Q&A with Dean Colasurdo

Dr.Giuseppe N. Colasurdo

Dr. Giuseppe N. Colasurdo, chair of the Department of Pediatrics, became dean of the UT Medical School at Houston Sept. 1. Here he takes time for a brief question-and -answer session.

Q: What are your short-term and long-term goals for the Medical School?

A: We must attain financial stability during this challenging time for academic medicine. Our new compensation plan has raised increasing awareness of a productivity based structure that will allow the School to support salaries, incentive payments, and growth. It is a very complex plan and a simple formula would not be able to support and reward our educators, scientists, and selected clinical faculty. As we continue to develop the best operational model for our environment, our immediate strategy is relatively straightforward: increase the clinical volume, aggressively pursue extramural funding, and effectively manage our services and expenses.

We need to further align our vision with the Memorial Hermann Hospital System. Only a strong and close partnership will allow for a successful expansion of our clinical programs. Emphasis will be placed on the highest standard for patient care.  This is a strong commitment of our institutions:  excellence in patient care and services must be a core value of our culture.

The educational and research components of the school will have to be closely linked to the clinical programs. This is an unparalleled strength of our school and our great scientists and innovative strategies for the prevention and treatment of human diseases must be further promoted and expanded among the schools and within the Memorial Hermann System.  A culture of excellence must be built on a collaborative spirit with the contribution of talented individuals: students, scientists, educators, clinicians, and administrators. Our school has every component for greater future success:  first-class science, visionary leadership, and administrative talent.  We have so many gifted people in our schools and these individuals should be empowered to work together and enrich our intellectual environment in many ways.

We must retain our brightest students and attract the new leaders in basic and clinical sciences to the Medical School. In addition, we need to protect our best scientists as they have been the role models for our young investigators. These individuals represent the “core” of our mission and are uniquely positioned for leading our school to national prominence. The retention and recruitment of the best scientists can only be accomplished by the development of an ambitious and successful philanthropic effort.

How would you describe your leadership style?

A: I think people see me as a team builder, bringing people together. I have tremendous respect for people’s contribution to the project, and I seek advice from everyone. I value collaboration and strongly believe in a team of people built on human value and integrity. I am compassionate, and some may say I am very ambitious with my goals.  I believe in empowering those best suited to get the job done.

Q: How do you plan to balance the chairmanship of the Department of Pediatrics simultaneously with the deanship?

A: It will be somewhat challenging to balance the two positions, but I am committed to maintaining the chair position to provide continuity to our project in the Department of Pediatrics. This is a project I committed to, and it is difficult to leave a project unfinished. I have a wonderful group of division chiefs and faculty who share the same goals and values. 

Q: You have been on faculty of the Medical School for 12 years. Did you always have ambitions to become dean?

A:  No, I never imagined that I would be dean, but I like challenging projects and building programs and am fully aware of the potential consequences of my career decision. It is an enormous responsibility and the reward of building a culture of excellence is something that far outweighs any previous career goals.  The role of dean is clearly not a one-person job, but I have outstanding individuals working shoulder-to-shoulder with me.

Q: What drove your interest in pediatrics?

A: Pediatrics was a very competitive specialty in Italy – and I want what I can’t have. My goal was to develop a research program with a link to prevention. The root of many diseases is found in infancy and my thesis and original research interest was in the development of airway hyper-responsiveness and childhood asthma.

Q: How/why did you come to Texas?

A: I was able to come to Texas through the sponsorship of my father, who was a tailor. I was born in a very small town in Italy, Morrone Del Sannio – only 700 people live there today – and was the second of five children. When I was young, the United States requested Italian tailors, and my dad was among a couple of dozen who were selected. He came to Rochester, NY, and worked there for 19 years. He returned to Italy in 1987, and in 1988, I decided to move to the United States to pursue my medical education – I wanted to receive the best medical training in the world. I had to fight him a bit on that because he didn’t want me to go. My family is all back in Italy now.

Q: You recently became an American citizen. Do you have dual citizenship? Why is that important?

A: Now that I am an American citizen, I can vote. And, if I get fired, since I also have Italian citizenship, I can move back to Europe and get free education, free health care, and even skip the lines at the airports since I have a U.S. and Italian passport. Italy is one of the few countries that allows dual citizenship with the United States.

Q: How do you balance your busy work schedule with other activities -- and what do you do for fun?

A: I like soccer, tennis, and bike riding.  Please don’t ask me about my golfing skills.

 -D. Brown


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UT Health Science Center Breaks Ground on New Research Facility

The groundbreaking for the UT Health Science Center’s new Research Park Complex Click here for larger image.

A host of dignitaries, elected representatives, faculty, staff, and Development Board members celebrated the groundbreaking for the UT Health Science Center’s $161.5-million Research Park Complex Aug. 30.

The Research Park Complex will encompass 393,000 gross square feet and comprise three independent programs functionally connected into one facility: the Dental Branch Replacement Building, the Neuroscience Building, and the Biomedical Research and Education Facility (BREF).

The building site is 7.5 acres at the corner of Cambridge Street and East Road in the UT Research Park, a 100-acre area being jointly developed by the UT Health Science Center and The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center.

“We are very excited to be able to build a neuroscience center, a research and educational building devoted to stem cell research, and a new dental school within the UT Research Park in Houston,” said President James T. Willerson, M.D.

 “These buildings are very important to our research and educational efforts and to our abilities to ultimately treat patients in better ways that may ultimately prevent disease.  Beyond these buildings themselves, it will remain very important for the UT Health Science Center to continue to recruit some of the most outstanding physician-scientists and scientists to work in these facilities and ones who have a burning passion and deep commitment to cure and prevent disease.”

Distinguished guests who participated in the groundbreaking event included: Lt. Governor David Dewhurst, John W. Barnhill, Jr., a member of The University of Texas System Board of Regents and chairman of its Facilities Planning and Construction Committee; and UT System Chancellor Mark G. Yudof, J.D.

“This is a very exciting time to be at the UT Health Science Center and to have the opportunity to work in world-class facilities devoted to new discovery and disease prevention,” Willerson said.  “We are very grateful to the UT System, the UT Regents, the Texas Legislature and the generous people of Houston for making these new buildings possible.”

A total 69,000 gross square feet of the complex will be occupied primarily by faculty and staff of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences.  Collaborative neuroscience research will involve about 250 faculty, fellows, residents, and staff in addition to outpatients and participants in clinical studies.

“This building will galvanize translational research activities in the neurosciences on the South Campus,” said Dr. Jerry Wolinsky. “I see this facility as a hub for the expansion of exciting research on human behavior.”

Wolinsky identified neuroscience as “the new frontier of medicine” and a focus for many prominent UT clinicians and researchers.

The Neuroscience Building, which is expected to cost $22.9 million, will replace the 45-year-old Mental Sciences Institute at 1300 Moursund, which has been sold to the M. D. Anderson Cancer Center for future development.

The Biomedical Research and Education Facility (BREF)

The 84,000 gross square feet of the Biomedical Research and Education Facility (BREF) will primarily contain research and support spaces – both wet labs and dry labs – with a focus on adult stem cell studies.  Exploration of stem cell discoveries and new cell therapies with collaborators such as the Texas Heart Institute and M. D. Anderson’s scientists will require multiple tissue culture laboratories.

The total cost of the BREF is projected at $41.1 million.

Later phases of construction at the site likely will include a campus parking garage with capacity for 400 vehicles, with expansion planned.

Next to the Research Park Complex will be the 315,000-square-foot Center for Advanced Biomedical Imaging Research (CABIR), a collaboration between M. D. Anderson and the UT Health Science Center and in cooperation with GE Healthcare and the Texas Enterprise Fund.  Already under construction and scheduled for completion in late 2009, the six-story research facility will provide a multi-technology translational imaging core andwill accommodate state-of-the-art research laboratories for synthetic and analytical chemistry, biochemistry, molecular and cellular biology, and for production of clinical-grade imaging agents.

“The proximity of the new complex to CABIR and the already anticipated acquisition of high-field imaging for non-invasive imaging of information processing in the human brain will make this a workshop in the immediate service of our patients with troubled minds,” Wolinsky said.  “The new facility will help to catapult our Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences to the forefront of research and therapy behavioral disorders.”

-M. Raine

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New Priority Care Clinic provides ‘one stop shop’ for minor injuries

Amy Costner

Need medical treatment but don’t have time to wait for an appointment? Then UT Physician’s new Priority Care Clinic is your answer.

A collaboration with the UT School of Nursing and now open in the Suite 600 of the UT Professional Building, the Priority Care Clinic is staffed by nurse practitioner Amy Costner and accommodates walk-in patients who are unable to make a same-day appointments with their physician.

Costner treats routine medical issues, such as upper respiratory infections, rashes, ear aches, abdominal pain, chest pain and back pain, as well as minor injuries and assists with medication management and prescription refills. As a nurse practitioner, she may prescribe medication.

“Priority Care reaches out to UT Physicians’ patients and health science center and medical center employees who need same-day access to medical care when their regular physician may not be available, or whose available work-in appointments are inconvenient” said Diana Browning, UT Physicians vice president of clinical operations.    “Priority Care limits the time employees may need to take away from work and eliminates the need to wait for an appointment.”

After a visit, Costner follows up with a patient’s physician, or may recommend further care with a UT Physicians specialist.

Patients may call for an appointment, 832.325.7164, or drop in for a walk-in appointment, 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. weekdays.

- D. Brown


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