The Scoop: A Publication of the University of Texas Medical School at Houston

Student wins national AMA leadership award

Felicity Kelly

Felicity Kelly

Felicity Kelly, a third-year medical student, is one of just 15 recipients nationwide of the American Medical Association Foundation’s (AMA) 2009 Leadership Award.

The award recognizes “strong, nonclinical leadership skills in advocacy, community service, public health and/or education ” and provides leadership training to the winners. In addition to 15 medical school students, 10 residents/fellows and five early-career physicians are selected annually for the award.

Kelly has a track record of advocacy as the co-delegate leader of the Texas Medical Association (TMA), chair of the Minority Issues National AMA Committee, a representative on the Educational Scholarship and Loan TMA Committee, and as a representative on the TMA Physician Education Loan Repayment Workgroup.

“One of the things I have worked hard to accomplish during my time in medical school is to constantly remind myself of why I am doing this,” she said. “I have involved myself in activities and events in order to actively remind myself of the many things we as future doctors can do for our community and the society we live in. I think that in doing this, I have helped to organize my classmates to do things that have impacted our local and national communities.”

Kelly said she was surprised to have received the award and is looking forward to the leadership training it provides in March at the AMA National Advocacy Conference in Washington, D.C.

Although she has not yet made a decision, Kelly said she is considering specializing in family medicine and would like to stay in Texas.

-D. Brown

Student group seeks support for Honduras outreach visits

SIGHT (Students Improving Global Health in Texas) is a student-run organization, which, among its many other programs, organizes a few volunteer trips during spring break.

SIGHT will be sponsoring two trips from March 7 – 14, 2009. One group of students and faculty will go to Roatan, Honduras, to work with local physicians and nurses to screen and treat school-aged children and the adult population. The second team will go to Santa Ana, Honduras, in partnership with Baylor College of Medicine and the Shoulder to Shoulder program, taking part in clinical preceptorships in makeshift clinics and participating in community and public health activities, such as water sanitation, health education, and agriculture projects.

SIGHT requests support for its outreach visits to Roatan and Santa Ana. As the students continue to build relationships with these communities, they supply them and their clinics with medical and educational resources. On the trip last year to Roatan, they delivered more than $20,000 of laboratory equipment, medications, vitamins, dental and school supplies, and other items of need. Monetary contributions to SIGHT via Paypal for $5, $10, $20, or more will help the group to purchase these medications and supplies. For a list of requested supplies, or to make a monetary donation, please visit the SIGHT Web site. There are boxes throughout the Medical School and the Learning Resource Center in which donations may be left.

Faculty, residents elected to AOA

The Medical School’s Alpha Omega Alpha, Delta Chapter, has named its new nonstudent members. New members were nominated by AOA members and department chairs and voted upon by the AOA membership.

They will be inducted, along with the new student members, at a March 3 banquet.

The new nonstudent members are:

  • Dr. Akinsansoye Dosekun
    Associate Professor Internal Medicine
  • Dr. Nicole Gonzales
    Assistant Professor Neurology
  • Dr. Angela Cheng
    Chief Resident, PGY 5 General Surgery
  • Dr. Supriya Singh
    Resident, PGY 3 Internal Medicine
  • Dr. Ramal Weragoda
    Resident, PGY 2 Internal Medicine

DMOs participate in AAMC conference

President Larry Kaiser

AAMC attendees are front row: Manjit Kaur, Department of
Otorhinlaryngology; from left, Cynthia Heuhlefeld, Department
of Surgery; and Jackie Garcia, Department of Pathology.
Back row: Cathy Doughty, Department of Diagnostic and
Interventional Imaging; Mary Battaglia, Department of
Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences; and Barbara Lipari,
Department of Orthopaedic Surgery.

Six directors of management operations from the Medical School attended the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) New Manager’s Training Program sponsored by the AAMC Group on Business Affairs Jan. 22-24 in St. Louis.

Topics included The Law and Ethics, Clinical Administration, Legal Human Resources, Finance, Research Administration, Data Usage, and How to Survive and Thrive as a Department Administrator. The conference offered continuing professional educational credits and allowed participants to network with professionals from other medical schools.

NIH unveils new system for tracking funds

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is using a new, computerized process to provide detailed funding information for 215 major categories. The Research, Condition, and Disease Categorization (RCDC) system will allow the public to view the total funds spent in each category for the current and previous fiscal years based on grants, contracts, and intramural research.

Links to patents and publications associated with each project also will be available in the coming months.

For more information, visit the National Institutes of Health web site.

-AAMC

Thank-you luncheon

Juanita Romans, CEO of Memorial Hermann - Texas Medical Center, presents Dr. Jacqueline Lappin her award.

Medical School employees are treated to a hamburger lunch at the Employee Relations Committee’s annual recognition event.

 

 

Comments will be moderated and relate to this issue of Scoop only

Subscribe to Scoop

Events to Know

February 12

Seminars on Applying Emerging Technologies to Your Research: Dr. Pablo Okhuysen, professor of internal medicine, presents “How to Use the CCTS Clinical Research Units.”
Noon - 1 p.m. UTPB 1100.55.

NIH Public Access Policy Discussion: Michelle Malizia, associate director of the National Network of Libraries of Medicine/South Central Region, will talk about how the policy will ensure public access to NIH-funded research.
2 p.m., Street Level Conference Room of the HAM-TMC Library.
Register here

Neurobiology and Anatomy Seminar Series: Dr. Craig Jahr (Vollum Institute) presents “Presynaptic NMDA Receptors are Postsynaptic.”
3 p.m., MSB 2.103.

Microbiology and Molecular Genetics Seminar Series: Dr. Patricia Champion (UCSF) presents “The ESX-1 secretion system: Substrate recognition and host pathogen interactions.”
4 p.m., MSB 3.301.

February 13

Neurology Grand Rounds: Dr. Giridhar Kalamangalam, assistant professor of neurology, presents “The Spectrum of Temporal Lobe Epilepsy.”
Noon - 1 p.m., MSB 2.135.

February 16

Center for Membrane Biology Seminar Series: Dr. Stephen G. Sligar (U. of Illinois) presents “Elucidating the Structure and Function of Membrane Proteins through Nanotechnology.”
Noon, MSB 2.135.

Microbiology and Molecular Genetics Seminar Series: Dr. Lynn Soong presents “Explore the dynamic cross-talk between Leishmania and its host.”
4 p.m., MSB 2.103.

February 17

Bridging the Divide: Hospital-Medical Staff Relations: Aligning Interests. Panel includes Dr. Marc Boom, executive vice president, The Methodist Hospital; Dr. David Pate, CEO, St. Luke’s Hospital; and Juanita Romans, CEO Memorial Hermann – Texas Medical Center. Sponsored by the SPH George McMillan Fleming Center for Healthcare Management.
11 a.m. – 1 p.m., SPH, Reuel A. Stallones Building.

Department of Internal Medicine Grand Rounds: Dr. Joshua Samuels, assistant professor of pediatric nephrology, presents “Essential Hypertension in Young Adults: The Growth of an Epidemic.”
Noon - 1 p.m., MSB 2.103.

February 18

Family & Community Medicine Grand Rounds: Dr. Francisco Orejuela, assistant professor in the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology & Reproductive Sciences, presents “Pelvic Inflammatory Disease.”
1 - 2 p.m., MSB 2.135.

Microbiology and Molecular Genetics Seminar Series: Dr. Ellen Beswick (UTMB) presents “Helocabacter pylori: The path from bacterial infection to cancer.”
4 p.m., MSB 2.103.

February 19

Neurosurgery Grand Rounds: Dr. Peter Seferian, patent manager, and Dr. Bruce Butler, vice president of research and technology, present “Patents, The Office of Technology Management and You.”
7:30 a.m., MSB B.625.

Department of Orthopaedic Surgery Grand Rounds: Dr. Hans-Christoph Pape (University of Pittsburgh) presents “Inflammatory Response.”
8 - 9 a.m., Memorial Hermann Sports Medicine Institute, 6400 Fannin, 16th floor.
CME credit available.

Seminars on Applying Emerging Technologies to Your Research: Johnna Kincaid, executive director of Sponsored Projects Administration, presents “Cayuse 424 Solution for Grants.gov.”
Noon - 1 p.m., UTPB 1100.55.

Distinguished Research Ethics Lecture: Dr. Carl Elliott (U. of Minnesota) presents “Exploiting Human Subjects in Clinical Trials.”
Noon, MSB 1.006.
Sponsored by the Committee for the Protection of Human Subjects

Neurobiology and Anatomy Seminar Series: Dr. David Zenisek (Yale) presents “Synaptic Vesicle Trafficking and Exocytosis in Retinal Ribbon-Type Synaptic Terminals.”
3 p.m., MSB 2.103.

Microbiology and Molecular Genetics Seminar Series: Dr. Matthew Wiebe (Medical College of Wisconsin) presents “Phospho-regulation of BAF by viral and cellular kinases: Implications for innate immunity against foreign DNA.”
4 p.m., MSB 3.301.

February 20

Center for Nursing Research Seminar Series: Dr. Deborah Jones, assistant professor, acute and continuing care, presents “Biomarkers of Experimental Pseudomonas aeruginosa Pneumonia in Pigs Receiving Mechanical Ventilation.”
Noon - 1 p.m., SON 508.

Student Surgical Association Blue Book Lecture: Dr. Dong Kim, chair of the Department of Neurosurgery, presents “Surgical and Research Experiences.”
Noon, MSB 2.006.

February 23

Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Seminar Series: Dr. J. Alan Diehl (U. of Pennsylvania) presents “Coordinated Regulation of Cyclin D1 Subcellular Localization and Destruction during Cell Division.”
Noon, MSB 2.135.

MS1 Job Fair: You can gain hands-on laboratory experience under the supervision of a faculty sponsor of your choice during the summer of 2009 by participating in the Summer Research Program.
Noon – 1 p.m., Fifth Floor Gallery.
View Details

February 24

Department of Internal Medicine Grand Rounds: Dr. Marvin Delgado-Guay, assistant professor of medicine, presents “When My Soul Hurts — An Expression of Existential Suffering and Total Pain in Patients with Advanced Illnesses — an Interdisciplinary Approach.”
Noon, MSB 2.135.

February 26

Seminars on Applying Emerging Technologies to Your Research: Denee Velazquez presents “The Nuts and Bolts on How to Prepare Budgets for Clinical Research.”
Noon - 1 p.m., UTPB 1100.55.

Microbiology and Molecular Genetics Seminar Series: Dr. David Lipman (director, National Center Biotechnology Information, NIH) presents “Evolution in Computational Biology.”
4 p.m., MSB 2.103. Reception to follow in MSB 1.180.

UTMost

Dr. Pedro Ruiz, professor and interim chair of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, was appointed to the editorial boards of the Arab Journal of Psychiatry and SAARC Journal of Psychiatry (India).

The LBJ General Hospital pediatrics practice was highlighted on the American Academy of Pediatrics’ Quality Improvement Innovations Network web site as a Featured Practice.

Dr. Tom Cole, director of the John P. McGovern, M.D. Center for Health, Humanities & the Human Spirit and holder of the John P. McGovern, M.D., Chair in Health, Humanities & the Human Spirit, spoke at the AARP-UN Briefing Series on Global Aging at the United Nations Feb. 4. He was invited to speak in celebration of the 10th anniversary of the International Year of the Older Person.

Dr. Luis Ostrosky-Zeichner, associate professor of medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases, co-authored the recently released Clinical Practice Guidelines for the Management of Candidiasis: 2009 Update by the Infectious Diseases Society of America.

Scoop Extra

Here is some text to test this out! I need to add some more text to see how this will work!

Scoop is a weekly electronic newsletter providing timely information to the Medical School.

Submit event items or news tips for Scoop by noon on Thursday preceding the week of publication in which you would like your event or news to appear (seven days in advance).

To submit content for Scoop, send an e-mail to scoop@uth.tmc.edu.

Giuseppe N. Colasurdo, M.D.
Dean

Darla Brown
Director of Communications

Carlos Gonzalez
Web Developer II