The University of Vermont College of Medicine has announced the winners of the 2015 Medical Alumni Association Awards to be presented during its annual Medical Alumni Reunion, June 12, on the UVM College of Medicine campus.

Raymond J. Anton, M.D. ’70, is the 2015 recipient of the A. Bradley Soule Award, established in 1983, which honors an alumnus/a whose loyalty and dedication to the College of Medicine most emulate those qualities found in its first recipient, A. Bradley Soule, M.D.'28.

An anesthesiologist at the Glastonbury Surgery Center in Connecticut and past president of the UVM Medical Alumni Association, Dr. Anton has been a loyal supporter and leader of the College of Medicine since his graduation in 1970. A devoted class agent since graduation, Dr. Anton served on the Medical Alumni Executive Committee from 1990 to 2004 and was its president from 2002 to 2004. He was also a member of the Medical Planned Giving Committee from 1999 to 2005. During his tenure as president of the UVM Medical Alumni Association, he was instrumental in making sure the Medical Alumni Association was inclusive of all graduates of the College. John Tampas, M.D. ’54, executive secretary of the Alumni Executive Committee notes, “Dr. Anton pushed hard to make sure Ph.D.s were included under the Medical Alumni Association umbrella.” With his fellow Medical Alumni Executive Committee members, Dr. Anton was also intimately involved in the creation of the 21st Century Fund, a precursor to the COM Fund, which encouraged increased alumni support. Since completing his term as president of the Alumni Association he has continued his involvement and philanthropic support of the college at the highest level, and is a member of the UVM Wilbur Society. In 1987, his strong family legacy contributed to his desire to create, along with his mother, Evelyn, the Harry J. Anton, M.D. ’40 Memorial Fund at the College of Medicine in honor of his father, as well as the Harry J. Anton classroom. This well-funded endowment continues to be a valuable resource for the college to this day. In 2014, Dr. Anton significantly added to the Harry J. Anton, M.D. ’40 Memorial Fund in honor of his 45th Reunion, a true testament to his commitment to the college. In addition to his services to UVM, Dr. Anton has served on numerous regional, state and national organizations which include the presidency of the Anesthesia Section of the Massachusetts Medical Society, president of the Massachusetts Society of Anesthesiologists, and member of the board of directors of the American Society of Anesthesiologists. Dr. Anton was also a member of the speaker’s bureau for the American Society of Anesthesiologists. Dr. Anton continues to work full-time as an anesthesiologist in an outpatient surgical facility in Connecticut.

Alumni honored with this year's Distinguished Academic Achievement Award, established in 1985, which recognizes outstanding scientific or academic achievement, include:

Palmer Q. Bessey, M.D. ’75, Aronson Family Foundation Professor of Burn Surgery; Associate Director, William Randolph Hearst Burn Center; Department of Surgery, Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, N.Y.

 Dr. Bessey is a trauma surgeon who focuses on burn care and serves as associate director of the William Randolph Hearst Burn Center at New York Presbyterian Hospital. He completed a surgical residency and a year of surgical critical care at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) and then did a research fellowship at Brigham & Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School in surgical metabolism and nutrition. He was a member of the surgical faculty and served in leadership roles in Trauma, Burns and Critical Care at UAB, Washington University in St. Louis, and the University of Rochester, before assuming his current position at Cornell in 2000. He later completed a master’s program in epidemiology at the Mailman School of Public Health of Columbia University. He has dedicated his career to improving the care of people with serious injuries from trauma and burns, striving for both survival and quality of life. He has served as a state chair and region chief on the Committee on Trauma of the American College of Surgeons, as a director of the American Board of Surgery, and most recently, as president of the American Burn Association.

George A. Little M.D. ’65, Pediatrician/Neonatologist and Professor of Pediatrics and Obstetrics and Gynecology ,  Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center , Geisel School of Medicine, Hanover, N.H.

Dr. Little was a rotating intern at the University of Oregon before serving as a Peace Corps Physician in Africa. He completed a pediatric residency at what is now the UVM Medical Center and a neonatology fellowship at the University of Colorado. He joined the faculty at Dartmouth, where he founded the neonatal intensive care unit and the Vt/NH regional perinatal education program in collaboration with Dr. Jerold Lucey. He served for over a decade as professor and chairman of the Department of Maternal and Child Health at Dartmouth before it became the departments of Pediatrics and Ob/Gyn. His long-term interests include perinatal health policy, regionalization, outcomes, and family-centered care, especially in the NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit), clinical decision making and ethics. He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics and an Honorary Fellow of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists as well as Alpha Omega Alpha. He has served in positions of membership and leadership with many organizations in the professional association, public, private and government sectors. He has maintained an active involvement in global health beginning with 2 summers in Tanzania when a UVM medical student and was co-chair of the Global Implementation Task Force for Helping Babies Breathe,  a neonatal resuscitation program for resource poor areas that is being disseminated globally. He remains active at Dartmouth and with initiatives in Malawi, Nigeria and Kosovo.

Richard V. Smith, M.D. ’90, Professor of Clinical Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, New York, N.Y.

Dr. Smith is an otolaryngologist and head and neck surgeon. He is actively involved in numerous research projects studying cancers of the head and neck. His research focuses on identifying genetic and biologic aspects of such cancers that correlate with a patient’s prognosis. His goal is to help determine the optimal treatment for an individual patient, to maximize their chance of cure and minimize treatment-related side effects. In addition, his clinical investigation has focused on developing new techniques in trans-oral surgery, a less invasive form of surgery in which the surgeon gains necessary access to the surgical field through the mouth. At the same time, Dr. Smith seeks to assess the quality of life benefits for such treatments.  His service to professional medical societies includes terms as President of the New York Head and Neck Society and President of the New York Laryngological Society.

 

Norman J. Snow, M.D. ’70, Academic Cardiothoracic Surgeon (Retired); Professor of Anatomy, Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth College

Since his graduation from the College of Medicine in 1970, Dr. Snow has fashioned a career in academic cardiothoracic surgery that is the envy of many of his colleagues in the specialty. Dr. Snow’s career has been one of academic excellence. He has held academic appointments in Cardiothoracic Surgery at the University of Louisville, Case Western Reserve University, the University of Illinois as a tenured professor and, more recently, as adjunct professor of surgery at the University of Vermont and professor of anatomy at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth College. He has authored over 70 peer-reviewed publications, given over 120 presentations, and contributed eight book chapters. He not only has been a member in good standing of every major surgery and cardiothoracic surgery society, he has actively contributed to multiple committees and projects. Building on his interest in emergency medical services, for example, he chaired the Trauma and Emergency Care Committee of the Cleveland Academy of Medicine and was the inaugural medical director of Metro Life Flight, which at the time was the second largest helicopter EMS program in the country.

Daniel C. Sullivan, M.D. ’70, Professor and Vice Chair for Research, Department of Radiology, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, N.C.

For 20 years, from 1977 to 1997, Dr. Sullivan was in academic radiology, holding faculty appointments at Yale University Medical Center, Duke University Medical Center, and University of Pennsylvania Medical Center, before joining the National Cancer Institute at NIH in 1997. His areas of clinical and research expertise are in nuclear medicine and oncologic imaging. From 1997 to 2007 Dr. Sullivan was Associate Director in the Division of Cancer Treatment and Diagnosis of the National Cancer Institute (NCI), and head of the Cancer Imaging Program at NCI. In 2007 Dr. Sullivan returned to Duke, where his current responsibilities include serving as vice chair for research, co-director of the Radiation Oncology and Imaging Program for the Duke Comprehensive Cancer Center and co-director of the Imaging Program in the Duke Clinical Research Institute (DCRI). Dr. Sullivan serves as science adviser to the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) where he founded and chairs the Quantitative Imaging Biomarkers Alliance (QIBA) to coordinate a range of national and international activities to advance the field of quantitative imaging. He is a Fellow in the American College of Radiology, the Society for Breast Imaging, and the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering. In 2013 he was named to the Editorial Board for the 8th Edition of Cancer Staging Manual, American Joint Committee on Cancer.  In 2014 he was appointed to a term on the National Advisory Council for Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering at NIH. Dr. Sullivan has received Merit Awards while at the NIH and in 2009 he received the Gold Medal Award from the Association of University Radiologists.

The College's Service to Medicine and Community Award, established in 1984, is presented to graduates who have maintained a high standard of medical service and who have achieved an outstanding record of community service or assumed other significant responsibilities in addition to their medical practice. The 2015 recipients of this award are:

Allyson M. Bolduc, M.D. ’95, Associate Professor of Family Medicine Emerita, University of Vermont College of Medicine and South Burlington Family Practice, Burlington, Vt.

Dr. Bolduc has routinely delivered a high level of service to the UVM Department of Family Medicine and her community. She was integrally involved in collaborating with the Vermont Blueprint for Health; she has obtained a grant to do research in ovarian cancer and directed and grew the important Family Medicine Review Course for several years. Dr. Bolduc has served on numerous committees including Quality, Search Committees, CME, Faculty Senate, and the Postgraduate Medical Education Committee. Most recently she moved to statewide delegate work through the Vermont Medical Society and has just finished a two-year term as the president of the Vermont Academy of Family Physicians, during which she was the VTAFP delegate to the American Academy of Family Physicians. Under her leadership, the VTAFP flourished by becoming more academic, more involved with advocacy, and more supportive of multiple important health initiatives statewide including universal lead screening, improving transitions of care to adult providers and ensuring access to Primary Care. Above and beyond her extensive faculty activity, Dr. Bolduc has done impressive community service as a Board member for the Lund Home, First Night Burlington, and the United Way.

Rochelle A. Dicker, M.D. ’95, Associate Professor of Surgery and Anesthesia at UC San Francisco, Director of the SF Injury Center and Wraparound Project and Co-Director of the Center for Global Surgical Studies, San Francisco, Calif.

Dr. Dicker is a distinguished leader in the field of trauma surgery and violence prevention. She is known nationally and internationally for her work in the complex care of trauma patients, public health, and advocating for the underserved. Ten years ago, Dr. Dicker founded the Wraparound Project, a program designed to shut the revolving door of violent injury by providing culturally competent case management beginning at the bedside, shepherding clients to risk reduction resources, and providing long-term follow up. The injury recidivism rate has fallen from 16 percent to 4 percent in San Francisco. Dr. Dicker and her team are helping to build a network of hospital based violence prevention programs around the country. When praised for her efforts, Dr. Dicker always points to the team around her, many of whom are past victims of interpersonal violence who have joined her efforts at bettering their community. Recognized as a true public servant by her community, she was named one of the “Annual Heroes” by the San Francisco General Hospital Foundation in 2013 and received the UCSF Chancellor’s Award for Public Service. Dr. Dicker is a co-director of the Center for Global Surgical Studies at UCSF, which focuses on research and education for capacity building with partners in low and middle income countries to address the burden of injury and surgical disease globally. She is an active educator in UCSF medical school and residency programs and mentor for those fortunate enough to work alongside her.

John W. Durham, M.D. ’85, Orthopaedic Surgeon, Northern Arizona Orthopaedics; Vice President, Northern Arizona Volunteer Medical Corps (NAVMC), Flagstaff, Ariz.

Chosen for his outstanding record of community-oriented medical service, Dr. John “Bull” Durham is a testament to how compassion for others can truly make a difference in the world. Dr. Durham is a board certified orthopaedic hand surgeon, with specialized training in trauma and fracture care and reconstructive techniques of the upper and lower extremities. Regarded highly by his peers for his knowledge, expertise and positive outcomes, his true craft lies in his undeniable compassion to help others. Motivated by kindness, Dr. Durham began a quest to improve lives beyond Arizona too. After the 2010 Haitian earthquake, Dr. Durham felt obligated to help those affected by the destruction. Pioneering these efforts, Dr. Durham was among the first medical crews to arrive in Haiti after the disaster and was shocked by the devastation, suffering and how ill-equipped Haiti’s few hospitals were to treat even the most basic injuries. That first trip spawned 16 additional trips focused on facilitating medical care, implementing hospital infrastructure and supporting the swelling orphanages, post-quake. Today, Dr. Durham leads efforts with Northern Arizona Volunteer Medical Corps, a medical volunteer group founded in 1995 to help those in need all over the world. It is the people of Haiti, however, who still hold a very dear place in Dr. Durham’s heart — so much so, he recently adopted a child left orphaned from the deadly event of 2010.

Jack G. Long, M.D. ’75, Pediatric Advisor, Partners in Health/Zanmi Lasante, Cange, Haiti; Pediatrician (Retired), Pediatric Medicine, South Burlington, Vermont; Clinical Associate Professor of Pediatrics, UVM College of Medicine, Burlington, Vt.

In 1983 Dr. Long was introduced to Hôpital Albert Schweitzer in Haiti. Subsequently, he and his wife, Delight Wing, volunteered annually to work on the in- and out-patient pediatric service. In 2012, after over 32 years in pediatric practice in Vermont, they “retired” to work in Haiti with Partners in Health and their sister organization, Zanmi Lasante, in the Central Plateau of Haiti. As “accompagnateurs” they work with their Haitian colleagues to improve pediatric care at 11 clinical sites in the region. They provide direct care and support efforts to improve longitudinal programs such as malnutrition, HIV, neonatology and chronic diseases. With the recent opening of a new 300 bed teaching hospital, they have been engaged with the development of a pediatric residency program.

Delight A. Wing, M.D. ’75, Pediatric Advisor, Partners in Health/Zanmi Lasante, Cange, Haiti; Pediatrician (Retired), Pediatric Medicine, South Burlington, Vermont; Clinical Associate Professor of Pediatrics, UVM College of Medicine, Burlington, Vt.

With her husband, Jack Long, Dr. Wing spent her career as a general pediatrician in a practice in South Burlington, Vermont. As a member of the part-time UVM medical faculty she had the opportunity to work with medical students and pediatric residents, including serving, along with her husband, as UVM advisor for the New Hampshire-Vermont Albert Schweitzer Fellowship. In the medical community, Dr. Wing enjoyed a long partnership in many advisory roles with the Division of Family and Children’s Services VNA of Chittenden and Grand Isle Counties. In 1983, inspired by College of Medicine faculty members Charles Houston, M.D., and Renée Bergner, M.D., Dr. Wing and her husband began a 30-year relationship with the Hôpital Albert Schweitzer in Deschapelles, Haiti. In 2012, they retired from their practice in Vermont to devote more time to practice and teach in Haiti, where they work with Partners in Health and its Haitian partner institution, Zanmi Lasante, spending six months a year accompanying colleagues at the new University Hospital of Mirebalais and 10 other sites co-administered with the Haitian Ministry of Health.

The Early Achievement Award, established in 2000, recognizes early-career physicians for outstanding academic achievements or contributions through community or medical service. The 2015 award recipient is:

Felicia A. Smith, M.D. ’00, Psychiatrist, Program Director, Adult Psychiatry Residency Program;
Massachusetts General Hospital/McLean Hospital, Boston, Mass.

Dr. Smith is assistant professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and program director of the Massachusetts General Hospital/McLean Adult Psychiatry Residency. She received her undergraduate degree from Middlebury College before earning her M.D. at the UVM College of Medicine. She completed her residency at MGH/McLean Hospital followed by fellowship training in psychosomatic medicine at MGH. Dr. Smith is deeply committed to the care of those with comorbid psychiatric and medical illness and has served as attending on the MGH Consultation-Liaison Service as well as director of behavioral medicine at Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital. She also has a strong interest in improving emergency care of the mentally ill and, as director of the MGH Acute Psychiatry Service, was privileged to direct one of the busiest psychiatric emergency services in New England before transitioning to her current role with residency education. As director of the MGH/McLean Adult Psychiatry Residency Program, Dr. Smith leads one of the largest psychiatry residency programs in the country. Since starting this role in 2012, she has led curriculum redesign, revamped the evaluation and feedback process for both residents and faculty, and overseen the creation of a medical education track for residents. As an active teacher, Dr. Smith is the recipient of the MGH Philip Isenberg Teaching Award.

The Robert Larner, MD ’42 Student Award is presented for the second time in 2015 to a current student or students for outstanding leadership and loyalty to the College and for embodiment of Dr. Larner’s dedication to supporting his medical alma mater and inspiring others to do so as well. The 2015 Larner award recipient is:

Raj K. Thakrar, Class of 2016, UVM Board of Trustees, Student Trustee, Westford, Mass.

A Westford, Massachusetts native, Raj Thakrar received a B.A. in neuroscience from Johns Hopkins University and an M.S. in physiology and biophysics from Georgetown University. He is the first in his family to attend medical school. Before coming to UVM, he spent a year in the laboratory of noted Massachusetts Institute of Technology biomedical scientist Robert S. Langer, Sc.D., where he investigated a novel therapy for Type 1 Diabetes using islet isolation and transplant surgery. Though passionate about research, Thakrar has also excelled in his clinical performance during hospital rotations, earning praise from his clinical evaluators that includes: “He was a great team player with a great rapport with his patients. Raj is a combination of brilliance, professionalism, pure hard work and genuine personality”. One of his attending’s described him as “someone special” and undoubtedly one of the best students that has rotated on the service. Thakrar was elected to the UVM Board of Trustees – the highest leadership position offered to a student at UVM – in 2013. He has played a role in approving the construction of a new undergraduate STEM center, the new Larner Team-Based Learning Classroom for health professions students, and the rebranding of affiliated medical sites to the University of Vermont Medical Center and UVM Health Network.

Read more about the Medical Alumni Association Awards.

PUBLISHED

06-10-2015
Jay Goyette