May2006

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Kilpatrick elected to lead SIC... Health Care Team Competition ... SHIS Offers Certificate Program ... Hispanic Student Dental Association community health fair ... K-20 Pipeline Project ... Fast-A-Thon 2006 ... Good-Bye to U-Pass? ... 40th Annual Greek Festival ... Salutation 2006 ... Letter to the editor ... Upcoming Events in and around UTHSC

Shannan Kilpatrick elected to lead SIC for 2006-2007

The Student InterCouncil elected Ms. Shannan Kilpatrick as president for the 2006-2007 Academic Year at their April 13, 2006 meeting. Ms. Kilpatrick said,"I strongly believe that the SIC is vital to the academic and campus-life experience of the students at the UTHSC Texas Medical Center. This student-run organization is a diverse and cohesive force composed of students from all health care disciplines (i.e. medical, nursing, research, public health, dental, and information sciences) coming together for the common good of the students. It has been an honor and a fruitful experience to have been a GSBS representative on the council this past year and it is an even greater honor and privilege to have been elected president by my fellow council members. Ensuring the trust invested in me, my goals for next year are, first and foremost, to orchestrate the channels of communication with the different UTHSC school reps in order to address the needs and concerns of the student body. Second, to continue the SIC legacy of committed community-work involvement and finally, to aim at developing camaraderie among the students to build stronger networks. I think it is also important that we all have fun while doing it!"

Other elected officers are:

Shohrae Hajibashi (GSBS), Vice President andd UT System Student Advisory Representatiave
Christian Gutierrez (SPH), Treasurer and UT System Student Advisory Representative (Alternate)
Julia Shields (MS), Secretary
Nancy Tran (DB), Historian
Rose Thelus (SPH), UT System Student Advisory Representative

Blue Team Wins 2006 Health Care Team Competition
by Betty Vaughan

After the Red Team and the Blue Team made their final presentions for a community-based plan to fight obesity in Harris County, the Blue Team received the most votes and will receive an engraved trophy. Both teams received monetary awards and a bronze medallion that can be worn for graduation.

A hypothetical case prepared by a Health Care Team Competition Planning Committee highlighted health issues related to obesity and presented the teams with an opportunity to receive a "grant in the amount of $2.7 million a year" to design and implement a community-based approach to reducing obesity in Harris County, Texas. The teams were told that they were the two finalist in the competition for the grant. The instructions asked for a 40-45 second promotional video and an written abstract that included a summary of goals and objectives, a description of the target population, a description of the program, methodology, and key personnel. Supporting documentation requested included letters of support, literature citations and resource allocation priorities.

UTHSC-H Office of Academic Affairs to Select SIC Minority Representatives
By John McAuliffe

The purpose of the Student InterCouncil Operations Committee is to enforce the Bylaws and make necessary revisions

During the FY2005-2006 academic year, there was one revision to the by-laws. In the past, the Office of Community and Educational Outreach selected students to fill the Minority Representative positions on the Student InterCouncil. However, due to recent changes, this office no longer exists. The Committee spoke with the Office of Academic Affairs, and that office has agreed to take the responsibility for filing the Minority positions. An amendment to the by-laws that reflected this change was brought before the Student InterCouncil by the Operations Committee and was adopted. The revised By-laws of the Student InterCouncil can be found in the online Handbook of Operating Procedures.

GSBS Outreach Makes Elementary Students "Scientists For a Day"
by Shannan Kilpatrick

Thanks to GSBS students, Becky Bishop and Claudia Miller, Houston underprivileged students are given opportunities to learn about science. Each year, six students in the 5th grade from Brooklyn Elementary are chosen to participate in a day of science experiments at the Medical Center. They are given two quintessential items to make the students feel like real scientist: a notebook (which they are able to design with stickers) to keep track of their experimental results, and a lab coat to wear for the day! Upon returning to school, the students will present their data to their teachers and classmates.

This year, four experiments were designed especially for the students. The first was a chemistry experiment using a weak acid to clean pennies. The second experiment involved using berries as a pH indicator. Third, a color wheel experiment in which the students would spin a color wheel and observe that it turned white when all the colors came together. Finally, the students swabbed their tongues with different flavors to find each taste area of the tongue. Each student was paired up with a gradate student as a mentor for the day. The mentor’s main job was to make sure the students were having a blast while learning about science. They were there to answer questions about science and to be motivators and encouragers toward higher education. The elementary students were served lunch as they listened to an inspiring science talk from Dr. Dennis Hughe. Afterward, remaining experiments were completed and then each student went home with a gift bag full of science goodies! For more information on how you can become involved in outreach projects contact Becky Bishop at Rebecca.A.Bishop@uth.tmc.edu or Claudia Miller at Claudia.P.Miller@uth.tmc.edu.

For more information about outreach programs in the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, visit the GSBS Outreach website at http://gsbs.uth.tmc.edu/vis_outreach.htm.

GSBS Dean Participates in MS 150 Bike Tour
by Shannan Kilpatrick

April 22-23 was the annual BP MS 150 Bike Tour, a 180 mile cycling adventure from Houston to Austin. All money raised goes to The National Multiple Sclerosis Society, Lone Star Chapter, to help individuals living with MS, a serious auto-immune neurodegenerative disease. This is the second year that the fund raiser drew in 13,000 registered participants ranging in age from 6 to 92! This made this year’s race the largest event of its kind in North America. One such participant was GSBS’ very own Dean, George Stancel. This year was Dean Stancel’s second year to partici-pate. What started out as a dare from his children turned into a love of participating and helping toward the cause. He mentioned that one participant proclaimed, “We know our efforts will one day lead to cures so that people with MS will be able to ride with us!” What a wonderful outlook. All of you who love to ride bikes, get involved in next years BP MS 150 Bike Tour! For more information on how you can become part of the cure, go to http://www.ms150.org/ms150/about_ms.cfm

Medical School To Open New Surgical and Clinical Skills Center
by Julia Shields, MSII

The newest renovation of the medical school’s basement, destroyed in Tropical Storm Allison, is scheduled to open July of 2006. The fourteen million dollar landmark facility will be the first of its kind anywhere in the U.S. to combine both clinical skills facilities and surgical skills training. The center will provide many opportunities for students and residents to gain experience and practice in performing medical procedures before ever attempting them on a live patient. Mistakes are no longer fatal errors but can be learned from. Many different emergency scenarios may be simulated using the technology in the facility. It will house two full sized operating rooms, two conference rooms, a virtual reality personal computer (PC) lab, a microsurgical skills lab, nine surgical skills stations, and 14 video-wired patient examination rooms. The medical school plans to house its entire Standardized Patient Program within the facility as well. Full Story

4th Year Medical Students Look Forward to Graduation, Residency
by Julia Shields, MS II

March is always an intense time to roam the hallways of the medical school. Walk into the Student Affairs Office and you can cut through the tension with a scalpel. No, the first years are not about to pass the milestone of surviving year one. The second years have not yet started to outwardly panic about the USMLE Step 1…for the most part. The third years are all on call, bleary eyed and most likely sleeping on the third floor couches. This moment, the limelight belongs solely to the fourth years and the much anticipated, nerve-wrecking “Match.” Nearly 18 years of school have gone into this one moment. The moment when their name is called, a sealed envelope is handed over, and then as a class everyone opens that envelope to learn their fate for the next three to seven years—residency.

UT Houston Medical School had 95% of its graduating fourth years match to residency programs both in Texas and throughout the U.S. Of 131 students, soon to be M.D.’s, 63% plan to stay in Texas, with nearly half of them continuing to call UTHSC-Houston home.

Specialty	Number of Students Matched
Pediatrics	28
Anesthesiology	24
Family Practice	22
Internal Medicine	20
Psychiatry	15
OB/GYN	13
Surgery	12
Emergency Medicine	11
Surgery Preliminary	10
Radiology-Diagnostic	9
Orthopaedic Surgery	7
Pathology	7
Ophthalmology	4
Child Neurology	2
Dermatology	2
Internal Med/Peds	2
Neurology	2
Otolaryngology	2
Physical Medicine/ Rehab	2
Psych/Child Psych	2
Transitional	2
Neurological Surgery	1
Urology	1
Medical Genetics	1
Internal Medicine-Preliminary	1
Deferred	4

For additional information about the graduating Medical School class, individual matches, etc. refer to the Medical School's website (http://med.uth.tmc.edu/current_students.htm) or (http://med.uth.tmc.edu/administration/stud_affairs/2006-match-list.htm).