Meet the Team

Francesca Arnoldy

StoryListening Investigator

Program Director, UVM End-of-Life Doula Professional Certificate Program

Interests: Reading, nature walks with my pup, making memories with loved ones, engaging conversations, and all things doula 

Life Advice: My motivational mantra: “You’ll never have more time than RIGHT NOW!”

Steve Berns, MD

TalkVermont Director

Associate Professor, Department of Family Medicine

Interests: Hiking, running, camping, traveling, baking pies, indie rock, and anything Harry Potter

Life Advice: “You can’t be that kid standing at the top of the water chute, overthinking it. You have to go down the chute”

Tess Braddish, MS

Laboratory Manager

Interests: Exploring the outdoors, teaching yoga and practicing meditation, cooking up creative new dishes, hiking and camping in the green mountains, fighting for social justice, listening to music, talking to my plants, and playing with puppies!

Life Advice: “You cannot pour from an empty cup, remember to refill yourself.”

Katharine L. Cheung, MD, PhD

Telemedicine Investigator

Assistant Professor of Medicine, Nephrology ; Center of Aging

Interests: Hiking, kayaking, cooking, gardening

Life Advice:”Do not wait to strike till the iron is hot, but make it hot by striking.” -W.B. Yeats

Maggie Eppstein, PhD

Machine Learning Investigator

Research Professor and Professor Emeritus, Department of Computer Science

Interests: Research-wise, I love discovering things about how the world works using computational modeling and analysis in a wide variety of application domains. Aside from research, I love being in Nature – especially camping, hiking, kayaking, and rock-hounding. Around the house I love designing remodeling projects (that my husband implements), landscaping and perennial gardening, sewing, upholstering, and other creative crafty projects, and hosting family get-togethers over the Holidays for my two grown sons and various other siblings, cousins, in-laws.

Life Advice: A wise piece of advice passed down to me from my Mom: “If you’re going to feel guilty about something, don’t do it. Once you decide to do something, don’t feel guilty about it.”

Robert Gramling, MD, DSc

Principal Investigator

NIH biosketch

Holly and Bob Miller Chair in Palliative Medicine, Professor of Family Medicine  

Interests: Laughing, hiking, biking, writing, dancing, sharing big ideas, iaido

Life Advice: “Watch for a second arrow”

Maija Reblin, PhD

Health Psychology Investigator

Associate Professor, College of Medicine

Interests: Running, rowing, playing outside, beach reads, exploring mechanisms in social contexts, dogs & friends.

Life Advice: ” Spend your time with people who make you better.”

Donna Rizzo, PhD

Machine Learning Investigator

Professor and Dorothean Chair, School of Engineering

Interests: Machine-Learning and developing computational tools to improve the understanding of human-induced changes on natural systems and the way we make decisions about natural resources and multi-scale environmental problems.

Life Advice: “Learn a lot and have fun!“

Jeremy Matt

PhD Student – Computer Science

Interests: Machine learning and computational methods, mountain biking, hiking, blacksmithing, telemark skiing, woodworking, and reading

Life advice: My mom’s response when I resisted getting off the couch to go do something (a bike ride, a school assignment, a cross-country ski, etc): “Tough”

PS: My kids HATE that response as much as I used to

Aidan May

Undergraduate Research Assistant

Major: Biochemistry

Interests: Running, biking, origami, nonfiction, and bagels

Life advice: “Just breathe”

Max Perrotto

Undergraduate Research Assistant

Major: Data Science

Interests: Music, Cooking, Snowboarding, Community Activism, Jeopardy

Life advice: “There’s always more than meets the eye, so pay attention to everything, big and small.”

Joseph Wills

Undergraduate Research Assistant

Major: Computer Science

Interests: research wise: natural language processing, human computer interaction. in general: filmmaking, books about space, and Frasier

Life Advice: Be yourself.

Ann Wong

Undergraduate Research Assistant

Major: Biology

Interests: Skiing, surfing, playing the piano, and drinking tea

Cailin Gramling

Philosophy

Interests: Dance, statistics, debate, coffee

Life Advice: “I feel like I have not lived long enough to give life advice. When I am older and wiser, I will get back to you!”

Laura Hirsch

Chemistry

Interests: Cycling, Irish Dancing, gardening, hiking and chemistry poetry

Life Advice: “If the grass is greener on the other side, there is probably more manure there“

Liam John

Study Coordinator

Interests: Work: Aging, dementia care, and end of life decision making. Play: Cello, cross-country and backcountry skiing, gravel road cycling, and trail running.

Life Advice: “You only have enough time for the things that are important to you”