2022 Annual Report

Lewis First, M.D.

IT GIVES ME GREAT PLEASURE to again have the opportunity to introduce this year’s annual report for the Department of Pediatrics at the Robert Larner, M.D., College of Medicine and the University of Vermont Children’s Hospital (UVMCH).

2022 was supposed to be a year when things quieted down from the pandemic, and we could put the severity of that challenge behind us. Little did we realize COVID would still be omnipresent in our region despite the excellent efforts our state has made to vaccinate as many children and families as possible, and yet what we did not expect was the surge of RSV and influenza that we experienced as we ended the 2022 calendar year. While continuing to deal with high volumes and high acuity, the department still managed to grow and develop its clinical and academic programs and projects, as you will learn in this year’s report.

Feature articles in this year’s report will focus on the care we are providing on both campuses to children and families, especially during both COVID and the recent tri-viral surge that occurred this past fall and winter. We also shine a spotlight on some of our faculty, including our four vice chairs, who have gone above and beyond helping to further the academic as well as clinical missions of our department locally, nationally, and internationally. It is also exciting to see that our commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion is being demonstrated with programs that you will learn about in this report, such as our “Pathway to Pediatrics” pipeline program to introduce high school, college, and graduate students to the possibility of pursuing careers in pediatric health.

Our department has grown over the past few years as we now have almost 80 faculty who are part of our department and many more in other departments (e.g., pediatric surgery, neurology, anesthesia, emergency medicine) and in the communities that surround us. Updates from our many divisions and programs are contained in the pages that follow, and I want to express my gratitude to our faculty, nurses, staff, trainees, administrators, and patient and family advisors for the outstanding commitment they have made to making our children’s hospital the high-quality, child-friendly, familycentered children’s hospital that it is today. Special thanks as well to Sue Victory, who, though retired, has continued to give of her time to special projects, including her work on this year’s annual report.

As I embark in 2023 on my 29th year as department chair and children’s hospital chief, and our department and children’s hospital turn 73, I continue to be honored to serve as a member of our remarkable team doing ongoing outstanding work day in and day out to ensure the health and well-being of the children and communities we serve. You’ll understand what I mean by reading and learning about all that we have accomplished and continue to accomplish in our 2022 annual report!

LEWIS FIRST, M.D. Professor and Chair, Department of Pediatrics, Larner College of Medicine, The University of Vermont Chief of Pediatrics, The University of Vermont Children’s Hospital Physician Leader, Children’s Health Care Service, The University of Vermont Children’s Hospital

Child

Gastroenterology,

Hematology/Oncology

Infectious

Pediatric

Pediatric

Neonatology

Nephrology

Pediatric

Pulmonology

Rheumatology

22 Other Pediatric Specialties

Anesthesiology

Dermatology

Emergency Medicine

Neurology

Pediatric and Perinatal Pathology

Psychiatry

Psychological Services

Radiology

Pediatric Outpatient Services

Women’s Care and Pediatric Service

29 Pediatric Surgical Specialties

General Surgery

Neurological Surgery

Ophthalmology

Otolaryngology

Plastic Surgery

Urology

32 Faculty and Community Faculty

On the cover: Associate Professor of Pediatrics and neonatologist Danielle Ehret, M.D., M.P.H., was invested as the inaugural Asfaw Yemiru Green and Gold Professor in Global Health in 2022. (See story on page 9.)

Photography by Ryan Mercer and David Seaver