Report from the Executive Vice President,
Provost and Dean of the School of Medicine
For the Faculty Senate Meeting, 12/9/13
Report from the Executive Vice President, Provost and
Dean of the School of Medicine | 2
CONTENTS
Letter from the Provost
3
Education
4
Call For Nominations/Applications - Medical and Graduate Student Awards
Research
5
Recent Grant Highlights
UTMB Receives Funding to Conduct Landmark Traumatic Brain Injury Study
Patient Care
Annual TB Screening and Flu Shot Reminder
Texas Monthly names UTMB ‘Super Docs’
7
Report from the Executive Vice President, Provost and
Dean of the School of Medicine | 3
Letter from the Provost
Dear Colleagues,
As we approach the end of the calendar year, I would like to
extend my sincere gratitude for all your hard work in 2013. It
has been an exciting and rewarding year, due, in large part, to
the numerous contributions made by our faculty members.
Through our shared goal in achieving “UTMB Health 2020-The
Academic Enterprise,” a major collaborative effort that is being
accomplished with the assistance of the Cirra® Group, we will
continue to fulfill our mandate for excellence in education,
research and patient care to better serve our communities,
locally and globally.
I wish you and yours a very happy holiday season and a year of
renewed hope and possibility.
Sincerely yours,
Danny O. Jacobs, MD, MPH, FACS
Executive Vice President, Provost and
Dean of the School of Medicine
Thomas N. & Gleaves T. James Distinguished Chair
Report from the Executive Vice President, Provost and
Dean of the School of Medicine | 4
Education
Call For Nominations/Applications
– Medical and Graduate Student
Awards
Below is information regarding calls for
nominations/applications for monetary
awards designed to acknowledge student
achievement.
The John P. McGovern Student Awards in Oslerian Medicine – Deadline Friday, January 24, 2014
The McGovern Academy of Oslerian Medicine is pleased to announce the John P. McGovern Student
Awards in Oslerian Medicine: http://www.utmb.edu/osler/awards/student_award.asp. These awards
provide monetary support for the education of medical students whose performance and conduct
exemplify those ideals of medical practice as promulgated by Sir William Osler. The fundamental
principles of Oslerian medicine include:
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Compassionate, personalized medical care that emphasizes the doctor/patient relationship;
Incorporation of a sound scientific basis for optimal patient care; and
Professional behavior at all times.
Each award will be for $10,000 per year. In 2014, awards will be presented to three students: two
rising sophomores and one entering the second, third, or fourth years that are in good academic
standing in the School of Medicine.
Faculty members who have worked with medical students as small group facilitators or preceptors in
clinical settings, or mentors in the Osler Student Societies or other organizations, are especially
encouraged to recommend this opportunity to worthy students.
Seymour Fisher Academic Excellence Awards in Neuroscience for Medical and Graduate Students
– Deadline February 28, 2014
The Seymour Fisher Academic Excellence Awards in Neuroscience are a monetary prize of $5,000 and
recognize the best research paper prepared and submitted by a medical student and by a graduate
student on any topic relevant to neuroscience.
Report from the Executive Vice President, Provost and
Dean of the School of Medicine | 5
Applicants should request additional information regarding the rules and criteria for these awards
from Dr. Volker Neugebauer (voneugeb@utmb.edu), Director, Neuroscience Graduate Program,
Department of Neuroscience and Cell Biology with a copy to Mrs. Phyllis Heyder-Black
(phheyder@utmb.edu), Interim Student Coordinator, Neuroscience and Cell Biology.
Research
Recent Grant Highlights
The following is a list of grant recipients for the month of November 2013.
Principal
Investigator/Project
Director
Title
Sponsor
Amount
Dr. Bill Ameredes, Associate
Professor, Internal Medicine
Effects of Intranasal
Roflumilast on Allergic
Rhinitis (DAL-IT18)
Forest Research
Institute
Dr. Christine Arcari,
Associate Professor,
Preventive Medicine &
Community Health
Transforming Texas
Dr. Abbey Berenson,
Professor, Obstetrics &
Gynecology
Interdisciplinary Women's
Reproductive Health
Fellowship
Texas Department
of State Health
Services (flow
through from
CDC)
National Institute
of Child Health
and Human
Development
$218,391 over
two years (new
testing
agreement)
$350,000 (new
one year flow
through award)
$920,062 over
five years
Report from the Executive Vice President, Provost and
Dean of the School of Medicine | 6
UTMB Receives Funding to Conduct Landmark Traumatic Brain Injury Study
(Researchers hope to find new treatments and basis for cure)
UTMB scientists are expanding their research on traumatic brain injury (TBI), examining its
progressive, chronic effects on the body in hopes of treating its immediate and long-term
consequences.
The project is funded by a three-year, $9 million grant from The Moody Foundation of Galveston and
is expected to produce wide-ranging data in traumatic brain injury, which will fuel future research
initiatives, develop new recovery treatments, and an eventual cure.
Key leaders of the TBI project are:
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Dr. Joaquin Cortiella, Professor in the Department of Anesthesiology and Co-Director of the
Internal Medicine Stem Cell Laboratory;
Dr. Douglas DeWitt, Professor in the Department of Anesthesiology and Director of the Traumatic
Brain Injury Research Laboratory;
Dr. Helen Hellmich, Associate Professor in the Department of Anesthesiology;
Dr. Bruce Luxon, Professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and Director
of the Bioinformatics Program;
Dr. Brent Masel, Director of the Transitional Learning Center, which is a unique Galveston facility
that provides rehabilitation for patients with TBI;
Dr. B. Montgomery Pettitt, Professor and Interim Chair of the Department of Biochemistry and
Molecular Biology and Director of the Sealy Center for Structural Biology and Molecular
Biophysics;
Dr. Donald Prough, Professor and Chair of the Department of Anesthesiology;
Dr. Lawrence Sowers, Professor and Chair of the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology
and Director of the MD/PhD Combined Degree Program;
Dr. Csaba Szabo, Professor in the Department of Anesthesiology and Director of the HighThroughput Drug Discovery Laboratory; and
Dr. Ping Wu, Professor in the Department of Neuroscience and Cell Biology.
Read the news release: http://www.utmb.edu/newsroom/article9080.aspx.
Report from the Executive Vice President, Provost and
Dean of the School of Medicine | 7
Patient Care
Annual TB Screening and Flu Shot Reminder
UTMB Health requires all health care workers to
participate in annual tuberculosis (TB) screening. This
institutional requirement is a condition of continued
employment for anyone who provides direct patient
care, enters patient rooms, and/or comes within six feet
of patients in the course of his or her duties.
The deadline for credentialed medical staff and health
care workers in the Academic Enterprise to complete their TB screening is Tuesday, December 31,
2013.
For your convenience, TB testing will be offered in the lobby of the John Sealy Hospital between 8
a.m. and 12:00 noon on:
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Friday, December 6
Monday, December 9
Wednesday, December 11
Friday, December 13
TB testing is also available every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. at
the Employee Health Clinic located in the Primary Care Pavilion, Suite 125, and at certain inpatient
units and clinics.
Additionally, all health care workers must get an annual flu shot or formally decline the vaccination. If
you have not already received the 2013–2014 flu vaccine, please stop by the Employee Health Clinic as
soon as possible for your free flu shot. Any health care worker who chooses not to get vaccinated will
be reassigned to other duties or will be required to wear a surgical mask when providing patient care
for the duration of the flu season.
Thank you for complying with these institutional requirements. Should you have any questions about
the TB screening or masking policy, please contact your manager or the Employee Health Clinic at
(409) 747-9172.
Report from the Executive Vice President, Provost and
Dean of the School of Medicine | 8
Texas Monthly names UTMB ‘Super Docs’
Forty UTMB Health physicians, representing a full complement of medical practice areas, were named
Texas Super Doctors® by Texas Monthly magazine. Selecting physicians for Super Doctors is a
rigorous, multi-step process that identifies physicians who are recognized by their peers for the quality
of their professional contributions.
Our Texas Super Doctors® and their specialties are listed below. These men and women are among
the best in their fields, and embody the finest qualities in promoting health and healing.
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Dr. Karl Anderson, Gastroenterology
Dr. Patricia Beach, Pediatrics
Dr. Robert Beach, Nephrology
Dr. Thomas Blackwell, Internal Medicine
Dr. Kelly Carmichael, Orthopaedics
Dr. Fernando Cesani-Vazquez, Radiology
Dr. Luca Cicalese, Transplant Surgery
Dr. Vincent Conti, Cardiovascular Surgery
Dr. Emilio B. Gonzalez, Rheumatology
Dr. J. Andrew Grant Jr., Allergy and
Immunology
Dr. Kristene Gugliuzza, Transplant Surgery
Dr. Gary Hankins, Obstetrics and Gynecology
Dr. Sandra Hatch, Radiation Oncology
Dr. Robert Hirschfeld, Psychiatry
Dr. Pradeep Kadambi, Nephrology
Dr. Philip Keiser, Infectious Disease
Dr. Aristides Koutrouvelis, Critical Care
Medicine
Dr. A. Scott Lea, Infectious Disease
Dr. Scott Lick, Cardiothoracic Surgery
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Dr.Ronald Lindsey, Orthopaedics
Dr. Michael Malloy, Neonatology
Dr. Gayle Olson, Obstetrics & Gynecology
Dr. Vinod Panchbhavi, Orthopaedic Surgery
Dr. Sharon Raimer, Dermatology
Dr. Mukaila Raji, Geriatrics
Dr. Sally Robinson, Pediatrics
Dr. Patricia Rogers, Pediatrics
Dr. George Saade, Obstetrics & Gynecology
Dr. Juan Sarria, Infectious Disease
Dr. Gulshan Sharma, Critical Care Medicine
Dr. Karen Shattuck, Neonatology
Dr. Michael Silva Jr., Vascular Surgery
Dr. Sanjiv Sur, Allergy & Immunology
Dr. Leonard Swischuk, Radiology
Dr. Barbara Thompson, Family Medicine
Dr. Courtney Townsend Jr., Surgery
Dr. Vincent Valentine, Pulmonary/Critical Care
Dr. David Walker, Pathology
Dr. A. Clinton White Jr., Infectious Disease
Dr. Sidney Worsham III, Urology
See the ad featured in the December 2013 issue of Texas Monthly:
https://ispace.utmb.edu/departments/PublicAffairs/Web/iUTMB/UTMB_Super_Doctors_2013%20%2
82%29.pdf?uniq=-etudyn.