Amazing things take place at UTMB, and even the most engaged of us usually only find out about a fraction of it. My friends in media relations send out a weekly recap that can help, and work is under way on a plan to systematically share this sort of information more widely. Here’s a look at a few days in April:
Upcoming News
· Saturday, April 26, 6:30 a.m., KUHF — Tune in to Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly (a PBS program that airs on more than 250 stations nationwide) for a scheduled story about the ethical decisions surrounding cancer treatment for uninsured patients at UTMB.
· Saturday, April 19, 10 a.m., Medical Discovery News airs on KUHF Houston Public Radio immediately after Car Talk.
· Karen Sexton will be featured in the May-June issue of Texas Hospitals magazine for winning the AHA Grassroots Award.
· Dr. Katrina Parker was interviewed by Toddler magazine on growth charts and child development.
· Dr. Xavier Villa spoke with Pediatric News regarding GERD in toddlers.
· Dr. Luca Cicalese has written an op-ed on organ transplantation for Donor Awareness Month.
· Galveston News reporter Ian White is writing an article on UTMB ophthalmology’s new eye imaging instrument.
· Antonella Casola was interviewed by Advance for Respiratory Care Practitioners regarding RSV advances.
Week’s Top Stories
· New kind of killer virus discovered in Bolivia, News Scientists, April 18. A team of disease hunters has announced the discovery of a deadly new virus, found in a remote village in South America. Experts say the virus, called Chapare, is probably limited to a small swathe of Bolivia, but urbanization and climate change could expand its range. UTMB’s Charles Fulhorst, says it’s the tip of the iceberg. “Many new species of virus lurk in South America – and perhaps North America. Just when you think you know what’s out there, another one pops out.”
· Fighting inflammation in diabetes complications, Forefront, April 2008. His mission is to eradicate diabetes and the newest issue of Forefront magazine profiles UTMB Professor Ronald G. Tilton and his research. New funding will allow him time to explore why inflammation is integral to diabetic complications.
· UTMB School of Nursing to graduate 293 today, Galveston County Daily News, April 18. UTMB School of Nursing will have its 121st commencement at 3 p.m.
· Telemedicine connects remote areas with care, American College of Physicians Internist, April 2008. Dr. Oscar Boultinghouse and Alexander Vo are quoted at length in this article about telemedicine. Boultinghouse is associate director and chief medical officer of UTMB’s Electronic Health Network and Vo is executive director of UTMB’s AT&T Center for Telehealth Research and Policy. UTMB has one of the nation’s leading telemedicine programs.
· Do you have multiple personality disorder? Houston Press, April 17. UTMB’s Jean Goodwin is quoted in this article about dissociative identity disorder.
· UTMB patient designs more modest hospital gown, Galveston County Daily News, April 13. Encouraged by UTMB gastroenterologist Gottumukkala Raju, UTMB patient Dorothy Heske has designed a new hospital gown with fasteners that preserves a patient’s dignity without interfering with the demands of medicine.
· Research to explore the effects pain has on decision-making, Galveston County Daily News, April 13. UTMB’s Volker Neugebauer is interviewed about his research on pain and how it affects the ability to think clearly and make decisions.
· The pain that endured, Houston Chronicle, April 13. Burn survivor, Divonne Emmitt, made excellent progress at UTMB’s Blocker Adult Burn Unit with intensive care by a medical team but did not survive the pain of losing a husband Columns and Commentaries
· Galveston County Daily News, April 15; In his weekly Medicine and Health column, UTMB’s Dr. Howard Brody talks about interactions between patients and their physicians. It may not seem important whether being greeted with a handshake, by the first name or last, but studies show that patients have preferences about greetings that can have bearing on medical outcomes.
· Galveston County Daily News, April 15; UTMB Drs. Sally Robinson and Keith Bly write about the dangers faced by children who wear “roller sneakers.” In their Keeping Kids Healthy column, they outline the problems associated with these shoes and suggest that children who use them “practice, practice, practice” before taking them out in public.
· Cancer Nutrition Network helps patients avoid malnourishment, Galveston County Daily News, April 17. Professor Billy U. Philips, associate director of the Prevention and Control/Community Outreach Office at UTMB, writes about the importance of nutrition for cancer patients. More than half of cancer patients suffer from malnutrition.
· UTMB Cancer Center enhances patient services, Galveston County Daily News, April 17, Dr. Avi B. Markowitz, chief of the division of hematology/oncology and associate clinical director of the Cancer Center at UTMB, writes about cancer care at UTMB, the oncology clinical trials office and new chemotherapy facilities
News Releases
· April 17: UTMB School of nursing to graduate 293 Friday · April 18: UTMB inventions win commercialization awards
· April 18: April proclaimed ‘Organ Donor Awareness Month’ in Galveston
· April 18: UTMB Nurses’ ‘SANE’ Forensic Evidence Collection Program