Dr. Eric Thomas named Chancellor’s Health Fellow for Patient Safety Initiative

Dr. Eric Thomas, associate professor of internal medicine and Griff T. Ross Professor in Humanities and Technology Health Care, has been named a Chancellor’s Health Fellow for Patient Safety Initiative by Dr. Kenneth Shine, executive vice chancellor for health affairs and interim chancellor.

The Chancellor’s Health Fellows were established in 2004 through support of the Chancellor’s Excellence Endowments to foster faculty collaboration and involvement at UT’s six health campuses. The aim of Thomas’ fellowship is to “coordinate educational efforts regarding clinical effectiveness and safety across the health campuses of The University of Texas System, including a patient safety grants initiative and creation of a Patient Safety Organization.”

“Dr. Shine has helped shape the national agenda for health care quality and safety, so this award is especially meaningful,” Thomas said. “I am also excited to be honored by the UT System because I attended UT Austin and UT Southwestern, and of course have been here at UT Houston for 10 years. The UT System has provided me with an exceptional education and other opportunities, so I look forward to providing some service back to the System.”

As a Chancellor’s Health Fellow, Thomas will chair a UT System Committee on patient safety. “Among other activities, the committee will solicit applications and award funds to support research and educational activities that will improve the quality and safety of care throughout the UT System,” he said.

The fellowship is a one-year award, with $25,000 in funding for academic enhancement.

Dr. Maximilian Buja, executive vice president for academic affairs, was appointed the first Chancellor’s Health Fellow in Education in 2004.

-D. Brown

For more Headlines, see Page 2 Stories

Dean Colasurdo hosts annual faculty meeting

Opening the meeting with television footage of Medical School faculty in the news, Dean Giuseppe Colasurdo’s first annual faculty meeting took a new approach in highlighting faculty and providing a state of the school address.

Medical School leadership gave brief updates of their respective areas, including highlights and challenges.

Dr. Jeffrey Actor, chair of the Faculty Senate, said his organization’s goal is to provide a workplace of excellence, with projects that include evaluating a pharmaceutical conflict-of-interest policy, reviewing new MSRDP bylaws, addressing faculty satisfaction, and assessing the faculty compensation plan.

Dr. Henry Strobel, associate dean for faculty affairs, reminded the audience of the three C’s: communication, collaboration, and courtesy. “Let’s close the complaint department and open the comment window,” he said.

Thanking faculty who serve on educational committees, Dr. Patricia Butler gave an update on the undergraduate curriculum, which she said is better preparing students for their residencies. “We are also mapping the curriculum to identified competencies and are using technology to achieve this,” she said. She also addressed challenges facing the GME programs.

Two fourth-year students, Hillary Skelton and Rhet Langley, presented the update on behalf of the Offices of Admissions and Student Affairs and expressed their appreciation to the faculty for their “commitment to our education.”

“To hear that appreciation from our students is worth more than any videos or photos we could show,” Dean Colasurdo said.

Dr. Brent King, executive vice dean for clinical affairs, said implementing an electronic medical record in the UT Physicians clinics, making clinic improvements based on patient feedback, establishing MD Audit, and amending MSRDP bylaws have been the major clinical initiatives for the year. He also gave the Lyndon B. Johnson Hospital update on behalf of Dr. Steven Brown, associate dean for Harris County Programs, saying that the search for a full-time administrator is continuing and that the new emergency center expansion is scheduled to break ground in October.

Giving the research update was Dr. John Byrne, assistant dean for research affairs, with the latest numbers on bridging grants and other interim funding provided by the Medical School for investigators. “Seventy percent of researchers who received interim support have been grant funded,” he said, adding that the Annual Research Retreat has been scheduled for Sept. 25, 2008.

Dr. Nancy McNiel, executive director of administration, spoke about facilities, space planning, and renovations for the Medical School, citing the completion of Parking Lot A, the Grab and Go and the Medical School Expansion as major accomplishments. An additional tiered classroom and four problem-based learning rooms are scheduled to be constructed in the basement, she reported.

Angela Hintzel, executive director of finance, gave a budget update of the Medical School, saying the projected budget for fiscal year 2009 for the Medical School is $417 million – a $7 million increase over fiscal year 2008.

Juanita Romans, CEO of Memorial Hermann – Texas Medical Center, introduced Dan Wolterman, CEO of Memorial Hermann Healthcare System, who spoke about a greater partnership between Memorial Hermann and the Medical School. “There is great opportunity for success of the Memorial Hermann Healthcare System linked closely with the UT Health Science Center and the Medical School,” he said. “We need the Medical School to step up and come out into the community with us.”

Dean Colasurdo closed the meeting with his update, saying that the Medical School must build upon its established strengths. “We have incredible momentum, and we just need the resources to continue to recruit the best. Our partnership with Memorial Hermann is very powerful and is good for the community,” he said.

To see the full meeting and handout, go to http://med.uth.tmc.edu

-D. Brown

For more Headlines, see Page 2 Stories

 

UT Houston now offers free
podcasts on iTunes U

iTunes users can now get the latest health care information by downloading free podcasts produced by The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston by logging into iTunes U at http://www.uth.tmc.edu/itunesu/ The UT Houston iTunes U initiative is led by The University of Texas School of Health Information Sciences at Houston and the Center for Clinical and Translational Sciences (CCTS).

“This is another tool people can use to keep abreast of changes in health care,” said Adol Esquivel, M.D., UT Houston iTunes U program coordinator. “You can listen to health care updates while jogging or commuting.” Many podcasts are available in Spanish and English.

iTunes U is a free service provided by Apple that allows UT Houston faculty and students to distribute educational audio and video content using Apple's iTunes Store infrastructure. iTunesU gives institutions like the UT Health Science Center at Houston, Duke University, Stanford University, and others an opportunity to enhance their public education and community outreach efforts.

With free iTunes software, health care consumers can download podcasts of research updates from the CCTS, which is working to fast track the application of scientific knowledge to patient care and community programs. Users can also listen to articles from UT Houston’s online consumer wellness magazine - HealthLeader - and get information from the university’s six schools.

“I often get more out of listening to a researcher describe his work than reading an article,” said Dr. Nancy Murray, co-director of the community engagement component of the CCTS and assistant professor of behavioral science at The UT School of Public Health. “It makes the research real and you hear stories you don’t see in the journal article.”

Karen Krakower, editor of HealthLeader, said, "HealthLeader gets the good works of UT out to readers around the world, so to be able to give these stories a voice, in two languages, no less, serves so many more folks in need of grab-and-go health tools they can trust."

“People are used to going to the iTunes store to buy music and download songs,” Esquivel said. “Apple has this popular software and it’s great for distributing content. Well now, people can go to iTunes U and download audio and video on diabetes, heart disease, obesity or other topics free of charge. It’s just as easy.”

The UT Health Science Center at Houston has both a public section for health care consumers and a private section for students and faculty members, where class information can be accessed. “If a medical student misses a class, he or she could log into iTunes U and download the lecture,” Esquivel said. “Doctors can use ipods to keep up with research between patient visits.”

“iTunes U provides our university with a window to the public that is easily accessible and allows people to drill down to the information they need,” said Dr. Cynthia Phelps, an assistant professor of health informatics at the UT School of Health Information Sciences at Houston. “It is a subscription platform like a newspaper. You can subscribe to different UT podcasts, and they are delivered to your iTunes program and played at your convenience.”

Nancy Benedict-Correa, a research coordinator in the CCTS community engagement component, said, “A lot of people may want to go to a lecture series but may not be able to attend. With iTunes U, you can download the lectures and listen at your convenience.”

CCTS is a collaboration among the UT Health Science Center at Houston, The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, and the Memorial Hermann Healthcare System. It is funded with a five-year, $36 million Clinical and Translational Science Award from the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

“You may have heard about ‘bench to bedside.’ We want to take this information from the bedside to the community and help people make the necessary lifestyle changes,” Murray said.

“Busy moms rushing between jobs and carpools can listen to segments from HealthLeader and hear information on many health issues,” Benedict-Correa said.

-R. Cahill

For more Headlines, see Page 2 Stories

 

 

 

 

Location & Contact

6431 Fannin Street,
Houston, Texas 77030

PO Box 20708,
Houston, Texas 77225

713.500.4472