A Message from the Dean

As this academic year winds to a close, with the excitement of commencement still on our minds, I would like to take this opportunity to look back at how far we have come this year.

This year has been one of progress and of accolades for our school and individuals. It has taken the work of each of you to make it a successful year - and I thank you for that.

We have seen the Replacement Research Facility rise up and take shape, the Surgical and Clinical Skills Center open its doors, and the entire Medical School community take a creative and forward-thinking approach to accommodating an increased class size.

We have faced our challenges of fire and floods head on and will no doubt be better prepared for the next emergency that comes our way.

We have done very well by the biennial Legislature relative to the other UT health science centers, and interim leadership positions at the departmental level are being filled by talented permanent chairs.

Keep up the good work as we all try to wrap up this fiscal year with a positive margin. None of these achievements can happen without your continued dedication.

-Interim Dean Jerry Wolinsky

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McGovern legacy felt at Medical School

A local and international medical luminary who held faculty appointments in all six UT Health Science Center schools, Dr. John P. McGovern, died at the age of 85 Thursday, May 31, 2007, and left a lasting impression on the Medical School.

A gifted physician, McGovern continued helping others in the later years of his life by enriching the community through his generosity. Through his foundation, he endowed numerous professorships and scholarships over the years to the Medical School and the UT Health Science Center. Most recently he had given $3.5 million to create the John P. McGovern M.D. Center for Health, Humanities, and the Human Spirit and an endowed chair for its director.

“Dr. McGovern was a true humanitarian who has touched all of us directly or indirectly in Houston,” said interim Dean Jerry Wolinsky. “The McGovern center is a wonderful legacy for our future generations of physicians.”

McGovern was a founding leader of The American Osler Society and was known as a champion for humanistic patient care in the spirit of the great Canadian/American physician Sir William Osler. The center, under the direction of Dr. Tom Cole, teaches ethics, professionalism, and the human, healing touch of medicine.

“Dr. McGovern was an extraordinary physician/scientist who dedicated a lifetime to community service and helping others,” said Dr. Bryant Boutwell, holder of the John P. McGovern Professorship in Oslerian Medicine. “He believed strongly in the humanistic approach -- treating the whole person.”

McGovern received his Bachelor of Science and medical degrees from Duke University. He is survived by his wife, Katherine.

-D. Brown

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Ramesh wins 2007 AOA Volunteer Clinical Faculty Award

For the second time in his teaching career, G. S. Ramesh, M.D., is the recipient of the AOA Volunteer Clinical Faculty Award. The award is given annually to recognize a community physician who contributes with distinction to the education and training of clinical students.

Ramesh was nominated and chosen by student members of Alpha Omega Alpha (AOA), a national honor medical society, to receive the award this year and in 2003.

“That is the greatest honor a teacher can receive,” Ramesh said on being selected by students for a teaching award. “Because it’s from the students, you feel like you’ve made a difference in their life. It’s probably the best thing I have accomplished.”

A clinical assistant professor of medicine, Ramesh teaches internal medicine and gastroenterology to fourth-year medical students on a one-on-one basis in a clinical setting, rather than in a classroom.

“The student has all my attention for one entire month,” Ramesh said. “It’s a nice combination of clinic and hospital work.”

When training with Ramesh, students learn both the clinical and business sides of medicine.

“They are exposed to how the clinics run and how to take care of sick people,” he explained. “They learn the billing process, how the payment works, and how much the insurance company pays.”

Ramesh added that he also likes to teach his students about saving and investing for their future. He said he finds that not many are aware how important it is to start saving early for retirement.

Ramesh said he loves educating young people and admits that they teach him new things as well.

“They are extremely Internet savvy,” he said. “I learn the technological aspect of medical practice through them and with their help.”

Ramesh is grateful for those instructors who helped guide him when he was a student.

“My teachers played a huge role in my life,” he said. “Had it not been for my teachers pointing me in the right direction, I wouldn’t be here doing what I’m doing. If I can guide or mold a student in his formative years to be successful in his profession, then it’s all been worth it.”

Previous winners include Oscar R. Rosales, M.D., 2006; Julie K. Toll, M.D., 2005; Thomas J. Parr, M.D., and Jack N. Alpert, M.D., 2004; Ramesh, 2003; John M. Passmore Jr., M.D., 2002; Stuart K. Cohan, M.D., 2001; and Robert E. White, M.D., 2000.

-C. Webb

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