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For a printable PDF version of SOM e-NEWS, click here.
News and information (appointments, searches, events, awards, etc.) pertaining to the School of Medicine are featured in SOM e-NEWS in abstract form and are linked to the web for more detailed information. If you have information you would like published in this newsletter, please contact Denise Gonzalez, in the Dean of Medicine Office via email (djgonzal@utmb.edu) or by fax (29598). Please let us know your ideas and suggestions for this communication format. You may send your comments via email to Jackie Genovese, Director of Communications, School of Medicine, jmgenove@utmb.edu.
August 2007
Click on topic to read announcement or scroll 2. Deadline extended: UT Academy of Health Science Education Small Grants Program and Teaching Award 3. Appointment of Theme Directors 4. DR. m. kristen peek awarded fellowship with gsa 5. dr. James LeDuc named global health research ambassador 6. UTMB OFFERS FERTILITY HOPE FOR CERVICAL CANCER PATIENTS 7. Innovations in Health Science Education 8. apt proposal receipt deadlines & committee meeting dates 9. AAMC MID-CAREER WOMEN FACULTY PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT SEMINAR 10. SUSAN H. Coulter accepts position at UT Health Science Center Houston 11. COMPLIANCE TRAINING deadline nears 12. New Web Site for Academic Resources
13.
SCHOOL
OF MEDICINE IN THE NEWS
FACULTY OF MEDICINE MEETING
The August Faculty of Medicine Meeting will be held Tuesday, August 7, 2007, 5:15 PM, Levin Hall North Auditorium. Topics covered will include the next six months in the School of Medicine and a budget overview. If you missed the June 12th meeting, the web rebroadcast is on-line (RealPlayer required for the webcast).
Please see the schedule below for future Faculty of Medicine Meetings through August 2008. A reception for new faculty will immediately follow Faculty of Medicine meetings as indicated below (●). These dates may be subject to change should future circumstances dictate.
HONORS AND
AWARDS PROGRAM AND WHITE COAT CEREMONY The Honors and Awards Program recognizes outstanding students and faculty; the White Coat Ceremony is the School of Medicine's formal welcoming and introduction of our incoming medical students to the profession of medicine. This event will take place on Monday, August 20, 2007 at 4:30 PM in the Levin Hall Main Auditorium.
FOUNDERS DAY WEEKEND October 26-27, 2007
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2. Deadline extended: UT Academy of Health Science Education Small Grants Program and Teaching Award
The UT Academy of Health Science Education will extend the deadline from August 1, 2007 to August 15, 2007 for the Innovation in Health Science Education Award and the Health Science Education Small Grants Program. Details of the application process can be found on the following website, http://www.utsystem.edu/academy/hse/. Although many proposals have been received, this extension will encourage still further submission of innovative educational projects.
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3. Appointment of Theme Directors A major emphasis of the School of Medicine’s Education Strategic Plan is the integration of cohesive longitudinal themes into existing courses and clerkships in all four years of the curriculum. These themes relate to topics that have historically been under-emphasized in medical education, but will be critical to our graduates’ success in 21st century medical practice. Each theme will be led by a Theme Director (analogous to a Course/Clerkship Director) and a committee with appropriate backgrounds in the content area and education. The following individuals were recently appointed as Directors of these new longitudinal curriculum themes: Ms. Laura D. Hermer, Director of the Health Economics and Policy theme Dr. Rolf Konig, Director of the Evidence-Based Medicine theme Dr. Kirk L. Smith, Director of the Professionalism and Cultural Competency theme Dr. Troy E. Sybert, Director of the Healthcare Delivery Systems theme Dr. Robert Johnson, Director of the Public Health and Prevention theme
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4. DR. m. kristen peek awarded fellowship with gsa
Dr. M. Kristen Peek, associate professor of Preventive Medicine & Community Health has been awarded fellow status in the Gerontological Society of America (GSA).
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5. dr. James LeDuc named global health research ambassador
He and others were named “global health ambassadors” by Research!America’s Paul G. Rogers Society for Global Health Research. The 24 selected this year join 27 ambassadors designated last year. _____________________________________________________________
6. UTMB OFFERS FERTILITY HOPE FOR CERVICAL CANCER PATIENTS
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7. Innovations in Health Science Education Below is the link to register for the 4th Annual Innovations in Health Science Education Conference. This promises to be a very stimulating conference. There is no charge for registration. The link to registration and housing information as well as the conference agenda can be found at the website below.
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8. apt proposal receipt deadlines & committee meeting dates Below are the School of Medicine Appointment, Promotion and Tenure Committee meeting dates and deadlines for submission of proposals.
Please contact Denise Gonzalez, djgonzal@utmb.edu, if you have questions or need additional information.
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9. AAMC MID-CAREER WOMEN FACULTY PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT SEMINAR The Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) Mid-Career Women Faculty Professional Development Seminar will be held December 15-18, 2007 in Scottsdale, AZ. The seminar is designed for women associate or full professors with clear potential for departmental and institutional leadership. In order to keep workshops small, seminar enrollment will not exceed 150. The objectives of the program are as follows:
Those interested in applying for this program should submit the following information to the Office of the Dean of Medicine-Route 0133, ATTN: Linda G. Phillips, M.D., Senior Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs, by Monday, August 6, 2007, (the external deadline is August 20, 2007): a one page summary of the applicant’s goals for the seminar and how it will impact their career, a copy of their current CV, and a letter of support from their Chair or Division Chief describing how the applicant's goals for attending the seminar relate to her work and professional aspirations. The Office of the Dean of Medicine will provide financial support for the registration fee, travel and other related expenses for a member of the Faculty of Medicine who is selected for this training. For detailed information, please visit the following web site: http://www.aamc.org/meetings/specmtgs/midwim07/start.htm
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10.
SUSAN H. Coulter accepts position at UT Health Science Center Houston
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11. COMPLIANCE TRAINING deadline nears
The deadline for employees to complete Institutional Compliance Agreement (ICA) training requirements is August 31st.
All compliance training requirements are available on-line at http://training.utmb.edu/. Annual Required Training and Clinical Compliance Training are also available in the classroom setting. Registration is necessary for the classroom trainings at http://training.utmb.edu/.
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12. New Web Site for Academic Resources Academic Resources has launched its new web site, http://ar.utmb.edu/ar. Comments and suggestions for the new web site are welcome and may be submitted by clicking on the Send a Comment link in the left-hand column of the web pages. Academic Resources is comprised of the Moody Medical Library, Learning Resource Center, Classroom Services, Printing and Graphics, Photography, Language Education, Academic Technology Center and Academic Computing. _____________________________________________________________
13.
SCHOOL OF MEDICINE IN THE NEWS
Below is a listing of SOM faculty or programs in the news:
Houston Business Journal, July 2, NASA extends contract with Wyle Labs. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration has extended its contract with Wyle Laboratories Inc. The $294 million contract extension will support the Space Life Sciences Directorate at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston. The extension, which extends the contract to April 30, 2011, is the first of two options in NASA's contract with Wyle Laboratories. Terms of the bioastronautics contract call for the El Segundo, Calif.-based engineering company's life sciences group, based in Houston, to support the International Space Station, space shuttle, constellation and human research programs. Wyle maintains readiness of space and life sciences-related facilities and laboratories; provides services for program integration, habitability and environmental factors; human adaptation and countermeasures; space medicine; flight hardware; and human research activities. The work is performed at Johnson, the Kennedy Space Center in Florida and at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston. http://houston.bizjournals.com/houston/stories/2007/07/02/daily14.html?jst=cn_cn_lk (This story has appeared widely in state and national electronic and print news.) American Chemical Society News Service, July 2, Toward a contrast agent to expand medical use of LOIS imaging. Scientists are reporting an advance toward expanding the medical use of LOIS, an innovative new imaging technology called the laser optoacoustic imaging system that could eventually join CT, MRI and other mainstay diagnostic technologies. In an article scheduled for the July 11 issue of ACS’ Nano Letters, a monthly journal, Dr. Massoud Motamedi and colleagues explain that LOIS uses a laser beam and ultrasound to detect early-stage cancer. LOIS, they note, has advantages over conventional optical and ultrasound imaging methods in being able to “see” deep into the body and reveal diseased tissue. Use of LOIS, however, has been limited by lack of a suitable contrast agent, a material that can be injected into the body to make diseased tissues even more visible during the imaging session. CONTACT: Massoud Motamedi, Ph.D., University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, Texas. http://pubs.acs.org/cgi-bin/sample.cgi/nalefd/asap/pdf/nl070557d.pdf Galveston county Daily News, July 3, Calories on menus: The next frontier in the obesity fight? Column by Dr. Howard Brody. Most everyone probably knows by now that New York City is banning trans fats in its restaurants. What most people have not heard is that the same city’s health department is working on rules that would require many restaurants to clearly post the number of calories next to the prices on the menu. Many nutritionists have noted that the trans fat ban is unlikely to do much to stem America’s mounting girth, and may even do harm – if folks see the ads that say “zero grams of trans fats” and think that means they can munch away to their heart’s content, even though every other kind of fat has the same amount of calories. On the other hand, having the calorie count of the triple bacon burger with cheese right in your face as you make your purchase might really alter people’s behavior. At least the food industry thinks so, based on those who are gearing up to fight the New York rules. Wendy’s, for instance, was initially eligible to have to post calories, due to the fact that it had those calorie counts already available on a part of its Web site. Rather than have to post the calorie counts on the menu, Wendy’s elected to take down that part of its Web site. http://blogs.galvnews.com/story.lasso?ewcd=35421117da19cd1e Houston Chronicle, July 3, Isle native McGivney worked as a journalist and doctor. Dr. Felix McGivney, a Galveston native who switched careers from journalism to medicine and who served as Montgomery County's health commissioner, has died. He was 88. McGivney was associated with the Sadler Clinic in Conroe, and was a staff physician at the Texas State School and Sam Houston State University Health Center. He was born in Galveston on Jan. 11, 1919. After graduating from Ball High School, he enrolled at the University of Texas. He was a reporter for the Daily Texan and was a member of the Chi Phi fraternity. He graduated and became a certified teacher, and when he enlisted in the U.S Air Force, he was assigned to Ellington Field near Houston as an instructor during World War II. After the war, he worked for the Galveston Daily News before deciding to go to college to become a doctor. He graduated from the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston in 1955 as a specialist in internal medicine. http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/4939403.html Dallas Morning News, July 4, Bioagent research funds may put safety at risk, Universities fear loss of funds, don't report problems, foes say. Texas universities have sought and won hundreds of millions of dollars in federal biodefense research grants since the Sept. 11 attacks, building high-security labs to study infectious diseases that could be turned into deadly weapons. But news last week that Texas A&M University had failed to report the exposure of four lab workers to infectious diseases – and the indefinite suspension Saturday of all the university's research on "select agents" – has prompted renewed safety concerns. Experts say the research is as safe as it can be. Lab workers at the 350 facilities nationwide authorized by the CDC to handle select agents – everything from the Ebola virus to smallpox – are highly trained, and their lab work is closely regulated by the agency at specific checkpoints. Federal officials say the research is all defensive: The country must protect itself from infectious agents that, if released here, could wipe out livestock, damage food and water supplies, or cause widespread illness and death. Opponents argue that labs are effectively creating deadly diseases in their effort to seek vaccines – and they say the research violates the spirit of a decades-old treaty banning the manufacture of biological weapons. In the midst of this debate is Texas, a national leader in biodefense research and a top recipient of federal funding. The University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, a federally sanctioned "Regional Center of Excellence" for bioterrorism research, is home to one of the country's few bio-safety level 4 facilities. It has received about $350 million in federal grants since 2002 to construct labs and research the world's most dangerous biological agents. The campus is one of two in the U.S. chosen by federal authorities to house a new national biocontainment laboratory. Dr. Stanley Lemon, a UTMB professor of microbiology and immunology who directs the federally funded Galveston National Laboratory, said that over the last five years, his university has recorded 17 cases of potential exposure to infectious diseases, just a few of those from the biodefense department. None of them resulted in infections, he said, and only one – a potential exposure where a lab worker was pricked by a needle that had been used on a mouse being treated for anthrax poisoning – was serious enough that the lab reported it to CDC. Galveston County Daily News, July 4, More to water safety than knowing how to swim, Column by Drs. Sally Robinson and Keith Bly, UTMB Pediatrics. Ah, the joy of cool refreshing water in a swimming pool right outside the back door of your home on a hot summer day. This can be bliss for your family and friends if all the correct safety measures are in place to protect children against entering the pool without proper supervision. According to The American Academy of Pediatrics, from 1990 to 2000, drowning was the second leading cause of unintentional injury death among U.S. children between the ages of 1 and 19. Teaching your child to swim does not necessarily make him or her safe in the water. Unlike the movies, drowning children rarely thrash about but rather slip quietly under the surface of the water. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission states that 77 percent of the children had been seen five minutes or less before being missed and subsequently discovered in the pool. Different methods of protection can be put into place that will create as close to a fail-safe system as possible. Supervision is the best method, but in 69 percent of the drownings, children were unsupervised when the accident occurred. http://blogs.galvnews.com/story.lasso?ewcd=552def7acc6c405da57b03d929335aca
Tyler Morning Telegraph,
July 5, Philanthropist Vaughn Dies at Age 94.
Services for Dr. James Miller Vaughn, a local
philanthropist and Tyler Junior College Board of Trustees member, who died
Wednesday at home in Tyler, are pending. He was 94. Dr. Vaughn had his hand
in many goings-on in the Tyler area, and his legacy in Tyler will live on
long after his death, friends and family said. "Dr. Vaughn was a great
friend of Tyler and his loss will be deeply felt by everyone in our
community. He's been involved in so many life-enhancing opportunities
throughout the community," said Dr. William R. Crowe, president of Tyler
Junior College. On June 2, Vaughn and his wife of 70 years, Bonna Bess,
celebrated another anniversary with a reception at their home. Together they
had two children, James M. Vaughn Jr., and Bette Barton Vaughn Benton, three
grandchildren and a great grandchild. Born Oct. 23, 1912, in Tyler, Vaughn,
son of Edgar H. and Lillie Mae Miller Vaughn, was educated in Tyler schools,
attending Tyler Junior College, The University of Texas at Austin, and
University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, where he received his
B.S. and M.D. in 1937.
http://www.tylerpaper.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070705/NEWS08/707050303
Drug, Discovery, and Development, July 5, Kinomics: The New Star. Kinases are one of the most important classes of protein in cells. They play a role in cellular signaling, regulating everything from cell growth to inflammation. But, more importantly, when their function goes awry, kinases have been implicated in certain human cancers. Because of this role in cancer, kinases have been on the priority list that drug companies draw up while looking for new drug targets for years. Kinomics is a fairly new science. It basically relies on high-throughput screening assays to study the entire kinome (collection of all kinases in the cell) rapidly and accurately. But how this new science is being used differs from researcher to researcher. And, of course, the technologies they use also differ. It seems like a rational credo would be that the more one knows about the biology of a kinase, the easier it will be to design a drug against it. And here’s a case-in-point proving that this credo is indeed rational. "Designing drugs to interact with kinases might be more surgical than to design them to disrupt the global down-regulation of a gene, which can have wider off-target or side effects," says Norbert Herzog, PhD, associate professor of pathology at the University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas. He explains that there would be less off-target effects if the inhibitor interacts with a single, specific kinase. And having the ability to design an inhibitor to block the function of a single kinase requires a deep understanding of that kinase’s function—in other words—its biology. http://www.dddmag.com/ShowPR.aspx?PUBCODE=016&ACCT=1600000100&ISSUE=0707&RELTYPE=CVS&ProdCode=00000000&PRODLETT=P Jewish Herald Voice, July 5, Harold Sidney Joachim, M.D., F.A.A.P. Harold Sidney Joachim, M.D., F.A.A.P. died peacefully Saturday, June 30, 2007, at his home, surrounded by his family and dear lifelong friends. He was born in Houston on Feb. 6, 1927, to Nora and Herbert Joachim. He graduated from San Jacinto High School, served in the U.S. Army during World War II, and returned to Houston to complete his undergraduate education at Rice Institute. Harold then went on to graduate from The University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, where he completed his internship and residency. He then opened Northwest Pediatric Clinic in the Oak Forest/Heights area of Houston and at one time had the largest individual pediatric practice west of the Mississippi River. Harold loved his patients, and they loved him for more than 44 years, many referring to him as “Poppa Jo.” Harold was a fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics and an associate professor at Baylor College of Medicine. He was honored by various publications over the years as one of America’s top pediatricians. He had a gift for healing children; it was never a job to him, but his passion.
Dallas Morning News, Editorial, July 6, Selective Indignation. When a lawyer infected with tuberculosis boarded a trans-Atlantic flight, the entire country cried foul. Andrew Speaker's ill-advised travels sparked an international incident and relegated him to the role of reckless enemy of public health. But when Texas A&M failed to report researchers' exposure to biological weapons agents, the public collectively shrugged. Revelations that the university ignored protocols for reporting these illnesses spurred a swift rebuke from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which has suspended Texas A&M's federally sanctioned research on dangerous infectious diseases. But outside the federal government, response has been muted. That's a frightening prospect in Texas, a national leader in bioweapons research. The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston studies some of the world's most dangerous biological agents. Texas A&M, UT Southwestern, Texas Tech and the University of Texas Health Science Centers all research agents that could cause serious diseases.
World Poultry.net, July 9, Listeria possibly key to understanding cancer. A research team including University of Central Florida Microbiology Professor Keith Ireton is experimenting with the bacterial pathogen Listeria Monocytogenes to better understand the mechanisms of cell growth and cancer development. In research published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry, the team found that a Listeria protein called InlB induces internalisation and degradation of a human receptor known as Met, which has been implicated in the development of some cancers. Dr. Lisa A. Elferink at the University of Texas Medical Branch, who led the team, together with Ireton, found that the ability of InlB to induce Met internalisation and degradation requires a human protein called Cbl. http://www.worldpoultry.net/news/id2205-22804/listeria_possibly_key_to_understanding_cancer.html (This story has appeared in multiple publications.) Galveston County Daily News July 11, UTMB focuses on nuns and mice. Thousands of Irish nuns and a group of blind mice may hold vital clues that could help scientists at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston find a cure for one of the leading causes of blindness in the elderly. http://news.galvestondailynews.com/story.lasso?ewcd=de1a954997e53837
Galveston County Daily
News, July 11, Help spread the good news, Column by Heber Taylor.
Enrollment in Children’s Health Insurance Program, the
state’s low-cost insurance plan for children, was up in July. About 302,000
kids are now covered. That’s an increase of about 1,500 from the previous
month. That’s good news. The bad news is that 529,211 kids were covered in
May 2002 before the state took a series of ill-advised steps in the name of
fiscal responsibility. …What happened to those uninsured kids? Does anyone
imagine they stopped getting chickenpox and sore throats because they were
dropped from the insurance program? A lot of those kids ended up in the
county’s health clinics and at the University of Texas Medical Branch
emergency room. Galveston County Daily News, July 11, Area ripe for producing air-polluting ozone. Ozone, an air pollutant that forms when nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds are heated by sunlight, has regularly reached high levels at Galveston’s Scholes International Airport, said a professor during a trade union meeting this week. Representatives from at least 10 unions met in Texas City on Monday with Dr. Jonathan B. Ward Jr., professor and director of preventive medicine and community health at the University of Texas Medical Branch. http://news.galvestondailynews.com/story.lasso?ewcd=9c5489ea84583eac NewsReleaseWire.com, July 12, ASTRO Announces 2007 Fellows. The American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology is pleased to announce its 2007 class of ASTRO Fellows. These 40 distinguished members will receive their awards at a special ceremony during the 49th Annual Meeting to be held October 28 through November 1, 2007, at the Los Angeles Convention Center in Los Angeles. Members of ASTRO are eligible to become a Fellow if they have been part of the Society for at least 20 years, served in a leadership role for the organization and have made a significant contribution to the field of radiation oncology. The nominations were reviewed by a nine-member Fellows Selection Committee who made recommendations to the ASTRO Board of Directors to make the final decision. James A. Belli, M.D., University of Texas Medical Branch, is one of the forty… http://www.expertclick.com/NewsReleaseWire/default.cfm?Action=ReleaseDetail&ID=17186
Science Magazine July 12, Vying to Counter Barnyard Plagues. U.S. federal officials yesterday announced a short list of five possible sites for a new high-security agricultural biodefense lab. One of them will be awarded the $450 million facility, slated to open in 2012, which will study deadly animal diseases such as hoof-and-mouth disease, Nipah virus, and African swine fever. . . . The five "represent quite a spread in the scale and quality of infrastructure that is called for," says infectious disease researcher Dr. Frederick Murphy of the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston. For example, the North Carolina site, led by North Carolina State University, is near two major medical schools. Kansas State University has a top veterinary school, and San Antonio has a new medical school and a primate lab. Some observers suggest politics also played a role, noting that the five finalists are all in Republican states. http://sciencenow.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/2007/712/1 Midland Reporter-Telegram, July 15, Midland native wins UT Galveston award. Midland native Dr. Charles Fraser Jr. doesn't feel he's done anything extraordinary to earn the 2007 Ashbel Smith Distinguished Alumnus Award from University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston. But his peers apparently feel otherwise. Award recipients are chosen by peers for their contribution to the medical profession and support for high standards of excellence within the profession. Fraser said he's just tried to work hard and reward the faith the UT system had in him. 'It was a surprise and a great honor," he said in a telephone interview this week. "It certainly is a very nice thing to be recognized by your peers and by your medical school as having done something that's noteworthy." Fraser is chief of congenital heart surgery and cardiac surgeon in-charge at Texas Children's Hospital, the nation's largest pediatric hospital. Academic appointments include professor of surgery and pediatrics, Baylor College of Medicine and adjunct professor of bioengineering at Rice University. http://www.mywesttexas.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=18588790&BRD=2288&PAG=461&dept_id=475626&rfi=6 Pittsburgh Post Gazette, July 15, Growth in Hispanics causing shortage of 'O'. The growth of America's Hispanic population could contribute to a serious imbalance in the nation's blood supply. Experts say Hispanics predominantly have type-O-positive blood, which means there has been a steady rise in the demand for that type in areas of the country where many Latinos live. But because Hispanics as a whole tend to donate blood less often and in fewer numbers than other U.S. population groups, this could soon lead to a dangerous shortage in the supply of O-positive blood, according to University of Texas Medical Branch professor Alexander Indrikovs. Caucasians account for more than 80 percent of all donations, experts say. What's needed is an education and advertising campaign designed to boost donations from Hispanics and other minority groups, Indrikovs said. http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07196/801592-28.stm (This story has appeared in multiple publications.) Galveston County Daily News, July 17, Is depression over-diagnosed? Some of it is just feeling sad, Column by Dr. Howard Brody. We family docs don’t get to say “I told you so” very often, so we have to take our chances when they come. For many years there has been a sort of cottage industry among academic psychiatrists called “do research studies that show how poor a job primary care docs do of diagnosing depression in the community.” The bottom line in all these studies seems to be that family docs and other primary care physicians miss many cases of depression, which any good psychiatrist could spot. We have grumbled about the research methods, and argued that almost all the “missed” cases were the mild variety of depression that in most instances would get better by itself without treatment. But it rankled to be told that we could not diagnose depression well, when one of things that we think makes family medicine stand out among specialties, is our long-term relationship with the patient. If we think we get to know our patients better than other docs, who may see them only for one type of illness, we should be much better able to figure out if they are depressed or not. So I was gratified to see a research study by Jerome Wakefield and colleagues in the Archives of General Psychiatry, which suggests that the standard criteria that psychiatrists rely on to diagnose depression may be flawed. http://galvestondailynews.com/columnist.lasso?who=Howard%20Brody (Link will be available later today.) Psychiatric Times, July 2007, Update on Antidepressants and Suicidality References. A recently published study examined the impact of publicity regarding the pediatric suicidality data on the prescribing practices of physicians in the United States. The researchers focused on the period from June 2000 to March 2005. Major public events during that time included the FDA Public Health Advisory (Oct. 2003) on the occurrence of suicidality in clinical trials examining antidepressants in the treatment of children and adolescents with major depression; the FDA hearing (Feb. 2004) to review data regarding suicidality from these trials; and the FDA Public Health Advisory (March 2004) that asked antidepressant manufacturers to include a warning on the potential for suicidality and the importance of monitoring pediatric patients. Author is Dr. Karen Wagner, the Marie B. Gale Centennial Professor and vice chair in the department of psychiatry at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston. Wagner is also behavioral sciences and director of child and adolescent psychiatry at UTMB. http://www.psychiatrictimes.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=200001450&CID=rss Galveston County Daily News, July 18, Protecting your children against West Nile, Column by Drs. Sally Robinson and Keith Bly. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, West Nile has been on the rise. In 2004, there were 2,539 diagnoses and 100 deaths; in 2005, 3,000 diagnoses and 119 deaths; in 2006, 4,269 diagnoses and 177. Texas, which has about twice the population of the Midwestern states, suffered 354 reported cases of West Nile disease and 32 deaths in 2006. Whereas, only one person in a group of 194,000 people in Illinois died of West Nile disease, only one in a group of 1.7 million people in Texas died. We accept dangers much greater than this every day. Although the family is in much greater danger every time it travels in a car, rare diseases that affect the nervous system frighten parents, especially those such as West Nile disease, where no vaccine is available for humans. So here are steps that can make the chance of contracting West Nile even lower: To minimize mosquito breeding, eliminate standing water in eaves, buckets, cans, bottles, tires, pots, pet dishes, tree stumps, ditches and any containers that may collect water from a rain shower. Mosquitoes can breed in about one thimble-full of water; Mosquitoes are most active just before dawn and at dusk. Keep the kids in during these times; Keep mosquitoes out of the house by checking that screen doors and window screens close tightly and are not torn; and make sure you and the kids wear long-sleeved shirts and long pants and that all exposed body parts have been carefully covered with mosquito repellant containing DEET. http://blogs.galvnews.com/story.lasso?ewcd=db8bd46b9930daa0 Galveston County Daily News, July 19, Outlook better for man infected in Gulf. Steve Gilpatrick finally got some good news Wednesday. Galveston doctors told the Nacogdoches man he would survive deadly bacteria that infected him in the Gulf and that he likely would keep the leg that the bug contaminated. “He’s still very sick,” his wife, Linda Gilpatrick, said Wednesday in an interview from the University of Texas Medical Branch’s John Sealy Hospital. It was the first glimmer of hope after a terrifying week for the Gilpatricks. On July 8, Steve Gilpatrick briefly went fishing in ankle-deep water at Crystal Beach, his wife said. Gilpatrick, 58, is diabetic. He had a sore on his leg that had almost healed. He felt fine until the night of July 10, when he awoke with chills and a 103-degree fever. One of his legs was especially hot and it had turned purplish-red, said Linda Gilpatrick. Medical branch doctors quickly determined that he had been infected with vibrio vulnificus, a bacterium found in all seawater. The same bug can make people sick when they eat raw oysters, especially in summertime. Healthy people almost always are able to fight off a skin infection by vibrio vulnificus, but diabetics are doubly vulnerable, said Dr. Johnny Peterson, a medical branch microbiologist who studies the disease. http://blogs.galvnews.com/story.lasso?ewcd=869685815d455b02 (More than 152 media venues worldwide have aired the “flesh-eating” bacteria story, including news agencies in China, India and the United Kingdom.) Associated Content, July 20, Texas hospital to test new smallpox vaccine. With the current state of affairs in the country and the world, the word bioterrorist has almost become a part of everyday language. The medical researchers are taking the threats seriously, every threat needs to be. The researchers at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston have begun testing a new vaccine with the thought of a bioterrorist attack in mind. The vaccine is for smallpox and it may have the tremendous benefit of causing less side effects than the vaccine that is currently in use. They set out on this research with one goal in mind and that is to produce a vaccine that will provide fast and safe protection from smallpox if there were to ever be a bioterrorist attack. http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/321111/texas_hospital_to_test_new_smallpox.html Houston Chronicle, July 21, Medical school earns accreditation extension. The School of Medicine at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston has earned an eight-year accreditation extension of its education program after a peer-based evaluation that evaluates function, organization and performance, a news release states. An accreditation report by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education, the nationally recognized authority for medical education programs, concluded that the school met a comprehensive list of national standards that are meant to foster improvement of the school and its programs. The report noted that the “school's faculty members demonstrate enthusiastic commitment to medical student education that embraces curricular innovation and the promotion of active learning through the Integrated Medical Curriculum,” the release states. http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/nb/bay/news/4982192.html Galveston County Daily News, July 23, Healthy eating on $3 a day. Eating on $3 a day, like some volunteers did as part of the recent Food Stamp Challenge, is tough. Trying to keep healthy eating habits on that amount, however, is more challenging. “Mostly what you see in American society over the past 30 years is the tendency that food is getting more expensive,” said Dr. Russell LaForte, director of the Executive Wellness Program at the University of Texas Medical Branch. He said the prices of items such as rice don’t change much, but the cost of fruits and vegetables has gone up. About 50 people in Galveston County volunteered to live on $3 of food a day. That’s about the average food-stamp allotment for people in the area. The idea was to try to call attention to the plight of those who depend on food stamps. Lynn Maarouf, a diabetes nutrition educator at the medical branch, said healthy eating on $3 a day would take some planning, but is doable. She suggested looking at the biggest expense first. http://blogs.galvnews.com/story.lasso?ewcd=12b880d650578ceb Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology News, July 23, NIH awards funding for collaborative Dengue fever vaccine development. VaxInnate announced today that it has been awarded a 2-year, $597,000 Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant from the National Institutes of Health to support the development of a tetravalent Dengue virus vaccine in collaboration with scientists at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston (UTMB). This SBIR grant award is the result of proof of principle studies completed in a West Nile Virus (WNV) collaboration and recently published in the Journal of Infectious Diseases. http://www.genengnews.com/news/bnitem.aspx?name=20686878 (This story has appeared in multiple publications.) KTEN Dension TV, July 23, Bone-Strengthening Drug may Actually Harm Bones. A new report from the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston shows patients treated with intravenous bisphosphonates are at increased risk of jaw or facial bone deterioration or infection. The drugs are used to treat cancer-related bone lesions, elevated calcium levels in the blood, or reduced bone density. Researchers looked at data of more than 14,000 cancer patients who were treated with two types of bisphosphonates -- either pamidronate or zoledronic acid -- and 28,000 patients who did not receive the drugs. Results show after six years about 5.5 percent of bisphosphonate users had facial or jaw bone surgery or were diagnosed with inflammation of the jaw bone compared with 0.3 percent of patients who did not take the drugs. But the study could not determine whether the bisphosphonates caused the bone problems or whether the patients were already predisposed to having them. http://kten.com/Global/story.asp?S=6725204&nav=menu410_12_6_7 Galveston County Daily News, July 24, The ‘back room’ is not out of sight anymore, Column by Dr. Howard Brody. Since I wrote a book about medicine’s relationship with the pharmaceutical industry (which you can check out, along with updates, at http://brodyhooked.blogspot.com/), I could probably write every one of these columns about something to do with pharmaceutical sales representatives (“reps”) and the freebies they give to docs. Naturally, I try to spare you from my hobby horse most of the time. But once in a while — especially when real patients speak up — I feel I have no choice. This story begins with an article in April in the New England Journal of Medicine, a national survey of physicians, showing that the vast majority accepted gifts from drug reps (http://brodyhooked.blogspot.com/2007/04/new-england-journal-study-shows.html). The next chapter came in May, when The Tennessean in Nashville ran a forceful editorial comment on the survey, condemning conflicts of interest that are destroying patient trust in physicians. None of this would be worth a column by itself. But what especially caught my attention were the readers’ comments posted on the Tennessean website — like these: “The last three times I visited my doctor, pharma reps were setting up breakfast or lunch. Once, while sitting in the waiting room, a rep strolled in and asked the receptionist if he could get “on the List” to provide breakfast or lunch to the office…. The office smelled of food all three times... It appeared to be an everyday thing… I stopped going in their office because I always came out with a handful of Rx that I didn’t need.” Reuters News Service, July 24, U.S. woman seeks tax deduction for sex change. A woman seeking a tax write-off for her sex-change operation told the opening session of a potentially precedent-setting trial on Tuesday that the procedure was not just cosmetic but had made her whole. Rhiannon O'Donnabhain is challenging a decision by U.S. tax authorities not to allow the $25,000 cost of her 2001 sex-change and breast augmentation surgeries as a tax deduction. The Internal Revenue Service calls the procedures elective and cosmetic, and ineligible for a tax break. If the U.S. Tax Court in Boston overturns the IRS's decision, it could have big implications for transsexuals and other transgender people by setting a precedent for those who want to write off. Dr. Walter Meyer, a professor of psychiatry at the University of Texas Medical Branch and an expert in the field of gender identity disorder, told Reuters that in 2006 such disorders affected about one in 10,000 people. http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070724/us_nm/usa_sexchange_tax_dc;_ylt=A0WTcUT4T6dGZyYA8h8WIr0F Galveston County Daily News, July 25, Twin doctors to star in TV show. A University of Texas Medical Branch doctor and his identical twin brother are to star next month in a television program on The Learning Channel about a rare case that tested their expertise in immunology. Both allergy immunology fellows, David Redding of the medical branch and Alan Redding, of the University of Tennessee-Memphis, will feature in an episode of “Diagnosis X,” about IPEX syndrome, a rare disease that kills infants and toddlers. The show’s producer thought identical twin doctors would provide an interesting twist for the program’s format, which mixes doctors with actors in drama-documentaries about “brain-teaser” cases that test doctors’ diagnostic skills. “She asked if we had an interesting case they could use,” Redding said of a conversation he and his brother had with the producer when they first met her during a medical conference in San Diego. “Alan thought of a recent patient with a rare and difficult-to-diagnose disease, IPEX syndrome.” The condition, the full name of which is immunodysregulation polyendocrinopathy enteropathy X-linked syndrome, is a recently discovered immunodeficiency disease that’s always fatal by age 2 or 3 — usually by age 12 months — without a bone-marrow transplant.
The Texas A&M Battalion, July 25, Future Aggie doctors attend white coat ceremony. Ryan Mulligan, Class of 2007, will be putting on a white coat for the first time. Mulligan is part of the College of Medicine's Class of 2011, and Saturday's white coat ceremony is the starting point of his medical career. The Texas A&M College of Medicine is celebrating its 30-year anniversary and the 25-year anniversary of the Class of 1982, as well as welcoming the Class of 2011. Saturday is the white coat ceremony for the incoming Class of 2011. "We have 106 incoming students this year, the largest ever," Morgan said. Dr. Randall J. Urban, Class of 1982, will be the ceremony speaker at 10 a.m. Urban is the chairman of internal medicine at the University of Texas Medical Branch and said he hopes to give the Class of 2011 advice that will help guide them in their medical career. "These common sense rules are key to a successful career in medical school or anything else," Urban said. Urban said his experience at Texas A&M medical school helped him with what he does today. "I believe one of the things Texas A&M medical school focuses on is the importance of community outreach," Urban said. Galveston County Daily News, July 25, Dr. Bernard Haber. Dr. Bernard Haber of Galveston passed away on July 23, 2007, after a long battle with diabetes. Bernard was the only child of Maria Giewerc and Michael Haber. He was born in Lodz, Poland on July 20, 1934. Although Bernard and his mother survived the Holocaust, his father did not. After the war, Bernard and his mother moved to London, where Bernard and his Uncle Pinick sold skirts in Piccadilly Square. After graduating from an English boarding school, Bernard arrived in Montreal, Canada. He attended McGill University where he received his Ph.D in Neurochemistry in 1963. He then moved to the states, landing first in Illinois, then Los Angeles where he did research at The City of Hope. He came to Galveston in 1971 and there he remained until his death. For 28 years, Bernard was a researcher at UTMB as well as editor and chief of the Journal of Neuroscience Research until his retirement in 1999. http://blogs.galvnews.com/story.lasso?ewcd=ab3d87b137f666ab&-session=TheDailyNews:AAE0087E11b3b10128KLR3CE9E03 Waxahachie Daily Light, July 27, A book of historical treasures. Waxahachie is full of treasures in plain sight. We live, work and play in them, drive, walk and bicycle past them. Sometimes, we may even stop and look at them. A new book in the works will dust off the priceless gems of architecture and history of many Waxahachie buildings and sites and put them on display for all of the world to see. The currently titled “Waxahachie Architecture Guidebook” is being researched by historians Ellen Beasley and Margaret Culbertson and will be modeled after an architectural guidebook Beasley co-wrote on Galveston to make that town’s significant places known and appreciated. The book began as an idea and a phone call from Waxahachie native Dr. Burke Evans, known in his Waxahachie days as Ernest, to Shannon Simpson, director of the Ellis County Museum. “I’m interested in Waxahachie architecture and I was raised in Waxahachie until I was 17,” said Evans, retired chief of orthopedics at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston. “I think Waxahachie has a beautiful cross-section of architecture.” http://www.thedailylight.com/articles/2007/07/27/dailylight/news/08-07-27-historical.txt Houston Chronicle, July 28, Physician Thomas Gready did job for love of medicine. Early in his career Dr. Thomas G. Gready Jr., with his 8-year-old son in tow as they listened to big band music on the car radio, made weekend house calls to treat pregnant women. That practice lasted about three years in the late 1940s and early 1950s, said his son Thomas G. Gready III, but the doctor never lost that "old-school" physician's touch. "They were not in it for the money," the younger Gready said. "They were in it because they loved medicine." His father's 60-year career in medicine ran the gamut: He worked in the military, private practice and the obstetrician/gynecologist resident training program at Baylor College of Medicine. He served as a doctor and later a volunteer at Memorial Hermann Memorial City Hospital until he was 90. Gready Jr., who lived on a ranch in Hockley, died July 23. He was 96 years old. His family and those he taught in resident training remembered him as a loving family man and dedicated doctor trusted by his patients and admired by colleagues. He also opened his home to the residents and their spouses. Gready was born March 25, 1911, in Palestine to Tom and Emma Gready. He lived in Jacksonville, Texas, until he was 10 years old and then the family moved to Houston. He graduated from the Rice Institute, now Rice University, in 1933 and received his medical degree from the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston. http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/5008741.html Galveston County Daily News, July 29, Women take yoga, Pilates to ease childbirth. Jennifer Salyer had been in the hospital for 10 hours when her obstetrician told her to brace herself for a lengthy childbirth. First-time moms typically spend more time in labor than women giving birth to their second or third child. Instructing Salyer to save her energy between contractions, the obstetrician left to attend to other duties. Within minutes, nurses were “paging him like mad” and begging Salyer to stop pushing, Salyer said. Her 6-pound, 15-ounce baby girl arrived in 15 minutes. Anecdotes like Salyer’s of easy births and quick recoveries have been drawing more women to yoga and Pilates — gentle exercises that are getting the blessings of obstetricians. Dr. Mary Claire Haver, an obstetrician at the University of Texas Medical Branch, attributes growing interest in yoga and Pilates to a health conscious generation of pregnant women. Today’s pregnant women are older and tend to be more worried about their health. Many of Haver’s athletic patients aren’t ready to give up their daily exercise routines. Steering them away from strenuous aerobic exercises like running, which could steal blood away from the baby, Haver encourages them instead to stretch, breathe and bend — techniques they can learn through swimming, yoga and Pilates. Though she’s seen no research, Haver said she’s noticed a marked difference between her patients who learn to stretch and breathe and those who don’t. Galveston County Daily News, July 30, Racial issues fewer on isle. Back then, there was the car and house that Edward Clack had to go elsewhere to buy, the constant remarks Miguel Aleman pretended not to hear. Both men felt the sting of racial discrimination in the 1960s — and despite great progress, things aren’t perfect yet. But life in Galveston — one of the most racially integrated cities in the country — is actually easier for minorities than the cities nearby, a recent study found. The Galveston County Survey, which compares how island and mainland residents answered nearly 100 questions, highlighted residents’ different perceptions of discrimination. Some minorities on the mainland felt discriminated against more often than islanders and their white neighbors were less sympathetic to racism. The survey also found that despite the racism that exists in Galveston County, it’s substantially less than what people in Harris County reported. Dr. Karl Eschbach, an associate professor at the University of Texas Medical Branch’s Center for Population Health and Health Disparities, said the differences could be linked to the communities’ racial makeup. Because Galveston is more integrated than mainland cities, whites are more aware of racism and blacks experience it less frequently. http://blogs.galvnews.com/story.lasso?ewcd=e510c80d50358d38 Galveston County Daily News, July 31, Will movie “Sicko” advance the health reform debate? Column by Dr. Howard Brody. My wife Daralyn accompanied me to see the much-argued about movie, “Sicko.” Our conversation on the way home: H: Well, I guess that one slam at Moore was not really justified. D: What was that? H: some beat him up for implying that the Cuban health care system was so much better than the U.S. system. But that was not his intent at all. He had just finished showing us very starkly some of the superior features of health care in Canada, England and France. Moore always keen on irony, started out with the fact that some 9/11 first responders had serious health issues and c |
Younger women diagnosed with
early-stage cervical cancer have traditionally faced a single treatment
option - radical hysterectomy - with loss of fertility as a consequence.
However, UTMB physicians are providing an alternative treatment that
preserves fertility for women who still want children. UTMB is one of
the few institutions in the United States to offer radical trachelectomy.
Dr. Concepción Diaz-Arrastia, associate professor of obstetrics and
gynecology, has performed four of these complex surgeries since 2004.
Susan
H. Coulter, UTMB’s vice president for university advancement since 1998, has
accepted the position of vice president for institutional advancement at the UT
Health Science Center at Houston, effective Aug. 31, 2007. Coulter helped lead
UTMB to the successful completion, in May, of its $250 million comprehensive
campaign, 18 months ahead of schedule. During Coulter’s nine-and-a-half years at
UTMB, the number of volunteers participating in advancement initiatives
increased by 93 percent and UTMB Development Board membership grew from 64 to
100. Coulter said she is “looking forward to working with the talented faculty
and staff at UT Health Science Center-Houston and to continuing to build an
advancement program that will support its many excellent programs...” She called
her years at UTMB among the most fulfilling of her professional career. “I
believe in UTMB, I respect its special mission, and I am convinced that the
institution is stronger now than at any point in its history,” she said. “I also
consider myself extremely fortunate to have had the opportunity to work with
such outstanding faculty, staff, alumni, benefactors and volunteers.”