The University’s Academic Division will operate on a modified schedule on Tuesday, February 11th, 2025, due to inclement winter weather. Classes will not meet in person on Grounds, but we encourage faculty to shift their classes online, if feasible. Please communicate your plans to your students.
Designated Academic Division employees should report to work as scheduled
Non-designated Academic Division employees should remain at home unless requested to report to work by a supervisor. Based on the specific needs of a particular school or unit to maintain essential operations and to respond and restore normal University operations, supervisors may request non-designated employees to work either at home or at alternate work locations. Non-designated Academic Division employees who work from home should continue to work from home and follow their normal schedule.
Supervisors and faculty in the Academic division are asked to provide flexibility for staff members who have other responsibilities at home (such as childcare or eldercare) while continuing to meet the needs of the University. Any employee who is unable to work should contact their manager or supervisor so a reasonable accommodation plan can be made
Students and Academic Division faculty and staff should monitor the Academic Operations Status Board for changes to operations on Grounds.
For information on how to find your emergency event status, see How Can I Find My Designated Status?
Patient care services at UVA Medical Center, Ambulatory Operations, UPG, and UVA Community Health will provide its own message.
UVA Health team members should monitor internal communications and the UVA Health Status Board for changes to patient care and business operations.
University officials will continue to monitor weather conditions and will provide updates about additional schedule modifications or the resumption of normal operations. Please use extra precautions and allow extra time while traveling.
Dr. Bobby Chhabra:
Connor was referred to me because he was born without thumbs, he had four fingers but did not have a thumb on either hand. I met the family at that time and the question immediately was what can we do to make sure that Connor leads a normal, healthy high-functioning life.
Joan Woodle:
It was in the birthing room that we found out Connor didn’t have thumbs and I think everybody was pretty stunned. We got almost an immediate referral to Doctor Chhabra.
Dr. Chhabra:
I was always fascinated in orthopedic surgery and then I spend additional time in my fellowship training learning about congenital hand differences.
Jason Woodle:
For a while there, he was trying to pick things up using his four fingers but eventually he started picking things up kind of like a crab would.
Dr. Chhabra:
I discussed with them options for treatment we could do nothing but there’s one particular operation and that’s a Pollicization procedure.
It’s a complex micro surgical procedure where you separate the index finger and rotate it into a position of a thumb and then recreating the tendons and muscles you create a new thumb for a child. It’s one of the reasons I went into hand surgery. It was the most fascinating operation I had ever seen Connor underwent the Pollicization procedure for one hand and then about 7 months later he went to Pollicization procedure for the other hand.
Jason Woodle:
We went in to get his first cast removed It was the first time I actually got to see his new thumb. I was there by myself and I started crying I just It was a lot.
He can go to the playground and he can slide down the slide and grasp onto those sides. He can pull himself up on things, gasp things. He has the strength now, he didn’t have that before.
Joan Woodle:
To have someone at two weeks of age, come in and tell you This is not going to be a problem, we can fix this, we can make this better I think that was such a relief.
Dr. Chhabra:
We have, I feel, some of the highest skilled providers anywhere in the country with these kids I’m part of the team that gives them the self-esteem and helps them realize that just because their hands are different doesn’t mean they can’t do anything that any other kid can do. I can’t really tell you in words how great that can make you feel
The University of Virginia is a leader in the advancement of health sciences, basic and translational research, the training of medical and nursing professionals and the delivery of world-class health care. With all the resources of both a Tier 1 Research University and a major academic medical center, UVA is bringing together multiple disciplines to address complex challenges facing medicine, medical research and health policy. University faculty across many Schools and disciplines are actively at the leading edge of neuroscience, bolstered by the recent establishment of a pan-university UVA Brain Institute.
The UVA Health System – anchored by a flagship medical center (ranked No. 1 in Virginia by U.S. News & World Report), the Emily Couric Cancer and UVA Children’s Hospital – best serves a three-part mission to provide patients in the Commonwealth and the nation with advanced and compassionate care, to train medical professionals and to expand scientific knowledge through bench and translational research. Through its telemedicine program and partnerships with other healthcare organizations, UVA Health System is extending better care to more people and fostering greater cross-disciplinary research, collaboration and innovation.
8
Nationally Ranked or High-Performing Specialties, U.S. News & World Report
#1
Hospital in Virginia, U.S. News & World Report
6
Top-Ranked Pediatric Specialties, U.S. News & World Report
UVA is also a leader in re-thinking and improving the model through which medical care is delivered. With programs like its signature Be Safe initiative, UVA has engineered a relentless pursuit of safety and a focus on elimination of harm in all forms, setting a goal of becoming the Safest Place to Work and Receive Care. At the same time, UVA medical researchers are authoring significant research breakthroughs in recent years, including the discovery of new connections between the brain and the immune system and groundbreaking work on development of an artificial pancreas that could help eliminate type-1 diabetes.