Boisaubin named Distinguished Teaching Professor

Dr. Eugene Boisaubin has been named the first Distinguished Teaching Professor of the UT Medical School. This distinction is bestowed upon faculty by Dr. Ken Shine, executive vice chancellor for health affairs of the UT System, at the recommendation of interim Dean Jerry Wolinsky and President James Willerson.

Boisaubin, professor of internal medicine, has been on faculty since 2001. He is the associate director of the internal medicine residency program and in 2004 was the co-founder of the first required course in ethics and professionalism for second-year students, which he now directs. He was elected to membership of The University of Texas Academy of Health Science Educators in 2006.

“I am both honored and humbled with this award, particularly considering the large number of outstanding teachers who work in this institution,” Boisaubin said. “It would be very presumptuous of me to claim to be the best individual or group teacher, so other factors certainly play a role in an award of this nature. These would include course and curriculum design, implementation and evaluation, and published educational research and grants.”

The honorific title is bestowed to “recognize faculty members who have made significant contributions to education,” according to the Rules and Regulations of the UT System Board of Regents. Any faculty member who is a member of the UT Academy of Health Science Education or an approved academy at a UT Health Science Institution is eligible for the title, with the proper recommendations.

“This honor reinforces what many have known for some time – Dr. Boisaubin is one of our most dedicated and effective teachers. Our medical school is privileged to have him on our faculty; our medical students are fortunate to have him as a role model as he interacts with them and his patients,” Wolinsky said.

Boisaubin said his teaching philosophy is not much different from most others.

“I do try to particularly adhere to principles espoused by the McGovern Center; emphasizing medical humanism through both teaching and example,” said Boisaubin, who is a member of the John P. McGovern, M.D. Center for Health, Humanities, and the Human Spirit. “Clinical people involved in patient care always have an advantage since they can inspire students and residents by example, which is one of the more powerful determinants of trainees’ future professional behavior. We simply have to practice what we preach."


-D. Brown

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FY08 Preventive Maintenance to Include Water Damage Prevention

We all know an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure – but how much is preventing a pound of water damage worth? In fiscal year 2007, broken cast-iron storm drains were the cause of two different water damage occurrences resulting in more than $75,000 in property damage plus productivity losses to the Medical School.

In an attempt to prevent future water damage caused by deteriorating storm drain lines, the Facilities Department has purchased a high-tech plumbing camera snake.

“This device allows the maintenance team to insert the snake in storm drains on the roof and perform a complete visual inspection on the nearly 50 storm drains located through out the Medical School Building, which are original to the building,” explained Wes Stewart, manager of project managment, facilities.

The camera is able to video inside storm drains for a distance of up to 350 feet.

“We are looking for cracks in the piping or damage of any other kind,” said Judson Lloyd, senior project manager, facilities.

Gary Dommell, maintenance team leader at the Medical School, started the inspection process last weekend, which he said should take about four months to survey all of the drainage pipes of the building.

“If cracks are found, damaged piping will be replaced,” Dommell explained.

This type of plumbing snake is originally designed to inspect plumbing pipes for blockages.

“If the camera does not prove to be efficient in seeing cracks and damage, we may have to revert to physically inspecting the piping. For example, removing the insulation from the storm drain piping and visually inspecting it for damages,” Lloyd explained

-D. Brown


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Conference operations updates lecture halls, classrooms

The Medical School’s middle aged classrooms and lecture halls have been undergoing an aesthetic and technological facelift – but not at the hands of plastic surgeons.

Conference Operations’ Ted Jones, audiovisual supervisor, and Nick Bell, audiovisual technician II, have been working with audiovisual technicians, electricians, computer specialists, and other vendors to outfit the aging classrooms with the latest technology to enhance the learning experience.

New lighting controls have been added in MSB 2.006 and MSB 3.001 that will enable speakers to use pre-programmed light options from the lectern. And by the end of this month, electrical outlets will be installed in the ribbon tables in MSB 2.006 so that students can plug in their laptops for continuous use during lectures and exams.

The Fifth Floor Gallery was updated this past spring with a permanent LCD projector, laptop, and brighter lighting.

“We had many complaints that the lights were too low in the Gallery, but now it is much improved,” Jones said.

Additional seating has been added to MSB 1.006 to accommodate the increase in class size. To facilitate interactive learning, David Posado, Information Technology systems and applications analyst, installed the Turning Point Software audience response system on laptops in all classrooms, student lecture halls, and in MSB G.100. This provides a “game-show” question and answer scenario whereby students and others can respond to questions at the click of a button and real-time results are displayed.

The Apreso automated lecture capture, a Web publishing system that produces online versions of the classroom experience for on-demand student review, was added in the spring of 2007 to MSB 1.006, MSB 2.006, and MSB 3.001 lecture halls, giving a high resolution for PowerPoint slides. This presentation capture system will be installed in MSB 2.103 and MSB 2.135 during the 2007 fall semester.

The streaming video system servers will be replaced to allow for more storage capability and the ability to serve more users simultaneously. Streaming video hardware and furnishing updates have begun in classrooms MSB B.620 and MSB B.605 under the guidance of Mederick Woods, systems and applications analyst, Interactive Video Services. Future updates include the major renovations of video, audio, and presentation control devices for MSB 2.103, MSB 2.135, and MSB G.100, said Steve Fath, director of interactive video services, who is coordinating these video conference system updates, which will cost approximately $275,000.

-D. Brown

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