Health Professions E-NEWS
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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 Remember:
Facts about the blood Donation Process:
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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. ACEND's decision was based on a peer review of our self-study report, the site visit report and our program's compliance with Accreditation Standards to provide quality dietetics education. Our Dietetic Internship will offer two tracks: 1) the combined Master's Degree with the Dietetic Internship and 2) the Dietetic Internship Certificate Program. Click here for details. Dean Protas said, "We are very excited that the new Nutrition and Metabolism program has reached this significant milestone towards program excellence. Congratulations to Dr. Innis, the faculty in the Department of Nutrition and Metabolism, and our planning committee. We are grateful for all of your hard work to establish this new program."
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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. The "Patient Centered Outcomes Research in the Elderly" Center is led by James S. Goodwin, MD, Director of the Sealy Center on Aging, and comprised of a consortium of investigators representing all four UTMB Schools. The center will work closely with our Institute for Translational Sciences and Institute for the Medical Humanities and includes faculty members from the Department of Rehabilitation Sciences in the School of Health Professions as well as the Departments of Internal Medicine, Surgery, Preventive Medicine and Community Health, Family Medicine and Obstetrics and Gynecology in the School of Medicine. The PCOR Center members will also work closely with the UTMB Oliver Center for Patient Safety and Quality Healthcare.
 Please join me in congratulating Dr. Goodwin and all of the PCOR Center collaborators on obtaining this grant award from the Agency for Health Care Research and Quality to promote the health and well-being of elderly patients. |
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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. A sought-after expert, Dr. Protas' election to the USRA Board of Trustees reflects the high esteem in which she is held as a distinguished and leading member of the research community. Her research interests include geriatrics, rehabilitation of adults with stroke, Parkinson's disease and spinal cord injury. She has an impressive list of publications and conference presentations on exercise and rehabilitation in movement disorders and injury. Dr. Protas has received research funding from the National Institutes of Health, the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research, the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Foundation for Physical Therapy. She has held leadership roles in a number of scientific and professional organizations including the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM). She has worked with the ACSM regarding effective management of debilitating injuries or conditions, serving as a member of the Board of Trustees and as Past President and Former Executive Director of the Texas Regional Chapter. She was a member of the NASA Bone, Muscle, and Exercise Integrated Product Team and Clinical Status Evaluation Exercise Team. Dr. Protas has received numerous honors and awards during her career, most recently the 2010 Distinguished Service Award from the Texas Society of Allied Health Professions. Please join me in congratulating Dr. Protas on this well-deserved honor. |
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Recovery in Motion 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. The investigation draws on data collected from 111 patients aged 65 and older, each of whom was fitted with a "step activity monitor" during his or her hospital stay. Worn on the patient's ankle, the pager-sized device counted every step the person took during hospitalization and for a week after discharge.  "We're using activity here as a biomarker, similar to the way you might use blood pressure," said University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston assistant professor Steve R. Fisher, lead author of a paper in Journals of Gerontology 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." Geriatricians want to reduce readmissions among the elderly because hospitalization can actually endanger their health by reducing activity levels and contributing to debilitating muscle loss. Hospitals have an additional motivation: in October 2012, Medicare began financially penalizing hospitals with higher than expected 30-day readmission rates for certain diagnoses. Patients in the study who were rehospitalized also walked markedly less during their hospital stay. Fisher envisions hospitals using inexpensive electronic pedometers to monitor elderly patient activity in the hospital and for a brief period after discharge. "If you suffer congestive heart failure, a nurse will call you during the first week home to ask how whether you've gained any weight, because an increase in water retention can be a sign that CHF is exacerbating," Fisher said. "This is the same kind of principle: we want to know how much people are moving around, because we want to know whether they're going downhill. The key is to avoid re-hospitalization that often starts a cascade of events that leads to debility." Other authors of the paper include Yong-Fang Kuo, Mukaila A. Raji, James S. Goodwin, Glenn V. Ostir, Gulshan Sharma, Amit Kumar and Kenneth J. Ottenbacher. This research was supported by the National Institutes of Health.... More » |
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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. An internationally renowned advocate for excellence in health professional education, Dr. Freeman's work has focused on providing quality educational opportunities to all students, especially those from underserved areas and resource limited countries. She has been involved in developing multiple educational avenues in clinical laboratory sciences (CLS) education, and has expanded CLS education opportunities through the use of special delivery methods such as interactive video teleconferencing and web-based courses for students in rural and underserved areas, as well as those on the UTMB campus. Dr. Freeman has garnered numerous awards and recognition for her teaching and professional achievements, including a number of honors from the American Society for Clinical Pathology (ASCP), such as the Excellence in Education Associate Member Award, the Kendall Professional Achievement Award, and ASCP Mastership Designation. A Mastership recognizes exceptional members who have made significant contributions to the field of pathology, laboratory medicine as well as the ASCP organization. Dr. Freeman has also been recognized with the Texas Educator of the Year Award presented by the Texas Society for Clinical Laboratory Science, the Outstanding Teacher Award from the University of Nebraska Medical Center, and was elected a fellow by the National Academy of Clinical Biochemistry. She was awarded the honorific title of Distinguished Teaching Professor by the University of Texas System and was inducted into the University of Texas Academy of Health Science Education, an organization of distinguished scholars recognized for contributions to the advancement of knowledge and for innovation in the field of education. Dr. Freeman was selected by the Minnie Stevens Piper Foundation as a 2008 Piper Professor, one of 15 recipients of the prestigious award which recognizes outstanding college educators. She has been honored at UTMB with the Outstanding Leader and the Outstanding Contributions to Continuing Education Awards in the School of Health Professions and is an inaugural inductee into the Academy of Master Teachers (AMT). She served as Director-elect of the Academy, prior to taking the helm as Director in September 2011. In addition, she was named a Marie Hall Scholar and received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the AMT. Dr. Freeman has obtained a number of grants from the Health Resources Service Administration and the Department of Education for the improvement of postsecondary education to develop distance and web-based curriculum and serves as a grant reviewer for both of these agencies. She participates in the President's Emergency Plan For AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) project, developing curriculum and continuing education programs for laboratorians traveling to Ethiopia, Malawi, Lesotho and Tanzania. Additionally, she has participated in three mission trips to Kenya and one to Tanzania. Dr. Freeman is Principal Investigator on a $4.9 million grant awarded in October, 2011 by the U.S. Department of Labor for a new four-year program entitled, Clinical Laboratory Initiative to Mentor Baccalaureate Students (CLIMBS). The goal of the grant is to educate individuals to obtain certification or upgrade employment in the clinical laboratory profession workforce. The target participants are long term unemployed individuals with associate and bachelor degrees in the sciences. Dr. Freeman earned a PhD degree in Community and Human Resources and an MA in Adult and Continuing Education from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, as well as a BS in Medical Technology and a BA in Biochemistry from the University of Texas at Austin. She holds national certifications as a medical technologist with a specialty in chemistry from the ASCP and as a clinical laboratory scientist with the National Credentialing Agency for Laboratory Professionals. Dr. Freeman's appointment to this professorship is most deserved. Please join me in congratulating her on receiving this honor. |
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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. Niebuhr joined the UTMB faculty in 1978. He currently serves as Director of Research and Evaluation for the Department of Physician Assistant Studies. His teaching interests include research methods, statistics, computer applications, health promotion and disease prevention, and clinical problem solving. Recognized for his educational contributions, Dr. Niebuhr was inducted into the UTMB Academy of Master Teachers and awarded the honorific title of Distinguished Teaching Professor by the University of Texas System. |
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PMCH Graduate Student Organization Honors Dr. Graham with Teaching Excellence Award |
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Stimulating muscle growth with tourniquets 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. ... More » |
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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 » |
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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." |
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