Educational Leadership Award - Pamela Gibson, M.D., Pathology and Laboratory Medicine 
• Outstanding Contribution - Victoria Zhou, M.D., Emergency Medicine 
• Distinguished Service Award - Nathalie Feldman, M.D., Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Sciences, and Lewis First, M.D., M.Sc., Pediatrics 

Medical Group Education Awards 

• UVM Health Medical Group Educational Scholarship Grant - “EMPACT: Emergency Medicine Palliative and Communication Training,” Erica Lash, M.D., PI, and Sam Paskin, M.D., Co-I, Emergency Medicine 
• Continuing Medical and Interprofessional Education (CMIE) Educator of the Year - Laurel Plante, M.D., Emergency Medicine 
• Graduate Medical Education (GME) Educator of the Year - Santana VanDyke, M.D., Medicine

Kate Tracy, Ph.D., senior associate dean for research at the Robert Larner, M.D. College of Medicine and director of research for University of Vermont Health, has been awarded a $15,000 pre-pilot award by the UVM Cancer Center for a project titled “SELF-CERV—SELF-collection for CERVical cancer screening in rural women.”

Cervical cancer is curable if detected and treated early, but some groups—like rural women and women with opioid use disorder—are less likely to engage with the health care system and are therefore also less likely to participate in screening, which puts these women at increased risk of developing cervical cancer. This study will evaluate whether it is feasible to offer self-collection kits for cervical cancer screening as part of mobile outreach through the UVM Cancer Center. The study will specifically recruit rural women and women engaged at opioid use disorder treatment clinics in order to increase cervical cancer screening in these populations. The objective is to allow women in the SELF-CERV study to provide self-collected specimens for testing and determine whether doing so makes screening more acceptable.

The $15,000 pre-pilot award will specifically be used to recruit women with opioid use disorder.

UVM Medical Center head and neck surgeon Mirabelle Sajisevi, M.D., associate professor of surgery at the Larner College of Medicine, was featured on a recent episode of the BackTable ENT podcast speaking about “Parotid Malignancies: Diagnosis, Biopsy & Treatment Strategies.” (Parotid malignancy refers to cancerous tumors in the parotid gland, which is the largest salivary gland.) 

In a wide-ranging conversation with podcast hosts Dr. Gopi Shah and Dr. Ashley Agan, Dr. Sajisevi shared insights from her practice, including the importance of thorough physical exams, the utility of ultrasound and biopsy, and the intricacies of surgical planning. The group also discussed post-operative care, the role of radiation and chemotherapy, surveillance strategies, and the potential of emerging treatments and technologies.

Larner Assistant Professor of Medicine Kara Landry, M.D.’15, a breast oncologist and UVM Cancer Center member, has been selected as an Alliance for Clinical Trials in Oncology Cancer Care Delivery Research (CCDR) liaison to the Prevention Committee. Dr. Landry’s research and clinic work focuses on improving care for patients with inherited cancer risk genes and patients with breast cancer, as well as finding new interventions to improve cancer prevention, early detection, and treatment.

The Alliance for Clinical Trials in Oncology offers funds to support pilot projects in CCDR to generate preliminary data that will lead to the development of an Alliance CCDR study for submission to the National Cancer Institute Community Oncology Research Program network.

Larner Assistant Professor of Medicine Christopher Zuidema, Ph.D., M.S., is one of 16 new members joining the Gund Institute for Environment at the University of Vermont—a research center dedicated to understanding and tackling the world’s most critical environmental challenges. Driven by the belief that research should inspire action, the institute takes a cross-sector approach to solving environmental issues with stakeholders from government, business, and broader society.

The new members—from UVM’s Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources, the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, the College of Arts and Sciences, Food Systems, the Robert Larner, M.D. College of Medicine, and the Climate Measurements Center of Excellence—include two global affiliates, eight UVM affiliates, a postdoctoral researcher, a staff member, and four graduate fellows. All bring unique skills and perspectives to the Gund Institute’s work of addressing environmental challenges, from local to global scales.