December 2025
Deans Message
Reflecting on 2025 at Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine
2025 was a landmark year at the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine (VTCSOM). My December message is a great opportunity to highlight progress on advancing our strategic milestones. I will provide several examples from our education and research mission areas, noting that regular readers of our monthly Progress Notes have seen many other stories featuring noteworthy accomplishments highlighting the resilience, talent, and dedication of our students, faculty, and staff.
In collaboration with Carilion Clinic, we recruited new department chairs for OBGYN, Pediatrics, Emergency Medicine, and Family & Community Medicine, each bringing a unique vision for advancing the clinical, educational, and research missions of their disciplines.
In July we welcomed our largest class ever with 56 students in the Class of 2029, after leasing 16,541 usable square feet at the 1316 Jefferson Street building, a 7-minute walk from Riverside Circle, to accommodate our space needs associated with enrollment growth. Jed Gonzalo, our senior associate dean for medical education, worked with his leadership team and educational committees to implement year 2 of our new curriculum, while also launching our most intense year of preparation for the LCME full-survey visit scheduled in September 2026. Moving these initiatives forward, along with incremental enrollment growth and detailed planning for a new VTCSOM building, could only be possible through the hard work and dedication of faculty across VTCSOM departments, administrative faculty, and staff in the dean’s office, and with ongoing guidance by our students.
Sarah Parker, chair of health systems and implementation science (HSIS), and her colleagues across other VTCSOM departments and VT colleges, centers, and institutes, secured a Destination Area (DA) 2.0 grant to create the Smart Health Care Hub. As the university’s largest competitive award program DA 2.0 supports transdisciplinary research poised for rapid achievement of extramural grant funding. As part of this, Carilion supported funding for two physician-scientist positions recruitments, bridging between HSIS and the inpatient and ambulatory quality and safety units at Carilion.
Nick Rider secured funding from the Jeffrey Modell Foundation (JMF) to create the Jeffrey Modell Center for Informatics and Data Science at VTCSOM. JMF is a global non-profit dedicated to achieving early diagnosis, meaningful treatments, and ultimate cures for the more than 450 types of primary immunodeficiency disorders. The establishment of this specialized center will enhance VTCSOM’s growing interdisciplinary research capabilities, drive innovation in the application of informatics to help patients receive better care, and solidify our institution's role as leaders in data-driven health care solutions. Rider is a professor in HSIS and a practicing physician in the department of pediatrics’ allergy-immunology division at Carilion Clinic. He also serves as Carilion’s Associate Chief Medical Information Officer.
In 2025, we restructured and added positions in the dean’s office, including a promotion of Leslie LaConte to serve as associate dean for educational affairs. This position acknowledges LaConte’s larger role in educational affairs leadership, a role that includes continued stewardship of the research domain and student projects. Paul Skolnik, chair of basic science education, was named interim associate dean for research, and Tom Martin (professor in electrical and computer engineering, and co-interim director of the VT Institute for Creativity, Arts, and Technology) was named associate dean for strategic research advancement. In these roles, Skolnik and Martin support the success of HSIS research, the Smart Health Care Hub, and research opportunities across VTCSOM departments, in collaboration with research leaders at Carilion Clinic and Virginia Tech. David Musick, senior dean for faculty affairs, announced his timeline for retirement and transitioned into a role the senior advisor for accreditation, with Shari Whicker now serving as interim associate dean for faculty affairs in addition to her faculty development roles at VTCSOM and Carilion Clinic.
The American Association of Medical Colleges (AAMC) developed helpful resources and guidance in each of these impact areas for deans, academic health system executives, faculty, and academic societies. The impact area that creates the greatest threat for VTCSOM and other medical schools is the cessation of the federal Grad PLUS loan program. Most US medical students rely on the Grad PLUS program to supplement the primary federal loan program, capped at $50,000 per year, a figure much less than the cost of attendance. Without filling the gap, students matriculating after June 30, 2026, will need to turn to the private loan market and face much less favorable loan eligibility requirements, interest rates, repayment terms, and deferment policies through completion of training. In addition to supporting efforts by Virginia policymakers, the AAMC, we are developing initiatives at VTCSOM to mitigate this threat to medical school applicants with financial need.
Celebrating cherished annual events helps us stay grounded in our mission, vision and values at VTCSOM. We began 2025 with our 13th annual Docs for Morgan basketball game, honoring the memory of Morgan Harrington and raising money for the scholarship in her name. Our alumni and friends came together for a record-setting Giving Day, supporting scholarships and cutting-edge programs at the school. Our fourth-year students showcased their outstanding work at the VTCSOM Medical Student Research Symposium, where Drs. John Epling and Michelle Rockwell were named Research Mentors of the Year. Our track record of success in the residency match continued for the Class of 2025, including matches to Carilion Clinic – VTC, other Virginia programs, and competitive programs and specialties nationwide. In October, we paid tribute to excellence in health professions education with TEACH Education Day and the annual Richard C. Vari, PhD, endowed lecture featuring Lotte Dyrbye, MD, MHPE, from the University of Colorado on “Caring for the Caregivers of the Curriculum: Promoting Educator Well-Being in Medical Education.”
On the horizon are some exciting possibilities in 2026: continuation of earmarked funding from the Commonwealth to support our growth and desire to establish in-state tuition, approval of building construction that was delayed by the Commonwealth last year, substantial growth in our endowment for scholarships, completion of our 8-year accreditation cycle after September’s site visit, and implementation of year 3 of our new, cutting-edge curriculum.
I am deeply grateful to our students, faculty, staff, alumni, and friends who make these accomplishments possible and help us achieve our fullest potential as a world-class medical school. I hope each of you will set aside time during the upcoming holidays to refresh, reconnect with family and friends, and reflect on the importance of the work we do together at VTCSOM. With your great work supporting our mission, we accomplished a ton in 2025.
Warmest wishes for a happy, healthy, and successful 2026!
Sincerely,
Lee A. Learman
Dean
Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine
Events
- 12/16 - Grand Rounds: 12p-1pm
Nia Zalamea, MD FACS, Director - UTHSC Global Surgery Institute, Associate Professor of Surgery, University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis TN
Humanism Note
Watch the gifted musician Jacob Collier direct an audience choir to create astounding beauty built entirely from connecting human voices, and if you have 10 minutes and some great speakers or earbuds, take in his rendition of the Scottish/Irish folk song, "Wild Mountain Thyme".
Publishing
- Nicholas Rider, professor in the Department of Health Systems and Implementation Science, worked with colleagues on "Real-World Health Care Resource Utilization and Costs Among Patients with Activated Phosphoinositide 3-Kinase Delta (PI3Kδ) Syndrome in the United States," published in Advances in Therapy.
- Rider collaborated with research partners on "Mapping Allergy Research: A Comprehensive Visual and Bibliometric Analysis of Socioeconomic and Quality-of-Life Dimensions," published in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology: Global.
- Serkan Toy, associate professor in the Departments of Basic Science Education and Health Systems and Implementation Science, collaborated with R. Brock Mutcheson, associate dean for assessment, evaluation, and strategic analytics, chief data officer, and assistant professor in the Department of Health Systems and Implementation Science, and colleagues on "Development and Psychometric Assessment of a Scale for Evaluating Healthcare Professionals' Attitudes Toward Interprofessional Education and Collaboration in the United States: A Cross-Sectional Study," published in the Journal of Educational Evaluation for Health Professions.
- Mengxi Zhang, assistant professor in the Department of Health Systems and Implementation Science, mentored Virginia Tech students along with colleagues from VT's Department of Geography on "Geospatial Access to Oral Health Care in Virginia: Insights From Driving and Public Transit Analysis," published in the Journal of the American Dental Association.
- Damon Kuehl, vice chair and professor in the Department of Emergency Medicine, and Justin Weppner, associate professor in the Department of Internal Medicine, worked with research partners on "Factors Associated With Persistent Symptoms Following Mild Traumatic Brain Injury," published in JAMA Network Open.
- Kiran Khalid, associate professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health, worked with colleagues on "Reclaiming the Medical Record for Patient-Centered Care," published in Patient Education and Counseling.
- Yifan Li, class of 2025, worked with mentor Anita Kablinger, vice chair of academic affairs and professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine, along with Alexander In, class of 2025, and other colleagues on "Psychiatric Morbidity Among Youth Diagnosed With Gender Dysphoria: An Analysis of National Administrative Data in the U.S.," published in General Hospital Psychiatry.
- Kablinger collaborated with Allison Tegge, associate professor in the Department of Basic Science Education, and research partners on "A Preliminary Study of the Physiological and Perceptual Effects of GLP-1 Receptor Agonists During Alcohol Consumption in People With Obesity," published in Scientific Reports.
- Julia Snow, class of 2025, worked with mentor James Casey, associate professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, along with Lillian Brouwer, class of 2026, Stephanie Lareau, professor, and Joshua Nichols, class of 2014 and clinical preceptor, both from the Department of Emergency Medicine, and other colleagues on "Gynecologic Health in Female Ultramarathon Runners," published in Wilderness & Environmental Medicine.
- Melissa Leaf, class of 2024, worked with mentor Scott Johnstone, assistant professor in the Department of Surgery, and research partners on "Injury-Induced Connexin 43 Expression Regulates Endothelial Wound Healing," published in the American Journal of Physiology-Heart and Circulatory Physiology.
Spotlight on Giving
As the year winds down, we want to share a heartfelt thank you for being a vital part of the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine family. Your end-of-year generosity truly makes a difference, turning medical dreams into reality for our students and powering the amazing research happening right here in Roanoke. Every single gift—whether it funds student scholarships, upgrades our learning labs, or supports crucial community outreach—is a direct investment in a healthier tomorrow for the Roanoke Valley and beyond. Please consider making your tax-deductible contribution before December 31st. We can't wait to see what we'll achieve together next year!
To give click here.
Take Note
Faculty, staff, and students from the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine played a major role at the AAMC’s 2025 Learn Serve Lead conference in San Antonio, showcasing the school’s leadership in medical education, faculty development, AI innovation, and student scholarship. Their contributions included workshops on expanding faculty development, sessions on the role of artificial intelligence in the future of medical training, roundtable discussions on systems thinking and organizational AI strategy, and research poster presentations by students. Leaders at VTCSOM emphasized that this strong national engagement reflects the school’s commitment to advancing both its own academic community and the broader field of medical education.
Full article:
https://news.vt.edu/articles/2025/11/medical-school-strongly-represented-at-aamc-learn-serve-lead-mee.html
Last Note
Wishing everyone a safe and joyful holiday season!
No matter how you celebrate or if you simply use this time to rest and reflect, may the season bring you peace, connection, and moments of genuine happiness. As we gather with loved ones, support our communities, or enjoy quiet time to ourselves, let’s continue to look out for one another, practice kindness, and prioritize our well-being. Here’s to a season filled with warmth, gratitude, and safety for all.