THE FOUR PILLARS

Mission

It was an eventful year for the University of Vermont Cancer Center across each of our four pillars: research, community outreach, education, and clinical care.

Fundamental laboratory and population-based research contributed to numerous high impact publications and was supported with over $14 million from the National Institutes of Health and other national organizations. Cancer Center members shared recent accomplishments at our first scientific retreat, where they voted to award pilot grant funding for an inter-programmatic project on “spatialomics and precision pipeline,” an initiative geared toward uncovering novel agents to treat cancer.

Our mission to reduce the burden of cancer would not be possible without the input of stakeholders who participate as members of our Community Advisory Board. This group informs initiatives that will most significantly benefit our community. Two such efforts were a lung cancer screening collaboration with Dartmouth Cancer Center and Vermonters Taking Action Against Cancer, and the Women’s Health and Cancer Conference, now supported by a $1 million endowment from the Courtney and Victoria Buffum Family Foundation.

We continue to invest in new educational programs including our first-annual “high school career day,” hosting over 100 local students to learn about career paths in the biomedical sciences, and the Clinical Investigator Development Initiative program, supported by the J. Walter Juckett Foundation, that provides grant funding to two clinicians.

Our robust cancer practice saw over 32,000 patient visits this year and continued to provide novel options for patients, including offering over one hundred clinical trials and access to integrative oncology approaches such as acupuncture, meditation, and health coaching.

It’s been quite a year, and I am grateful for the researchers, clinicians, staff, community supporters, and patients who are leading our quest to reduce the burden of cancer in Vermont and northern New York.

Sincerely,

Randall F. Holcombe, M.D., M.B.A.

J. Walter Juckett Chair in Cancer Research Professor of Medicine, Larner College of Medicine Director, University of Vermont Cancer Center Chief, Division of Hematology & Oncology