With the support of the Area Health Education Centers (AHEC) program office at the University of Vermont and the MedMentors Student Interest Group (SIG), Larner College of Medicine medical students provide mentoring and medical education opportunities for undergraduate students at UVM and other Vermont universities, as well as students in Larner’s master of medical science and post-bacc pre-med programs, who are interested in exploring potential careers in medicine or other health care fields. Recognizing the importance of diversity in medicine, mentors support and encourage students at all stages of their journey—from early exploration of a possible career in medicine to all aspects of the application process.
The MedMentors SIG hosts discussion panels, helps staff skills clinics, and provides one-on-one mentor–mentee matching between medical students and pre-health students—more than 100 individual mentoring matches were made this year. MedMentors offer a range of perspectives to mentees: Some mentors went directly from undergraduate to medical school; others took a more convoluted or less traditional path. There are even some Larner medical students—like Noah Gowell ’29 and Foster Horton ’29—who were mentees as undergraduates and now serve as mentors themselves.
When asked why they choose to be a part of the MedMentors SIG, AHEC advisor Patti Smith Urie, outreach professional for AHEC Scholars, explains, “Some students say they had fantastic mentors and want to pass along the favor; but often students say it is because they did not have enough support through the process of getting to medical school and would like to help out others who are in those shoes.”
In addition to upcoming information sessions and skills clinics, several more panel sessions—including Starting a Holistic Approach to Medical School, Developing a Compelling Candidacy Through Meaningful Experiences, and Finding Research and Summer Opportunities—are planned over the course of the fall semester.
View Fall 2025 MedMentors Activities Schedule
Clinical pathologist Ashley Volaric, M.D., assistant professor of pathology and laboratory medicine, and neuromuscular neurologist Noah Kolb, M.D., professor of neurological sciences, have received the Clinical Care Innovation and Research Award from the University of Vermont Health Network. Volaric’s groundbreaking work on Epstein-Barr virus detection is paving the way for improved diagnostics and patient care. Kolb is testing a new method to speed up how patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) use speech devices. Both are members of the University of Vermont Cancer Center.
UVM Cancer Center member Brian Cunniff, Ph.D., assistant professor of pathology and laboratory medicine, has been appointed an Honorary Visiting Fellow in the Department of Genetics, Genomics, and Cancer Sciences at the University of Leicester in England, in recognition of his collaborative research with Professor Dean Fennell, M.B.B.S., Ph.D., the world’s leading expert in mesothelioma.
The appointment underscores years of international teamwork to develop cutting-edge treatments for this aggressive cancer, which arises primarily from the outer lining of the lungs and has a dismal five-year survival rate of only five to 10 percent. Fennell and Cunniff’s involvement in RS Oncology’s groundbreaking clinical trial brings hope to patients facing this challenging diagnosis.
Read about RS Oncology’s clinical trial
University of Vermont Health Network pediatrician Heidi Schumacher, M.D., assistant professor of pediatrics at the Larner College of Medicine and a member of Larner’s Vermont Child Health Improvement Program team, was featured on the September 9 episode of UVM Extension’s Across the Fence TV program discussing chronic absenteeism.
Schumacher is part of a team at the UVM Leahy Institute for Rural Partnerships that’s researching ways to help decrease chronic absenteeism in schools—which has detrimental results on mental and physical health, long-term health, and social development—particularly in rural areas, through the Every Day Counts program.
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. Schumacher on ‘Across the Fence’
Elias Klemperer, Ph.D., assistant professor of psychiatry and psychology at the UVM Larner College of Medicine, was recently featured on the University of Oxford’s Let’s Talk E-Cigarettes podcast. Klemperer, a member of the University of Vermont Cancer Center, spoke with Jamie Hartmann-Boyce, Ph.D., M.A., assistant professor of health policy and management, University of Massachusetts–Amherst, and Nicola Lindson, Ph.D., M.Sc., associate professor, Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences, University of Oxford, about new evidence in e-cigarette research and his study published in Nicotine & Tobacco Research.
A recent randomized trial of nicotine replacement therapy, or NRT (patches and lozenges), led by Klemperer found that NRT was effective in promoting early smoking cessation among young adult dual users; secondary findings indicated that pairing NRT with support to quit both products could enhance the effects on prolonged cigarette abstinence.
Read more about Dr. Klemperer’s podcast interview
Maternal fetal medicine specialist David Coggin-Carr, M.D., Ph.D., associate professor of obstetrics, gynecology, and reproductive sciences, is now board certified in integrative medicine in addition to medical acupuncture, obstetrics and gynecology, and maternal fetal medicine. As a United Kingdom and United States dual-certified obstetrician and maternal fetal medicine subspecialist, board-certified medical acupuncturist, and physician-scientist, Coggin-Carr is pioneering new approaches to maternal care by integrating acupuncture into maternity care to address complex conditions and improve fetal growth and maternal well-being.
“Given the rise of chronic conditions with a negative impact on obstetric outcomes and offspring health—such as obesity, hypertension, and diabetes—it is becoming increasingly important to take a holistic approach to health care during pregnancy and throughout the life course,” Coggin-Carr says. “Training in whole-person health and medical acupuncture has greatly expanded my clinical toolkit when it comes to mitigating disease, promoting health, and supporting well-being.”
Of 15 new providers hired recently by the University of Vermont (UVM) Health Network, two are physician faculty members at the Larner College of Medicine: Hospitalist James Boothe, M.D., assistant professor of medicine; and Emily Unger, M.D., assistant professor of obstetrics, gynecology, and reproductive sciences, will be based at the UVM Medical Center.
After earning a B.A. in biological sciences at Columbia University, Boothe completed an M.D. at West Virginia University School of Medicine and a residency in internal medicine at Dartmouth-Hitchcock/Mary Hitchcock Memorial Hospital. Unger, who holds B.A. degrees in anthropology and biology from Dartmouth College, earned an M.D. at Harvard Medical School and completed a residency in obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Washington School of Medicine.
The remaining UVMHN new hires include nurse practitioners, physician assistants, certified anesthesiology assistants, and other health care providers across nine departments at six different locations. They are part of the network’s ongoing efforts to improve access to primary and specialty care for the 1 million residents of Vermont and northern New York.