Several Larner College of Medicine faculty members—Rebecca Aslakson, M.D., Ph.D., Danielle Ehret, M.D., M.P.H., Debra G. B. Leonard, M.D., Ph.D., Richard L. Page, M.D., Kristen Pierce, M.D., and Jason Sanders, M.D., M.B.A.—attended the 30th anniversary celebration of Drexel University College of Medicine’s Executive Leadership in Academic Medicine® (ELAM) Program May 1–2 in Philadelphia. 

ELAM is a core program of Drexel’s Institute for Women’s Health and Leadership that offers intensive one-year fellowships aiming to prepare women for senior leadership roles in schools of medicine, dentistry, public health, and pharmacy. Aslakson, professor and chair of anesthesiology, and Pierce, professor of medicine, are 2024–25 ELAM Fellows; Ehret, associate professor of pediatrics, is a 2024–25 Fellow in Drexel’s Executive Leadership in Health Care (ELH) program.

The celebration featured a gala dinner with a keynote speaker and an awards ceremony, as well as innovative programming and a “fireside chat” with Anthony Fauci, M.D.

Matthew Poynter, Ph.D., professor of medicine in the Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine in the Department of Medicine and director of the cellular, molecular, and biomedical sciences doctoral program at the Larner College of Medicine, has been appointed as the new director of the Vermont Lung Center; he had previously served as associate director since 2011.

Poynter earned his Ph.D. in experimental immunopathology at the University of Utah in 1998 before coming to the University of Vermont (UVM) for a postdoctoral fellowship in the laboratory of Yvonne Janssen-Heininger, Ph.D., professor of pathology and laboratory medicine. In 2002, Poynter was awarded a Transition to Independent Positions (K22) grant from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) and subsequently joined the UVM faculty.

Poynter leads a highly collaborative research program that explores nutritional and metabolic influences on respiratory diseases. His work has consistently received funding from the National Institutes of Health, various foundations, and corporate grants. In addition to his research, Poynter has served as Principal Investigator for training grants from the U.S. National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, and the U.S. Department of Education.

The Department of Pediatrics has announced the 2025 winners of the annual Jerold and Ingela Lucey Early Career Investigator Prize for Innovations in Infant or Child Health (aka “the Lucey Prize”). The prize honors Jerold Lucey, M.D., a pioneer in pediatrics who spent his career at the University of Vermont championing innovations that improved the survival and health of preterm babies. The Lucey Prize is awarded to recipients from three career levels—current medical students; UVM Medical Center / Children’s Hospital residents / fellows; and early-career faculty members—for work over the past three years exploring new horizons in neonatology and/or other areas of pediatrics. The prize is a monetary award of $1,500 to each level awardee or their team, along with an award plaque.

This year’s winners are:

• Margret (Greta) Joos, Second-Year Medical Student, for “Pediatric Oncology Patients’ Ability to Access Targeted and Non-FDA Approved Therapies”
• Kelly Knight, Fourth-Year Medical Student, for “The Care and Clinical Outcomes Following Prenatal Diagnosis of Isolated Right Aortic Arch”
• Brianna Leahy, M.D., Pediatric Resident, for “Transcatheter and Surgical Ductus Arteriosis Closure in Very Low Birth Weight Infants”
• Caroline Hesko, M.D., M.P.H., Assistant Professor, Pediatric Oncology, for “Improving Adolescent and Young Adult Cancer Clinical Trial Enrollment Using Quality Improvement Science”

Each year, the University of Vermont honors esteemed faculty members with prestigious awards, acknowledging their contributions to innovative scholarship, exceptional teaching and advising, and outstanding community engagement. Larner College of Medicine faculty were recently selected for two such awards.

The Outstanding Faculty Advisor Award recognizes a faculty member who has achieved excellence in displaying and enacting responsiveness, availability, concern, respect, and depth of knowledge in undergraduate academic advising.  The recipient of the 2025 Outstanding Faculty Advisor Award is microbiology and molecular genetics instructor Kari Hodge, M.A.

The University Scholars Awards recognize distinguished UVM faculty members for sustained excellence in research and creative and scholarly activities in Social Sciences, Humanities, and Creative Arts; and in Basic and Applied Sciences.  Green & Gold Professor of Surgical Research Brian Sprague, Ph.D., professor of surgery, biochemistry, and radiology and a UVM Cancer Center Population Science Program co-leader, is the recipient of a 2025 University Scholars Award in Basic and Applied Sciences. 

Eric L. Gagnon, M.Ed., M.S.S., director of facilities administration and projects at the Larner College of Medicine, who is a member of the Vermont Army National Guard, was recently promoted from the rank of Colonel to Brigadier General. He is now Commander of the Vermont Army National Guard’s Land Component. 

Gagnon graduated with a B.A. from the University of Vermont, an M.Ed. from Norwich University, and an M.S.S. in strategic studies from the Army War College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. He has held a number of key positions with the Guard, including Army Chief of Staff, Garrison Support Command, and the 186th Brigade Support Battalion.

“For the future, my vision, the leadership’s vision, blends the principles of evoked potential in three mottos: ‘Always ready, always there’ from the National Guard; ‘Serve and Support’ from my dear friends at the 186th Brigade Support Battalion; and ‘Ascend to Victory’ from 3-172nd Infantry (Mountain),” said Brig. Gen. Eric Gagnon, Land Component Commander, Vermont Army National Guard.

Class of 2025 medical student Ashwini Sarathy received the 2025 Larry Bellew Award for Volunteering from Champlain Community Services (CCS), a developmental services and health care provider for Vermonters with intellectual and developmental disabilities. The award was presented at a ceremony on April 24.

Throughout her time at the UVM Larner College of Medicine, Sarathy has volunteered for CCS creating and writing a blog called Let’s Talk About Health with Ash. Topics included tips for making healthy snacks, staying active on cold winter days, education about vaccines, and health screening recommendations.

Before attending medical school, Sarathy worked for organizations that provide health care to people with intellectual and developmental disabilities and help them learn to take personal responsibility for their own well-being. That experience inspired her decision to pursue a medical degree, and to continue that work through her academic journey. 

“I am so excited to work with this wonderful community,” Sarathy says. “I cherish the incredible relationships I have built over the past four years.”

One of those relationships is with Mike Reilly, the development coordinator for CCS. Reilly serves as a community mentor for medical students in a course called Public Health Projects, which matches learners with community service organizations to address social determinants of health. Students in the course work together to find creative ways to translate science into practice. Sarathy took this course during the spring semester of her first year of medical school. Her project group worked with CCS to examine barriers to understanding health care information among individuals with intellectual disabilities. The group presented its findings at the American Public Health Association’s Annual Conference in Boston in 2022.

During that time, Reilly learned that he has Parkinson’s disease. Sarathy volunteered to help Reilly understand his diagnosis and served as an ally at his first neurology appointment. 

“She vigorously researched Parkinson’s disease, and at my appointment she talked to me as a support and to my doctors as a colleague,” Reilly says. “A potentially terrifying visit was relaxed, almost fun. We even took selfies!”

After graduation, Sarathy will work as an otolaryngology resident physician at Montefiore Medical Center/Einstein Hospital in Bronx, New York.

For World Autism Awareness Month, the April 29 episode of the University of Vermont’s Across the Fence program features Jeremiah Dickerson, M.D., assistant professor of psychiatry at the Larner College of Medicine and director of the Vermont Center for Children, Youth, and Families autism assessment clinic, discussing autism awareness, diagnosis, and common misconceptions.

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.

Watch Dr. Dickerson on Across the Fence

On April 23, three Larner-affiliated Ph.D. candidates competed for cash prizes in the second annual Three Minute Thesis (3MT®) competition. The event was sponsored by UVM’s Graduate College as a part of the university’s annual Research Week.

Larner presenters from the cross-college programs included:

• Abby Myers, Neuroscience - “A Biological Fix for Broken Clocks: Realigning Circadian Health with Living Cells”
• Dan Peipert, Neuroscience - “How Does Gut Bacterium, Akkermansia, Impact Multiple Sclerosis (MS)”
• Courtney Waytashek, Cellular, Molecular, and Biomedical Sciences - “How a Wild Mouse Outsmarts a Common Virus”

Myers, advised by Larner Assistant Professor of Neurological Sciences James Stafford, Ph.D., won second place in the competition for her presentation on melatonin release therapeutic technology to help correct dysregulated circadian rhythms.

David Warshaw, Ph.D., Larner professor and chair of molecular physiology and biophysics, was one of the four UVM faculty members who judged the three-minute presentations based on content, comprehension, engagement, and communication.

Read more about Research Week and the 3MT Competition

For Stroke Awareness Month, the May 16 episode of the University of Vermont’s Across the Fence program features Tracy Madsen, M.D., Ph.D., associate professor of emergency medicine and vice chair of research at the Larner College of Medicine.

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.

Watch Dr. Madsen on Across the Fence

Brianna Hilton, a fourth-year Ph.D. candidate in the cellular, molecular, and biomedical sciences (CMB) program at the University of Vermont’s Larner College of Medicine, presented her research with Boyson lab colleagues at IMMUNOLOGY2025™, the American Association of Immunologists (AAI) annual meeting, May 3–7 in Honolulu. 

Hilton, whose mentor is Jonathan Boyson, Ph.D., is studying the influence of SLAM/SAP signaling on γδ T cell development. She presented work on “Regulation of γδ TCR signal strength by the SLAM/SAP signaling pathway.” Co-authors include Boyson; Oliver Dienz, Ph.D., faculty scientist in the department of surgery; and Remi Savard ’23, former undergraduate research assistant in the Boyson lab and current Ph.D. immunology student at the University of Washington.

AAI is one of the world’s largest organizations of immunologists and scientists in related disciplines, with a mission to improve global health and well-being by advancing immunology and elevating public understanding about the immune system.