Students raise “dollars for scholars”

A group of Medical School students will be fundraising from fellow students with the first “Dollars for Scholars” event set for March 18.

In conjunction with the Student Senate, the Student Ambassadors will raise money for a Dollars for Scholars scholarship — raised by students, for students. The scholarship will be granted to an incoming first-year Medical School student.

“This event is meant to show that we as students are vested in the future of this institution. We want to encourage a spirit of giving so that when we are more financially sound we can contribute more substantially to the Medical School,” explained Jason Bourland, second-year student and member of the Student Ambassadors.

The Office of Development and Alumni Relations is pleased to have the student support.

“We’re very excited to have students take an active role in giving back to their Medical School. This spirit of giving will inspire students now before they are alumni to take an active role in fundraising. This event is helping solidify a culture of philanthropy and sense of pride in our Medical School,” said Jackie Callies, executive director, Office of Development and Alumni Relations.

Dr. Lucy Kormeier, a 1989 graduate of the Medical School, has agreed to match any funds raised up to $1,000.

Students will solicit funds in the Leather Lounge and will distribute ice cream sandwiches and stickers in the process.

“We want to demonstrate to the current alumni that students at UT Houston care enough to invest in the future of this institution,” Bourland said.

-D. Brown

International study looks to improve diagnosis, management of bronchiolitis

Viral bronchiolitis is the focus of a new clinical research study under way at Children’s Memorial Hermann Hospital under the direction of Dr. Jason Sanders, assistant professor of pediatrics.

Conducted by Community and General Pediatrics faculty, funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and coordinated by the Emergency Medicine Network, the project seeks to create guidelines for physicians in the treatment of this common infantile illness. In addition, the study hopes to define factors driving patients during hospitalization with bronchiolitis.

“We are looking to see if there is a connection between severity of illness and the different pathogens babies encounter during winter months,” said Sanders, site principal investigator. “We also hope to create clinical rules to help predict which children will require a higher level of care when hospitalized with the illness.”

Viral bronchiolitis, an infection of the lung’s tiny airways with a virus that can last 2-3 weeks, is the leading cause of the hospitalization of infants. Symptoms include fever, runny nose, wheezing, and cough. Patients may require oxygen, nasal suctioning, intravenous fluids, inhaled medicines, or intubation.

As it currently stands, physicians and hospitals vary in their testing, management, and discharge and follow-up of these patients. The study seeks to help standardize the care of these patients.

Children’s Memorial Hermann Hospital is one of 15 U.S. hospitals participating in the clinical study, along with three hospitals in Finland. In all, about 2,250 infants with viral bronchiolitis will be enrolled in the three-year study. This is the second year of the recruitment phase, and there will be another year spent assimilating and analyzing the data.

The study looks at potential influences such as parental tobacco use, patient daycare attendance, and breastfeeding, and documents parameters such as respiratory effort and inhaled medicine need throughout hospitalization. Follow-up parental surveys focus on illness symptom resolution and impact on the family.

“This is the first and perhaps largest study I know of looking at this common respiratory infection in the inpatient setting, in an effort to determine how we can best triage these patients in the hospital. We hope that when it’s done we may be able to generate evidence-based, family-oriented guidelines for optimal management of these patients,” Sanders said, adding thanks to Children’s Memorial Hermann Hospital for being involved in this groundbreaking study and donating respiratory therapy time for the collection of study samples.

For more info, visit the Emergency Medicine Network regarding the MARC-30 study.

-D. Brown

Rheumatology grand rounds set for March 18

The Medical School’s Division of Rheumatology is hosting the Texas Medical Center Rheumatology Grand Rounds at 6:30 p.m., March 18 at Arcodoro.

Dr. Chester Oddis, of the Division of Rheumatology and Clinical Immunology at the University of Pittsburgh, will present “Idiopathic Inflammatory Myopathy: Update on Diagnosis and Management.”

Registration is available online at www.utcme.net.

Conversation with Dr. Clifton set

All are invited to attend “A Conversation on Healthcare Reform with Guy Clifton,” at 10 a.m., Thursday, March 26, in MSB 2.135. Dr. Guy Clifton, a former chair of the Department of Neurosurgery, will discuss his recent book, “Flatlined: Resuscitating American Medicine,” copies of which are available at the UT Bookstore.

Teams join Run for the Rose

Two Medical School groups are gearing up for the Run for the Rose Sunday, March 29, at Reliant Park.

"Marnie's Med School Friends," and “UT Pediatrics” encourage participation in their Run for the Rose teams. Go to the Run for the Rose Web site and click to join a team or donate money to help sponsor a team.

Funds benefit the Dr. Marnie Rose Foundation, which supports Children's Memorial Hermann Hospital and brain cancer research at M. D. Anderson Cancer Center. Marnie Alexis Rose was a pediatric intern at UT when she discovered she had a fatal brain tumor.

Stimulus grants available for research

The National Institutes of Health Office of Extramural Research has just posted information about the Challenge Grants in Health and Science Research being made available under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (the stimulus bill).

NIH’s first Recovery Act initiative is to establish the NIH Challenge Grants in Health and Science Program (“Challenge Grants”). This program will support research across 15 broad Challenge Areas, defined by the NIH, which address specific scientific and health research challenges in biomedical and behavioral research that will have a high impact on science and/or public health, and that would benefit from significant 2-year funds. Applicants may request up to $500,000 in total costs per year for up to two years. Visit web site.

The application due date for NIH Challenge Grants is April 27, 2009.

The NIH also has posted Recovery Act RFAs and Notices on Shared Instrumentation, Facilities Construction, Renovations, Repair and Improvements; the corresponding links are listed below. Additionally, the NIH’s “ARRA Grant Funding Opportunities” Web site is now live.

• RFA-RR-09-007 - Recovery Act Limited Competition: Core Facility Renovation, Repair, and Improvement (G20)
• RFA-RR-09-008 - Recovery Act Limited Competition: Extramural Research Facilities Improvement Program (C06)
• PAR-09-118 - Recovery Act Limited Competition: High-End Instrumentation Grant Program (S10)
• NOT-RR-09-008 - Addition of Recovery Funds to the Shared Instrumentation Grant Program

2009 Homecoming & Reunion

Alumni gathered to remember old times and see new updates to the Medical School during the Feb. 27-28 Homecoming and Reunion festivities.

 

 

Location & Contact

6431 Fannin Street,
Houston, Texas 77030

PO Box 20708,
Houston, Texas 77225

713.500.4472