School of Health Professionswww.shp.utmb.edu

A Message from the Executive Vice President, Provost and Dean, School of Medicine

I am pleased to share the great news that the UTMB Dietetic Internship Program in the School of Health Professions Department of Nutrition and Metabolism, has earned Candidacy for Accreditation by the Accreditation Council for Education in Nutrition and Dietetics (ACEND). Candidacy for Accreditation status demonstrates institutional readiness to implement the proposed program. The School of Health Professions will be immediately accepting students for our Fall 2013 term. Congratulations to Dean Elizabeth Protas, Dr. Astrid Inniss, Director of the Dietetic Internship, and our School of Health Professions faculty members for their efforts.

Dr. Inniss led the accreditation effort. She serves as Associate Director of Nutrition in the Institute for Translational Sciences, Assistant Professor in the Departments of Nutrition and Metabolism (SHP) and Preventive Medicine & Community Health, Human Nutrition Program (SOM), and Adjunct Assistant Professor (SON). She is a member of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics and active in the community providing nutrition education at various health and wellness events throughout Galveston County.

Give 2 Live Summer Blood Drive

Date: Thursday, May 23, 2013

Time: 9am - 4pm

Place: SON - Marie Hall

To sign up please contact: Jason Fry Ext. 24878
or
Robyn Williams Ext. 23070

Download Full Information Flyer Here

A Message from the Executive Vice President, Provost and Dean, School of Medicine

I am pleased to announce that UTMB has been awarded a $4.97 million grant from the Agency for Health Care Research and Quality (AHRQ) for a center on "Patient Centered Outcomes Research (PCOR) in the Elderly." This will be the first federally funded PCOR Center in Texas. The goal of the project is to build an infrastructure within UTMB to support research into patient-centered care and to educate investigators in the methodology of patient centered outcomes research. PCOR investigators recognize that treatments work differently in patients and can vary in the most important outcome they are seeking. This funding will help expand our research efforts to better understand individual values and preferences about treatment outcomes.

A Message from the Executive Vice President, Provost and Dean, School of Medicine

I am very pleased to announce that Elizabeth J. Protas, PT, PhD, FACSM, FAPTA, Vice President and Dean of the School of Health Professions, George T. Bryan Distinguished Professor, and Senior Fellow in the Sealy Center on Aging, was recently elected a member of the Universities Space Research Association (USRA) Board of Trustees for a three year term. USRA is an independent, nonprofit research corporation and engages the creativity and authoritative expertise of the research community to advance space science and technology. As part of USRA's governance structure, 105 PhD granting universities oversee USRA to ensure that it meets its public purpose. University members elect an independent Board of Directors (known as the Board of Trustees) which governs USRA.

Spotlight on Research - Recovery in Motion - Steve Fisher

A new study has found a link between the activity levels of elderly people who have just been released from the hospital and the risk that they will require readmission within 30 days. "We're using activity here as a biomarker, similar to the way you might use blood pressure," said UTMB professor Steve R. Fisher, lead author of a paper in Journals of Gerontology Series A. "While we can't say whether activity is a cause or effect in these cases, we can use it as a marker to tell us whether a person is at high risk and we need to intervene." Patients in the study who were rehospitalized also walked markedly less during their hospital stay.

A Message from the Interim Executive Vice President and Provost

Vicki Freeman, professor and chair of the SHP Department of Clinical Laboratory Sciences and Professor in the SOM Department of Pathology, has been appointed as holder of the Dr. and Mrs. AH Potthast Distinguished Professorship in Teaching Excellence. The Potthast Professorship was established in 2003 by Dallas-based financier, John H. Massey and his wife, Elizabeth, to recognize teaching excellence and to honor the memory of Mr. Massey's grandparents.

Suzanne Brown Logan Distinguished Professorship in Teaching Excellence

Bruce R. Niebuhr, associate professor in the Department of Physician Assistant Studies-School of Health Professions and Department of Preventive Medicine and Community Health-School of Medicine, has been appointed as holder of the Suzanne Brown Logan Distinguished Professorship in Teaching Excellence. The endowment was established in 2006 by the estate of Lemuel M. Flanary, MD, as a rotating award designed to reward and recognize outstanding teaching faculty from UTMB's four schools.

PMCH Graduate Student Organization Honors Dr. Graham with Teaching Excellence Award

UTMB's Dr. James Graham will be honored at the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences Awards Luncheon on Friday, November 2, 2012 at the San Luis Grand Ballroom as recipient of the Teaching Excellence Award, given by the Preventive Medicine and Community Health Graduate Student Organization.

Stimulating muscle growth with tourniquets

UTMB student to research muscle loss in older adults through novel exercise technique

University of Texas Medical Branch student David Gundermann has received a $10,000 fellowship for exercise and nutrition research on muscle loss in older adults. Gundermann is a rehabilitation sciences doctoral student in UTMB's Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences and a member of the Muscle Biology and Metabolism Laboratory within UTMB's new Department of Nutrition and Metabolism.

The fellowship was awarded through the Jess Hay Endowment for Chancellor's Graduate Student Research Fellowships, which supports graduate student research fellowship grants to students attending any of the University of Texas institutions. Named after the former chairman of the UT System Board of Regents, the endowment "ties timely graduate education to timely and high-quality research, which benefits the state," said Randa Safady, vice chancellor for external relations at UT System.

A Message from the Interim Executive Vice President and Provost

It is my pleasure to announce that six UTMB faculty members have received Outstanding Teaching Awards from the UT System Board of Regents. These individuals are among 40 faculty members at UT health science centers to receive these awards in 2012, which followed a rigorous and highly competitive selection process.

The Regents' Outstanding Teaching Awards are the board's highest honor, recognizing faculty members at UT System institutions who have demonstrated extraordinary performance and innovation in the classroom and laboratory. As stated in the news release below, the awards are among the largest in the nation, and given the depth and breadth of talent across the UT System, this awards program is also one of the nation's most competitive. Each of these faculty members will receive a $25,000 award. ... More »

Support group, clinic reach out to stroke patients

Karen Chapman and Barbara Doucet write about how UTMB helps patients and their families cope with the major life changes as a result of a stroke. "The UTMB Free Post-Stroke Clinic has proved to be a wonderful way that UTMB can give back to the Galveston community. Now, with the addition of the UTMB Stroke Support Group, UTMB is becoming a comprehensive and caring provider to members of the Galveston community and beyond coping with the major life changes as a result of stroke."