Events to Know

Professor of Psychiatry Selected Piper Professor of 2008

Dr. Octavio Pinell

The Minnie Stevens Piper Foundation awarded Dr. Octavio Pinell, professor of clinical psychiatry, the 2008 Piper Professor Award May 1.

The Piper Professor Program, started in 1958, annually awards 15 professors from colleges and universities throughout Texas for outstanding performance and dedication to teaching. Candidates for the award must be nominated through the university president’s office and participation is by invitation only. The foundation awards all Piper Professors with a $5,000 honorarium and a gold pin to commemorate the achievement.

“I think I was born to be a teacher,” Pinell said. “For me, my family, especially my children and wife, and my students are the reason why I’m functioning. I have a love for teaching, and I was lucky enough to win an award for it.”

Dr. Pedro Ruiz, professor and interim chair of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, recruited Pinell to join the Medical School faculty in 1994 after serving as director of Undergraduate Education in Psychiatry for Baylor College of Medicine. Currently, Pinell is the director of Undergraduate Education in Psychiatry for the UT Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences. 

“Dr. Pinell is one of the best teachers that we’ve ever had here at the Health Science Center,” Ruiz said. “He’s a fantastic professor and the type of teacher the students really respect and adore because of his dedication to medical students and the advancement of medical education. Looking back over the years, I’ve never recruited someone like Dr. Pinell, and it makes me very proud to know that I was able to retain him and bring him to UT.” 

Pinell, originally from Nicaragua, received his medical degree from the Universidad Nacional de Nicaragua. He conducted residency training at St. Vincent’s Hospital in Harrison, N.Y., and Spring Grove Hospital in Baltimore. Pinell is a Distinguished Life Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association as well as a member of the Texas Medical Association, the Texas Society of Psychiatric Physicians and the International Association of Medical Science Educators.

“I encourage students to excel not just pass,” Pinell said. “I consider my students to be members of my family and I notice when a student isn’t doing well. I believe most of these students want to be good doctors; so, I dedicate my extra time to help them understand all of their subjects and help them in any other way I can.”

In addition to the Piper Professor Award, Pinell has received many honors including nine John P. McGovern Outstanding Teaching Awards in Clinical Sciences, the Nancy C.A. Roeske, M.D., Certificate of Recognition for Excellence in Medical Student Education, and the Ruben Dario Medal, the highest honor given to civilians in Nicaragua for contributions to mankind.

This selection makes Pinell one of only six UTHSC-H faculty members to receive the Piper Professor Award.  Other winners include: Dr. Ruth Bulger, Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences; Dr. John McMahon, Dental Branch; Dr. Kathleen Gibson, Dental Branch; Dr. Lu Ann Aday, School of Public Health; and Dr. Stephen Linder, School of Public Health.

-K. Neely

For more Headlines, see Page 2 Stories

Dean Colasurdo named Executive Communicator of the Year

Dr. Giuseppe Colasurdo

The Houston chapter of the International Association of Business Communicators has named Dr. Giuseppe Colasurdo, dean of the Medical School, its Executive Communicator of the Year. The prestigious award was given April 24 at the organization’s annual Bronze Quill Awards Banquet at the Junior League of Houston.

Colasurdo is the ninth recipient of the award, which recognizes excellence in leadership , management, and communication skills. Awardees are chosen for their achievements in “initiating, directing, supporting, or sustaining outstanding and effective communication programs” and demonstrating “solid understanding and support of communication within his or her organization with the highest professional and ethical standards in fulfilling his or her responsibilities.”

Judges cited Dean Colasurdo for his “great breadth of communication vehicles” and reaching “varieties of audiences.” 

“He embraces technology and understands two-way communication. The feedback he receives is extremely powerful,” added the judges.

Dean Colasurdo said that he believes effective and strategic communication is the foundation of good leadership and success.

“Effective communication must be open, transparent, and honest; it must build relationships and promote trust among the constituents; it must promote upward communication to overcome skepticism toward the administration; and it must encourage broad and inclusive feedback,” he said.

Dean Colasurdo said he was honored to have received this award.

“I have not received any training in this field. When I came to the United States for my residency at UTMB, I was extremely vulnerable with communication. My worst enemy was the phone – I could work three nights in a row if I could only avoid phone calls from patients and family. But, it got better with time,” he said.

Dean Colasurdo became dean of the Medical School Sept. 1, 2007, and since that time has distributed a weekly e-mail to all faculty, staff, and students; addressed numerous constituent groups; and held two town hall meetings.

“I have quickly learned the importance and the power of communication,” he said.

Previous recipients of the award include Rev. Kirbyjon Caldwell, senior pastor of Windsor Village United Methodist Church; Clark Baker, president and CEO of the YMCA of Greater Houston; and Dr. John Stobo, former president of UTMB.

With more than 300 members, IABC/Houston is one of the top 15 largest chapters of the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) -- an information network dedicated to serving communication professionals locally, nationally, and throughout the world.

-D. Brown

For more Headlines, see Page 2 Stories

Bull receives international honor

Dr. Mark Hurwitz, president of Society for Thermal Medicine, presents the Robinson award to Dr. Joan Bull.

The Society for Thermal Medicine has named Dr. Joan Bull the recipient of the 2008 J. Eugene Robinson Award.
Bull, director of the Division of Oncology, received the 19th annual international award April 10 in Munich, Germany, at the 10th International Congress on Hyperthermic Oncology, and presented a lecture, “Whole Body Thermal Therapy and Chemotherapy: Lessons Learned and Future Directions,” as part of the award.  

The award is granted annually to an investigator who has made outstanding contributions to hyperthermic oncology. It is named for the pioneer of hyperthermic research, J. Eugene Robinson, who first used hyperthermia as an anti-cancer agent in the 1960s.

“It is a very meaningful honor for me, and I am very, very happy to receive it, particularly because it was the very first time the Society for Thermal Medicine has made the award in my research area of whole-body thermal therapy combined with chemotherapy (thermochemotherapy),” Bull said. “The award therefore honors a number of investigators from whose work our own investigations have evolved.”

Bull received her medical degree from Stanford University and completed a fellowship in Medical Oncology at Stanford and also at the National Cancer Institute, NIH before she joined the Medical School’s faculty in 1980. She has been a member of the Society of Thermal Medicine for more than 20 years and has been actively investigating both clinical and preclinical thermochemotherapy during that time, in addition to general oncology teaching and clinical care.

Founded in 1986, the mission of the Society for Thermal Medicine is to “facilitate interaction and communication between theoreticians, experimentalists, and clinical practitioners from the disciplines of biological, chemical, physical engineering, and clinical sciences leading to contributions to the understanding and use of hyperthermia.”

-D. Brown

For more Headlines, see Page 2 Stories