MESSAGE FROM THE DEAN OF MEDICINE
January 14, 2008
Happy New Year. I hope you all had a wonderful holiday break and are ready for a productive and successful 2008. Last year ended with great news for UTMB’s Breast Imaging Center. The Center has been designated a “Center of Excellence” by the American College of Radiology. It is one of two in the Houston/Galveston area with the designation, and one of only eight in Texas. Our Breast Imaging Center is now fully accredited in mammography, stereotactic breast biopsy and breast ultrasound.
In an effort to better serve patients, several specialty clinics relocated during the holiday break. The cardiology, hematology/oncology, gastroenterology and nephrology/renal clinics, as well as the outpatient chemotherapy center, moved from the University Hospital Clinics building to the Primary Care Pavilion, 400 Harborside Drive. The move allows UTMB to maximize its available equipment and exam rooms, and will provide patients—chemotherapy patients in particular—a much shorter and easier walk from their cars to the clinic.
Last week I attended the GCRC retreat led by Dr. Don Powell and also heard an update on the Sealy Center for Structural Biology and Molecular Biophysics (SCSB) from Dr. Vincent Hilser. I was very encouraged by what I heard. We are moving in the right direction in the number of proposals we are submitting and in the number of articles that are being published in high-impact journals. This activity is important progress to meet our goal of all Basic Science departments ranking in the top 10 in NIH funding. In addition, we can be proud that UTMB is the only facility in the world that performs Cryo-electron Microscopy in a BSL3 Lab.
There are 10 spaces available in the Scientific Writing for Clinical Research program. The program is a series of 4 afternoon sessions beginning Tuesday, January 22, 2008 and offered by the General Clinical Research Center and Clinical Research Education Office (Constance D. Baldwin, Ph.D., Course Director). The course will help participants to develop an effective writing style for all kinds of scholarly documents, with special emphasis on research articles and grant proposals. The seminars will be taught interactively with constructive critique of writing samples contributed by previous participants. For more information call Marie Carr at ext. 21484.
Our Institute for the Medical Humanities is sponsoring a forum entitled “The Ethics of Rationing Care for the Indigent: UTMB's Proposed Cancer Care Policy,” on January 15th, 2008 from 5 to 6:30 p.m. in Levin Hall North Auditorium. The forum will be moderated by Dr. Howard Brody, and include the following speakers: Jason Glenn, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of History and Member, Institute for the Medical Humanities, Susan McCammon, M.D., Co-director of the UTMB Center for Cancers of the Head and Neck, and Assistant Professor, Department of Otolaryngology--Head and Neck Surgery, Kirk L. Smith, M.D., Ph.D., Arnold P. Gold Assistant Professor of Family Medicine, Member, Institute for the Medical Humanities, Director, Frontera de Salud and Associate Director for Community Outreach, Stark Diabetes Center.
In February UTMB will be conducting the You Count Survey. Our goal this year is to increase participation across the School of Medicine. I want to assure all employees that the survey is confidential, and is an excellent tool to let us know what is going well in your area, and what needs to be improved. I am asking all managers and supervisors to give your employees time during the day to fill out the survey. It does not take more than 30 minutes, and is an important part of our efforts to make UTMB a better place to work.
Also in February the committee from SACS will conduct their site visit on campus. We all should be prepared to answer any committee member who may ask us a question about UTMB’s Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP). The information on our QEP is below, and for more information, please contact Dr. Susie Gerik at sgerik@utmb.edu.
UTMB QEP: Clinical and Community-Based Interprofessional Education:
We will develop and enhance interprofessional educational experiences in the hospitals, clinics, classrooms, and community to promote mutual understanding of disciplinary roles, collaboration in planning patient care, joint accountability for decision making and outcomes, and the benefits to the patient and the community of interprofessional collaboration.
Students will develop skills and gain experiences working collaboratively across cultures with patients, patients’ families, other healthcare professionals, and community-based providers to enhance patient care and wellness.
I would like to welcome new faculty who have arrived at UTMB in recent months, and remind you of the Faculty Lounge on the first floor of Old Red. The Faculty Lounge serves breakfast and lunch, and is a great place to meet other faculty members you may not see on a regular basis. For more information, please call Shirley Hilton at ext. 79581.
In February The UTMB Women’s, Infant’s and Children’s and Family Centered Committees will present performances of The Yellow Boat by David Saar on February 12 at 6 p.m. and February 13 at 4 p.m. in Levin Hall. The Yellow Boat is the story of David Saar’s son Benjamin’s journey through the health care system while receiving treatment for hemophilia and later AIDS. The Yellow Boat received the Distinguished Play Award in 1998 from the American Association of Theater and Education and has received international acclaim. I encourage all of our medical students and those involved in the care and treatment of children to attend.
For more information on these events and your colleagues’ achievements, please click here for the SOM e-NEWS.