Lindsey Hicks receives AMA Physicians of Tomorrow Scholarship

Lindsey Hicks

The American Medical Association (AMA) Foundation has awarded one of 12 prestigious Physicians of Tomorrow Scholarship to Lindsey Hicks, a current fourth-year medical student. Recipients were nominated by their dean and chosen by a selection committee.

Hicks, from Keller, Texas, is an active participant in medical school and the community. She has had an outstanding academic career with honors such as the Golden Key International Honor Society and Texas A&M Academic Excellence Award. Hicks has served in leadership roles such as president of the medical school’s student chapter of the American Medical Women’s Association and received the Texas Aggie Leadership Scholarship.  She is involved with many research projects, helps to conduct vaccine trials, and is passionate about the promotion of preventative medicine.

Hicks said she was humbled and surprised upon hearing the good news. “I was ecstatic and incredibly grateful for the AMA scholarship.  It’s comforting to know that the AMA strives to aid medical students across the United States” she said.

Hicks will receive a $10,000 scholarship to help defray her medical school expenses, and with residency applications coming up, the funds will come in handy.

“I am applying for dermatology, and am considering dermatopathology, but I’m keeping my options open. Dermatology is a competitive field, and I will be applying broadly,” she said.

The scholarship program was created in 2004 as a part of the AMA Foundation’s ongoing effort to provide financial assistance to medical students facing spiraling medical school debts.

“Lindsey Hicks is an example of the dedication to medicine and to the well-being of others that characterizes the best physicians,” said AMA Foundation President Dr. Barbara Rocket. “She has already distinguished herself as a leader and we believe she will make many strong contributions to the profession.”

Hicks, who is presently on a rotation at Emory University in Atlanta this month, said what she has enjoyed most about medical school is the focus on extracurricular activities and service to the community.

“Everyone at UT Houston is very involved in medical school activities and community service. I’m very thankful to be part of a medical school that develops such well-rounded physicians” she said. “And I have had really great faculty as mentors – for example, I did my research program with Dr. Stephen Tyring. I would like to thank all of the faculty and residents who’ve taught me while in medical school. Their contributions really make a difference in the lives of all the students at our school.”

-D. Brown

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President Scholars both on Medical School faculty

Dr. Dianna Milewicz

Each year, two outstanding health science center faculty members are chosen for the President’s Scholar Award. This year, both recipients are from the Medical School – the President’s Scholar Award for Research is going to Dr. Dianna Milewicz, professor and President George Bush Chair in Cardiovascular Medicine; and the President’s Scholar Award for Teaching is going to Dr. Norman Weisbrodt, professor and interim chair of the Department of Integrative Biology and Pharmacology.

“In naming this year's President's Scholars, we recognize those who make this University a prospering institution that is dedicated to even greater accomplishments. This is a celebration of scholarly achievement,” said Dr. James T. Willerson, president. “I want to extend my personal congratulations to Dr. Norman Weisbrodt for his exemplary contributions to the teaching of our medical students, residents and fellows, and to Dr. Dianna Milewicz for her significant research accomplishments and contributions to the world of science and medicine.”

Milewicz received her M.D. and Ph.D. degrees from UT-Southwestern Medical School and has been a faculty member at the Medical School since 1993. She is professor and director of the Division of Medical Genetics and the M.D./Ph.D. Program in the Medical School and Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences. She received the Doris Duke Distinguished Clinical Scientist Award in 2001 and was inducted into the American Association of Clinical Investigation in 1998 and the Association of American Physicians in 2006.

Dr. Norman Weisbrodt

Weisbrodt received his Ph.D. from the University of Michigan and his research interest is in intestinal smooth muscle function.  He has been on the faculty since 1971 and has been the course director for physiology and has taught pharmacology and facilitated problem-based learning. He received the John Freeman Faculty Teaching Award in 2003.

This fall’s Faculty Honors Convocation will be Thursday, Oct. 4, in the Beth Robertson Auditorium of the Fayez S. Sarofim Building. The ceremony begins at 4 p.m. followed by a reception.

For more information, please contact Nesh.Aqrawi@uth.tmc.edu or 713.500.3035.

-D. Brown


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Van Buren to direct organ transplant, immunology

Dr. Charles Van Buren

Dr. Richard Andrassy, chair of the Department of Surgery, has announced that Dr. Charles Van Buren is the new director of the Division of Immunology and Organ Transplant, Department of Surgery, effective Aug. 1.

Van Buren has been on faculty at the Medical School since 1977, when he started as an instructor in surgery and progressed up the ranks to professor of surgery in 1987. He replaces outgoing division director Dr. Barry Kahan, who led the division since its inception in 1977. Kahan will remain on faculty and has transitioned his clinical activities to St. Luke’s Episcopal Hospital.

Van Buren’s specialty is nutrition and clinical immunology in transplantation. He received his medical degree from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and did his residency training at Brigham Hospital in Boston and fellowship training at West Roxbury Veterans in Boston. Van Buren performed the first liver transplant in Houston in 1985.

Van Buren also is medical director, renal transplantation of Memorial Herman – Texas Medical Center; medical director, renal transplantation, St. Luke’s Episcopal Hospital; and medical director of LifeGift, a nonprofit organ procurement organization in Texas.

-D. Brown

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