Impact February 2016

UTMB NEWSLETTER • FEBRUARY 2016

Achieving “Senior Friendly” status

Grant funds new MD/PhD program Spotlight on Philesha Evans, Human Resources

On the road with Distribution Services

Katrina Lambrecht, JD, MBA, is the new vice president and administrator for Angleton Danbury Campus. She takes over for David Bleakney, who announced his retirement in December. Lambrecht joined UTMB in 2010 and most recently served as vice president of Institutional and Strategic Initiatives, where she oversaw a host of missioncritical initiatives including the university’s involvement in the Texas Healthcare Transformation and Quality Improvement Program (1115 Transformation Waiver) and the integration of ADC with UTMB. In her new role, Lambrecht will continue her leadership with the Medicaid 1115 Waiver.

Dr. Csaba Szabo, a professor of Anesthesiology, was awarded the 2016 Pharmacia-ASPET Award for Experimental Therapeutics by the American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics.

The award recognizes outstanding research in pharmacology and experimental therapeutics, basic laboratory or clinical research that has had, or potentially will have, a major impact on the pharmacological treatment of disease. Szabo is highly regarded as a world-renowned expert in the fields of oxidative and nitrosative stress, gaseous transmitters, cell death, cell dysfunction, and cardiovascular and inflammatory mechanisms.

Satya Prakash, PhD, was awarded more than $2 million from the National Cancer Institute to conduct studies that aim to gain a better understanding of the chemotherapeutic agent araC in order to determine ways to increase its effectiveness. This chemotherapy is used in the treatment of acute myeloid leukemia, which progresses rapidly and has a high rate of relapse.

David Marshall, DNP, chief nursing and patient care services officer, recently received the 2016 Excellence in Nursing Award from Modern Healthcare magazine. Marshall was recognized for his achievements as a senior-level nursing executive, and was one of only three award recipients from more than 150 nominations nationally. During Marshall’s tenure at UTMB, he has been instrumental in numerous initiatives, particularly UTMB’s successful efforts to regain magnet status after Hurricane Ike. Most recently he led UTMB’s annual State Employee Charitable Campaign, which raised more than $500,000.

Steve Schuenke, a medical illustrator supporting the Department of Surgery at UTMB, was named Photographer of the Year by the Bay Area Photo Club.

He competed against other photographers from the Houston/Galveston area, completing specific photo assignments each month that are judged and scored by a panel of peers. Schuenke has nearly 29 years of experience as a graphic artist and photographer at UTMB. His photography has been exhibited at The Arts Alliance Center at Clear Lake and Freeman Library in Clear Lake. He has won awards for both commercial and fine art work in regional and national competitions.

Jason Botkin, Kurt Dickson and Denetra Lynn Smith with Emily Blomberg

Deb Mordecai, Kendra Perry and Tracey Santiago with Dr. David Marshall

UTMB’s Mother-Baby Unit, Urgent Care and Environmental Services were the latest recipients of the Always Award, which recognizes units and clinic teams who have moved closer to always doing the right thing for patients. The Mother-Baby Unit and Urgent Care received awards for inpatient and ambulatory Julie Hill with Jennie Lanier locations, showing dramatic improvement in patient satisfaction over the past several months.

A third award was given to Environmental Services, a department with a great influence on patient satisfaction scores. ES, operated by Sodexho, has worked to improve hospital cleanliness, currently ranking in the 82nd percentile for cleanliness.

UTMB Officer Wesley Braunsdorf is the UT System Police Featured Officer of the Month for February. Braunsdorf is a canine officer and is usually seen with his four-legged partner, Noey, around UTMB and in the community.

They have been part of several felony high-risk warrant executions, suspicious packages, bomb threats and violent offender suspect tracking.

Braunsdorf began his career at UTMB as a guard in 2001 and was selected to attend the UT Police Academy in 2003.

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From the President

FEBRUARY 2016

These are exciting times to be a part of the UTMB family.

Later this month, we’ll unveil Jennie Sealy Hospital with an employee open house, a formal dedication ceremony and community open house. On April 9, years of hard work will culminate with the arrival of our first patient in the new, state-of-the-art hospital. In June, we’ll open the much-anticipated League City Hospital as well to serve the fast-growing populace of northern Galveston County.

UTMB achieves “Senior Friendly” status Page 5

I’d like to personally thank all of the dedicated employees who have helped bring these hospitals to completion. These facilities mark the beginning of a new era in our 125-yearand-counting mission to advance the health sciences, and we are counting the days until we can begin providing exemplary care within their walls.

You can learn more about the Jennie Sealy Hospital events inside this issue, along with stories about our people. Among them: • Our Health System’s NICHE “Senior Friendly” status

Day in the Life of Distribution Services

• A profile of Philesha Evans in HR Corporate Administration

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• A day in the life of Distribution Services, with Eddie Long, senior materials handling tech

• Our Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences’ new grant to launch an MD/PhD program in clinical and behavioral sciences • An update on our internal communications plans as we approach the one-year anniversary of our first Weekly Relay • Heart health tips by Dr. Sendil Hari Prasad • Numerous accomplishments and kudos in the Working Wonders column and throughout the newsletter

Grant funds new MD/PhD program

Enjoy the articles; tell us what you think. And take time to feel well-deserved pride in what you and your colleagues make possible at UTMB.

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Thank you!

Dr. David L. Callender UTMB President

Spotlight on Philesha Evans Page 12

Impact is for and about the people who fulfill UTMB’s mission to improve health in Texas and around the world. We hope you enjoy reading this issue. Let us know what you think!

ON THE COVER: As a senior materials handling tech, Eddie Long delivers materials, equipment, supplies and records to UTMB’s campuses in Galveston, Angleton Danbury and League City.

Vice President Marketing & Communications Steve Campbell

CONTACT US Email: impact.newsletter@utmb.edu Phone: (409) 772-2618

Associate Vice President Marketing & Communications Mary Havard

Campus mail route: 0144 U.S. Postal address: UTMB Marketing & Communications

301 University Boulevard

Galveston, TX 77555-0144

Editors Kristen Hensley KirstiAnn Clifford Stephen Hadley Art Director Mark Navarro

P R INT E D B Y U T MB G R A P H IC D ES IG N & P RIN TIN G S ERVICES

VALUES

UTMB honors MLK’s memory with luncheon, awards ceremony

BY STEPHEN HADLEY

SIX UTMB EMPLOYEES WERE HONORED as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Community Service Award recipients at the annual luncheon in January.

This year’s recipients, who were selected by the UTMB Diversity Council from a record number of nominations, are Eva Tillmon of Marketing and Communications; Chenica Grant from Research Services; graduate student Oluwarotimi Folorunso; medical school student Tracy Cable; Dr. Anish Bhardwaj, chairman of the Neurology Department; and Lisa Cain, director of Medical School Enrichment Programs.

“Our lives

begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.”

The award program honors and recognizes the contributions of — Dr. Martin UTMB faculty, students and staff Luther King Jr. who promote diversity, inclusion, community partnership, philanthropy and civic engagement. The award is presented annually to individuals who carry out Dr. King’s dream and have made a profound difference through dedication and service to UTMB and the greater community.

From left: Adeola Oduwole, Chenica Grant, Eva Tillmon, Dr. Anish Bhardwaj, Oluwarotimi Folorunso, Dr. Lisa Cain and Dr. David L. Callender. Not pictured is Tracy Cable.

“Dr. King set the direction of his own life according to a higher purpose, inspiring others to do the same and creating positive change and impact in a way that continues to manifest itself today,” said Adeola Oduwole, director of Diversity and Inclusion.

“These awards represent an opportunity to put a light on members of the UTMB community who continue to live out Dr. King’s dream in different ways as well as hold up his principles and his ideologies.”

President’s “Way to Go” Awards: Dr. David Callender recognized several UTMB employees for their great work during the Jan. 27 Town Hall Meeting. Congratulations to Amy Lussier, Michelle Guigneaux, Katherine Golden-Beck, Michelle Millard, Ri Dorado, Shirley Shores, Cheryl Lynch and De’Anne Meeh for stepping up to rapidly address the Joint Commission findings around High-Level Disinfection; Elizabeth Jansen for her innovation and dedication to transforming the School of Nursing’s clinical placement process; Carolanda Bremond for going above and beyond in recent litigation that resulted in a positive outcome for UTMB; Ken Steblein for carrying UTMB’s message of recycling and conservation initiatives to departments on campus and beyond; Liz Moore for her tireless work with the Baby and Mother Bonding Initiative in Correctional Managed Care; Sgt. Noel Layer for his quick and calm response to a dangerous situation; Officer Matthew Stringer for his assistance after a serious car accident; Lori Blackwell for her efforts with the UTMB Veterans Resource Group; and Marina Flomina for always going the extra mile to ensure Waiver Operations invoices and reports are complete and accurate.

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PATIENT CARE

BY KIRSTIANN CLIFFORD

Ten thousand baby boomers will turn 65 every day through 2030, according to the Pew Research Center.

It’s a sobering statistic that shows older adults are becoming the core consumers of health care. Improving geriatric nursing competence is more critical than ever before—and UTMB is committed to doing just that.

UTMB recently achieved “Senior Friendly” status by the Nurses Improving Care for Healthsystem Elders program, the only national designation indicating a commitment to elder care excellence. NICHE, based at New York University College of Nursing, is a network of more than 660 health care facilities in the U.S., Canada, Bermuda and Singapore.

“The designation signals our dedication to providing patient-centered care for older adult patients,” said Colleen James, UTMB’s NICHE coordinator. “As the only NICHE hospital in the Texas Medical Center, we are able to offer evidencebased, interdisciplinary approaches that promote better outcomes, positive experiences and improved care for older adults. And in collaboration with the Sealy Center on Aging and the Acute Care for Elders (ACE) Unit, UTMB is able to provide exemplary care to the older adult population.”

UTMB’s ACE Unit originally opened in 2000 and is designed specifically with the elderly in mind. The unit is staffed with an interdisciplinary team of geriatric nursing staff, physicians, case managers, physical and occupational therapists, dieticians and a pastor, all of whom are trained in the special needs of the elderly.

As part of its continued efforts to improve quality and care for patients 65 and older, the ACE Unit has implemented interdisciplinary team rounds each day at 2 p.m. to discuss each patient and to plan safe patient discharge.

“For each patient, we identify Cleo Douglas gives an update on her patients geriatric syndromes such during a daily interdisciplinary team meeting. as delirium, dementia, pain management, mobility and incontinence,” said James. “Functional status is one of the big focuses right now. We want to prevent older adults from having a decline once they are discharged, so we want to make sure we put them in the best position to do well once they leave here. Having all members of the team fully aware of what is going on with patients and identifying or preventing geriatric syndromes from occurring in the first place is making a big difference.”

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ACE Unit nursing staff from left: Sandra Fontenette, Virginia Brown, Rebecca Travis, Cleo Douglas, Tammie Michael, Colleen James and Jomar Patawaran.

Cleo Douglas has been a registered geriatric nurse at UTMB for the past 15 years and recently underwent training through NICHE to become a geriatric resource nurse. She helps educate other nurses and doctors throughout the hospital regarding geriatric protocols.

“I want to make sure all geriatric patients at UTMB are provided the care that I would want my parent or grandparent to receive,” said Douglas. “If our older adult patients are able to go back home even for one more month instead of being discharged to a facility, that means the world to them. They want to be independent and do as much for themselves as they possibly can. Our job is to get them back to the best possible health and keep them there so they can be independent.”

Other initiatives UTMB has put into place include adding a week of geriatricspecific training to UTMB’s nurse internship program and implementing a transitional care nurse practitioner who follows all older adult hospital patients who are at a high risk of readmission. A new volunteer program called Support for and Promotion of Optimal Nutritional Status, or SPOONS, recently launched, as well. Volunteers help patients at mealtimes by assisting them as needed or sitting by as a dining companion.

To become a volunteer with the SPOONS program, email Colleen James at crjames@utmb.edu. For more information on NICHE, visit nicheprogram.org.

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RESEARCH

Technology Commercialization Program Funds Four Promising Projects

BY DONNA RAMIREZ

UTMB researchers are making invaluable discoveries. However, how do the researchers get their breakthroughs out of the laboratory and into the marketplace?

One of UTMB’s goals is to support its researchers and promote technology transfer and commercialization of their research discoveries. Under the direction of Dr. David L. Callender, president of UTMB, the Office of Technology Transfer and the Office of Research created the Technology Commercialization Program (TCP) in 2014 to provide seed funds to support the commercialization of UTMB discoveries. The funds for the TCP come from the President’s Royalty Fund, which holds the proceeds from royalties of licensed UTMB technologies.

“As an academic health sciences center, UTMB has a mission to discover new ways to diagnose, prevent and treat disease. The seed money provided by the President’s Royalty Fund enables us to invest locally in research that holds great promise for improving health and improving lives in Texas and around the world,” Callender said.

The TCP raises visibility for the cutting-edge work conducted by UTMB researchers. This program also supports their endeavors, inspires them

to think about commercialization and provides them a tool to help with commercialization of their technology.

“This royalty fund helps our researchers to secure funding at a time when funding is scarce,” said Sundeep Mattamana, director of the UTMB Office of Technology Transfer. “They have completed compelling studies that established proof of concept but need gap funding to develop their technology to the point where they will be more attractive to venture capital investors or to companies.”

For its first peer-reviewed funding awards, the TCP awarded $50,000 to four projects that have strong potential to provide meaningful health care benefits and be commercially licensed.

Program finalist Stan Watowich said, “As we move our discoveries from the lab to the market, we hope our success encourages new partnerships between local investors and the growing biotechnology industry in Galveston and Houston.”

Additional proposals are currently under review, and a second round of awards is expected in spring 2016.

RESEARCH BRIEFS Compiled from press releases written by Donna Ramirez.

Find out more at www.utmb.edu/newsroom.

Rakez Kayed, PhD, associate professor of Neurology, and Bridget Hawkins, PhD, assistant professor of Anesthesiology, have filled an important gap in understanding the link between traumatic brain injury and neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease. Previously, UTMB researchers found a toxic form of tau protein that increases after a traumatic brain injury and may contribute to development of chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a condition experienced by many professional athletes and military personnel. What remained a mystery was if this protein could cause dementia symptoms. The researchers isolated this protein from animals that had experienced a TBI and then injected it into another group of animals to see if they would develop impairments. The animals developed the same type of mental impairments caused by Alzheimer’s disease. These findings provide direct evidence that this form of toxic tau induces many

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TBI symptoms and may be responsible for the spread of impairments throughout the brain. These new findings can be found in the Journal of Neurotrauma.

Sapna Kaul, PhD, assistant professor of Preventive Medicine and Community Health, found that more than half of primary care providers admit to providing unnecessary referrals to a specialist because patients request it.

Many physicians also said they yielded to patient requests for brandname drug prescriptions when cheaper generics were available. Thirty percent of U.S. health care expenses each year are thought to be unnecessary. Physicians are increasingly expected to consider the costs of their treatment plans on the health care system when making medical decisions. However, little is known about how physicians balance cost-saving expectations in the face of patient requests. In this study, researchers used data from a nationally representative survey of 840 primary care physicians in Family Practice, Internal Medicine and Pediatrics. In response to patient requests, 52 percent of the surveyed physicians reported making what they

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RESEARCH

The first funding award winners and their projects New Heterocyclic Small Molecule Inhibitors of Dengue Virus

Allosteric Modulators as Neurotherapeutics Kathryn Cunningham, PhD, professor and vice chair of Pharmacology and Toxicology, and director of the Center for Addiction Research

Stanley Watowich, PhD, associate professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

Jia Zhou, PhD, associate professor of Pharmacology and Toxicology Millions of people across the globe suffer from cocaine-use disorder. We have identified the serotonin 2C receptor as a brain protein that, under conditions of low activity, drives cocaine intake as well as other traits that promote relapse to cocaine use.

Improving the function of this serotonin receptor has the potential to reduce cocaine taking and seeking. The award is supporting preclinical studies, which will establish key data required for the FDA. These compounds may also prove useful in depression and obesity/eating disorders.

Optimization of a Revolutionary New Chikungunya Vaccine Scott Weaver, PhD, professor of Pathology and Microbiology and Immunology, director of the Institute for Human Infections and Immunity We have leveraged the discovery of a new mosquito-specific virus called Eilat to develop a new vaccine platform for chikungunya virus, which has emerged in the Americas to cause nearly two million cases of debilitating disease. Once this vaccine is optimized for human use, it will represent a revolutionary advancement that combines a high degree of safety with rapid and long-lived immunity to protect against an emerging disease of global importance.

considered unnecessary referrals for a specialist and 39 percent prescribed brand-name drugs despite generic alternatives. The study appears in the American Journal of Managed Care.

Alex Bukreyev, PhD, professor of Pathology, has learned that antibodies in the blood of people who have survived a strain of the Ebola virus can kill various types of Ebola. The findings are significant because it helps researchers further understand the immune response to a virus such as Ebola. In the study, researchers used the blood of seven people who survived Ebola Bundibugyo virus infection during the 2007 outbreak in Uganda to isolate a large number of B cells that produce antibodies, which are the small protein molecules capable of inactivating the virus.

A portion of the isolated antibodies effectively protected mice and guinea pigs against a lethal Ebola Zaire infection. Bukreyev believes the results provide a roadmap to developing a single antibody-based treatment effective against not only infections caused by Ebola Zaire virus, but also those caused by related filoviruses. The study is currently available in the journal Cell.

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This early-stage funding from UTMB will accelerate our efforts to develop antiviral drugs that prevent and treat mosquito-borne dengue disease, which affects over 100 million people each year. Dengue antivirals are important for protecting American health, since the mosquito that transmits dengue virus has spread north from the tropics and is now causing dengue virus infections in Florida and Texas.

Acetylcholine Receptor Binding B Cells as Biomarker for Myasthenia Gravis Dr. Premkumar Christadoss, professor of Microbiology and Immunology Myasthenia gravis is a chronic autoimmune neuromuscular disease that afflicts about 60,000 people in the U.S. and nearly a million worldwide.

Currently, there is no readily available tool for early diagnosis, prognosis, predicting disease severity or response to treatment. In collaboration with Duke University and our commercial partner, Immune Globe Biotech, we are developing a new diagnostic and biomarker assay for this disease. Development of our diagnostic is critical for phase II clinical trials with a larger group of myasthenia gravis patients.

Ashok Chopra, PhD, professor of Microbiology and Immunology, and colleagues have discovered different strains of deadly flesh-eating bacteria working together to spread infection. The findings give a better understanding of the role of the toxins they produce and could change how the illness and other diseases are treated. The bacteria Aeromonas hydrophila has been increasingly acknowledged as being responsible for necrotizing fasciitis, a rapidly-progressing skin and muscle tissue infection. The researchers studied a human case of necrotizing fasciitis and identified four strains of the bacteria that caused the infection. Three of the strains were closely related, but one was different from the others. They found that the three similar strains produced a toxin called ExoA that is responsible for breaking down muscle tissue, allowing the distinct strain to move to other parts of the body.

This discovery could alter the way medical researchers think about this and other bacterial diseases that are commonly thought to be caused by a single species of bacterium. The study is published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

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BY KIRSTIANN CLIFFORD

If anyone knows how much UTMB has grown over the years, it’s Eddie Long.

As a senior materials handling tech, he’s worked for the university for nearly 26 years delivering materials, equipment, supplies and records to institutional departments. His original route on Galveston Island has expanded to the mainland, with deliveries to the Angleton Danbury and League City campuses as well, for 16 locations in all.

“UTMB is growing every day, getting bigger and bigger,” said Long, who usually gets to the Materials Management Warehouse in Galveston at 6 a.m. to start the day. “The minute I come in, I’m loading the truck. There’s no time to chit chat. It’s just come in, get everything loaded and get on the road. It keeps me busy.”

When I meet up with him mid-morning on a Wednesday, he’s already been to Angleton and is just finishing up a delivery at the League City Campus. I watch as he unloads six large pallets and wheels them through a back door of the building.

“Sometimes, I make deliveries to the League City Campus twice a day,” explains Long. “They get a little bit of everything here: FedEx packages, packages on ice, dry ice and various types of medical equipment. If there are rush orders or they are short on

supplies, I have to come back.

They are a main priority.”

Oftentimes, if expensive medical equipment needs to be delivered to a clinic or department, Long will be the one to do it.

“I think my supervisor has my cell number on speed dial,” jokes Long. “I deal with a lot of expensive equipment, and when the department has something really big, they’ll ask me to handle it. It makes me feel good that they trust me.”

He’s constantly moving by foot or truck. While his pedometer shows he walks about 15,000 steps a day, Long passes the time behind the steering wheel listening to sports radio. He immediately lights up with the mention of football.

“I’m a huge NFL and college football fan. I’m a big Georgia Bulldog fan,” said Long. “The truck radio is on ESPN now. When I’m on the road between three and four hours a day, I have to have something buzzing in my ear. It’s a long drive.”

When we get back to Galveston, we run by the

warehouse to see if there are any “rush” deliveries before continuing to the next stop at Shearn Moody Plaza. The way he maneuvers the large truck while telling me about his seven children—the oldest has graduated college and the youngest is six years old—is truly amazing. He quickly checks his mirrors before backing up so precisely that there are only millimeters to spare between the truck and the loading dock.

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A security officer who works at the Plaza’s loading dock sees my look of amazement and tells me there isn’t another delivery driver like him.

“Eddie is really smooth—he backs up like he owns it,” she says proudly.

As quickly as he backs up, he jumps down from the truck and starts unloading. Although he’s busy, he never seems like he’s in a hurry when he’s interacting with his customers. He knows everyone by name—and they know him.

“I don’t usually have to look at the location, or ‘L’ number that signifies a delivery location. I go by the names on the package label because I know everybody,” said Long.

When a package is delivered, he is required to scan the room’s location number and bar code label on each package and obtain a signature for receipt.

He picks up a package with a name he doesn’t recognize and talks to several employees before he finds the appropriate recipient.

As it turns out, the package is for a contract employee who just moved into the building. He adds the new name to his mental Rolodex before greeting some of his favorite employees in Revenue Cycle Operations.

Cheryl Herrod, a business manager with RCO, has received deliveries from Long since she started at UTMB 15 years ago.

“Everybody knows and likes Eddie,” said Herrod. “He does anything for you. If you are waiting for a package, you can email or text him—he gave us all his cell phone number. He always has a smile on his face and is just a wonderful person.”

I tag along as Long makes stops at the Recycle Center, Laundry and Linen Services, Print Shop and Records Management, where we drop off and pick up several boxes of records that need to be sent across Galveston Campus. We say goodbye after he makes some deliveries at the School of Nursing, where I learn he recently was recognized for his great work with a gift card and special breakfast.

“That was really nice,” says Long, humbly. “I meet a lot of nice, awesome people and I enjoy getting to know them. I just love putting smiles on people’s faces.”

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GOOD NEWS

UTMB researchers at center of Zika virus media coverage

BY KIRSTIANN CLIFFORD

Nikos Vasilakis prepares for an interview with CBS Evening News in the studio at UTMB.

CBS Evening News. National Public Radio. NBC Nightly News. The New York Times. Univision. The Washington Post. National Geographic. BBC News. KTRK-TV, Ch. 13 Houston. KHOU-TV, Ch. 11 Houston. The Houston Chronicle.

When it comes to emerging infectious diseases, local, national and international media outlets are turning to UTMB for accurate information.

Zika, a virus transmitted by mosquitoes, has received an onslaught of media coverage after being tentatively linked to microcephaly, a neurological condition where a baby is born with an abnormally small head because the brain did not develop correctly.

UTMB’s Media Relations team has received nonstop phone calls and emails from TV and radio stations, online publications and newspapers to interview UTMB researchers, including Scott Weaver and Nikos Vasilakis, who are experts in emerging infectious diseases.

Raul Reyes, UTMB’s Media Relations director, said it’s always a challenge to balance the media requests while also being respectful of a researcher’s time.

“Our intent is to let people know our scientists have this expertise and are trying to improve and save lives, while also making sure we don’t overstep and take up too much of our researchers’ time,” said Reyes. “It’s important to remember that they still need to be able to do critical lab work identifying diseases, developing therapeutics, teaching and taking care of other obligations.

“It’s fantastic that members of the media are asking us to talk about Zika, but none of this would happen if UTMB didn’t have a world-renowned team of scientists who are experts on infectious diseases. Positive news coverage like this happens because we have faculty members who recognize that speaking to the media helps to educate the public and further position UTMB as a world leader in this area.”

Senior communications specialist Kurt Koopmann sums up all the media attention in three words: “It’s been crazy!”

Reyes added that new studio equipment on the Galveston Campus has made it easier to do media interviews, and he’s noticed an increase in all types of media requests, not just regarding Zika.

In fact, between September 2015 and Feb. 2, the team arranged for more than 500 media placements, with more than two billion impressions.

Visit the UTMB Newsroom at www.utmb.edu/newsroom to see many of the news reports.

New Comprehensive Eye & Ear Center The Sealy & Smith Foundation has awarded $3.87 million in funding to establish a comprehensive eye and ear center, which will allow UTMB to consolidate services at the current Eye Center at 700 University Blvd. in Galveston. Under the proposal, 8,000 square feet of the third floor will be reconfigured and renovated in order to relocate the Ear, Nose and Throat Clinic and Audiology and Speech Pathology Clinic. Improvements also will be made to the existing Eye Center area on the first-floor, including the entryway, reception and lobby. The project is expected to take a year to complete.

Alvin clinic now offering urgent care, expanded hours ON Feb. 1, UTMB’s Primary and Specialty Care Clinic in Alvin began offering urgent care for children and adults. Alvin Urgent Care hours are 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. on weekdays and 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. on weekends. The 10,000-squarefoot clinic, located at 2020 East Highway 6, originally opened in 2014 and has 24 exam rooms, expanded X-ray services and a full blooddraw station.

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EDUCATION

New MD/PhD in aging-related research Grant from National Institute on Aging allows for creation of program in PMCH

BY STEPHEN HADLEY

The Department of Preventive Medicine and Community Health was recently awarded a grant from the National Institute on Aging to fund a new MD/PhD program in social and behavioral sciences focused on health disparities in aging.

While UTMB has had an MD/PhD combined degree program since 1983 and has educated more than 100 clinician scientists, the new grant will create a similar focus for medical students who want to also become researchers to study public health and social and behavioral sciences.

“There’s a growing need for physicians who can do research related to aging,” said Kyriakos Markides, PhD, the Annie and John Gnitzinger Distinguished Professor of Aging.

“Most MDs are trained to care for patients but not to conduct research.

This program, like the general MD/ PhD program we’ve had for decades here at UTMB, gives medical students the research experience and skills they need to pursue their career as academic physicians with an emphasis on social medicine.”

Markides said the five-year grant from NIA would fund tuition for one secondyear medical student to begin pursuing their doctorate for each of the next five years. The first medical student, Amanda Randolph, is already enrolled in the program. Randolph was a student in UTMB’s general MD/PhD program but then transitioned to the new PMCH program.

“Our goal is to enroll five students in

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From left: Kyriakos Markides, PhD, Amanda Randolph, a second-year medical student and the first MD/ PhD student in social and behavioral sciences, and M. Kristen Peek, PhD.

the program over the next five years,” Markides said. “Since we’re at the start of the program, we’re looking for secondyear medical students who are already attending UTMB and are interested in pursuing a PhD as well, specifically to study aging-related issues.”

a long-term study of older MexicanAmericans—funded continuously by the NIA since 1992—and another NIA-funded study of the health of older people living in Mexico that helped the department win the grant for the new MD/PhD program, Markides said.

Markides directs the new MD/PhD program with the help of M. Kristen Peek, PhD, professor and vice chair of Education, graduate program director for Population Health Sciences and assistant dean for Recruitment and Special Programs in the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences.

The grant award represents an opportunity for future physicians to make an even more indelible mark, he added.

Peek said an added benefit of the new MD/PhD program is that it will cover the cost of years three and four of medical school once the MD/PhD students return to that program.

“With the MD/PhD degree, a doctor can still see patients but then also can be an academic physician-scientist who contributes to research,” Markides said. “No doubt it’s admirable to see and care for patients but it’s also incredibly rewarding to be a scientist and contribute to knowledge that might make a difference for people in the future around the world.”

The new MD/PhD program complements the growing body of research resulting from the department’s strong emphasis on aging. In fact, it was the presence of

For more information about the new MD/PhD program in the Department of Preventive Medicine and Community Health, please visit http:// pmch.utmb.edu

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LEADER SPOTLIGHT

Spotlight on Philesha Evans, HR Corporate Administration Philesha Evans has worked at UTMB her entire adult life and has taken on a number of roles and projects since starting off in the Transportation Department and transferring to Human Resources in 1996. She currently serves as assistant vice president for Human Resources’ Direct Entity Services, providing leadership and strategic direction for several divisions, including Correctional Managed Care Human Resources, the Employee Assistance Program, Employee Health, Employee Injury/Illness Management, Employee Relations and Leave Management. Prior to her current role, she served as director of Employee Relations.

Philesha Evans with her daughters, Arielle (left) and MaReia (center), on Arielle's 18th birthday.

What does the Road Ahead look like for you?

UTMB has been a constant in my life having grown up in Galveston and worked at UTMB for over 20 years. As a child, my mom brought my siblings and me to the pediatric clinic that was once on the first floor of Research Building 6 for our health care, and we would accompany my grandmother when she came for appointments with her long-term physician, Dr. Richard Rahr.

Over the years, UTMB’s physical landscape and personnel have changed. That’s not what the Road Ahead is about; rather, it’s about transforming the way we operate as an organization. Certainly, such a transformation involves upgrading our facilities, making better use of our space, and hiring and retaining the right faculty members, leaders and staff. Successful organizational transformation is heavily dependent upon executing strategic objectives and improving organizational effectiveness. UTMB is positioned better than it has ever been to achieve this.

What is your favorite thing about working at UTMB? I’ve worked at UTMB for my entire adult life, and, by far, my favorite part of working here is interacting with the many people that make UTMB great. Throughout the years, I have come into

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Evans earned her bachelor’s degree and an MBA from Texas Woman’s University and holds the Senior Professional in Human Resources certification. She took the time to talk to us about her first impressions of UTMB as a child and the future of UTMB, as well as her extensive shoe collection.

I have the best job in the organization— taking care of our people so that they can take care of our students, patients, research and institutional operations. contact with great people and built some lifelong relationships. My role allows me the privilege of interacting with employees at all levels in the organization. In some cases, it’s not under the best circumstances, but I believe that it is my duty to treat all employees with respect and compassion. I try very hard to ensure that, even if the person doesn’t get the desired outcome, our interaction ends with that person knowing I heard his or her concern and feeling that he or she was treated fairly. I have the best job in the organization—taking care of our people so that they can take care of our students, patients, research and institutional operations.

What do you like to do outside of work?

I love to cook and bake. I cook almost every day, so my family is pretty spoiled. I get excited about finding recipes and making them my own, and I enjoy the challenge of learning a new technique. If I didn’t love my position at UTMB so much, I would probably be a chef.

What was your first job?

My first job was at Foot Locker in Galveston’s old Galvez Mall. (Yes, there was once a shopping mall in Galveston.) This is probably when my obsession with shoes began. I worked there after school and on weekends during my senior year of high school.

Today, I have almost 250 pairs of shoes, and I have worn them all. I don’t own any high-end shoes, but I do have some that people might consider “different.”

If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would you go and why?

My list is pretty long because almost all of my travel has been work-related. I would love to visit New Zealand, France, Greece, South Africa, the Seychelles, New York, Napa Valley and, of course, Disney World. Now that my daughters are older (18 and 15), I plan to mark something off the list every year, alternating each year between domestic and international destinations.

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LEADERSHIP

UTMB influencing international standards in Human Resources UTMB recently hosted the International Organization for Standardization/Technical Committee 260 (ISO/TC 260)

meeting for Human Resource Management. The meeting brought together more than 40 delegates and experts from 13 countries to develop standards involving human governance, recruitment, workforce planning and HR terminology. These standards will provide guidance to HR practitioners across the globe.

UTMB’s Dr. Ronald B. McKinley, vice president for Human Resources and Employee Services, said it was an honor to serve as the head of the ISO/TC 260 U.S. delegation.

“It is important to note that UTMB is also the administrator for the U.S.

UTMB hosted the ISO/TC 260 meeting for HR Management, bringing together more than 40 delegates and experts from 13 countries.

Mirror Committee to ISO TC/260, which works with member countries to develop standards that ‘mirror’ each other, and is the accredited developer of domestic U.S. Standards in health

care administration,” McKinley said.

“These two activities put UTMB at the forefront of positive change affecting the efficient management of health care organizations on a global basis.”

UTMB and UH–Clear Lake to Offer MD–MBA Dual Degree Program

M

BY CHRISTOPHER SMITH GONZALEZ

edical students at UTMB seeking to gain an edge with additional management and finance skills will be able to obtain a Master of Business Administration degree at the University of Houston–Clear Lake while working on their medical degree.

The MD–MBA program is geared toward medical students who wish to go on to private or group practice, health system administration or into the fields of biotechnology, health system management or entrepreneurship aspects of health care. Both degrees can be accomplished in as little as five years.

Students wishing to obtain their MD–MBA will be required to take a year off from their medical studies, preferably between their third and fourth years of medical school. Students will not take courses concurrently.

The MCAT will be used in place of the GRE for admissions.

“Some physicians decide they would like to have the added expertise that a business degree can provide,” Dr. Michael Ainsworth, vice dean for Academic Affairs at UTMB, said. “It might be as simple as having a better sense of the financial aspects of the medical practice. It might be wanting to take a leadership role in a health system, which requires more knowledge of finance.”

The dual degree program began accepting applications in January, with courses starting later this summer.

“As a health science center, UTMB doesn’t offer these type of classes,” Ainsworth said. “We wanted to find someone to partner with and UH-Clear Lake is the closest and most appropriate partner. They have a very high-quality business curriculum so we felt it was only natural

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From left: University of Houston–Clear Lake President William A. Staples and Dr. David L. Callender, president of UTMB, sign an agreement for a joint MD– MBA dual degree program between the two universities.

to work together.”

Dr. David L. Callender, president of UTMB, said the agreement was a good fit for both institutions.

“We wanted our students to have an option to develop additional business skills that will complement their medical professional skills and better prepare them for leadership roles,” Callender said. “The students are the winners in this partnership.”

The 54-credit-hour program offers medical students a chance to complete some of the MBA classes prior to beginning their medical school studies and to complete other classes in between their third and fourth years in medical school either online or at UH–Clear Lake, conveniently located 35 miles north of UTMB. 13

CONSTRUCTION

New parking services will debut in coming months A MULTITUDE OF PARKING CHANGES aimed at improving the patient experience and enhancing parking for faculty, staff and students will take effect over the next few months to coincide with the opening of the new Jennie Sealy Hospital.

The Plaza Parking Garage (Garage 8) will be transitioned to patient and visitor parking only by early April, while the Administration Garage (Garage 1) will become contract-only once patient parking is transitioned to the Plaza Garage.

Carlos Escobar, associate vice president of Business Operations and Facilities, said current contract holders at the Plaza Garage were relocated to nearby parking facilities on Jan. 30 to give crews time to update the garage by early April.

In addition to the proposed changes to the Plaza and Administration garages, other new parking services are set to launch over the next few months.

New gates with a ticketing system and a cashier booth will be added to the patient lot of the Primary Care Pavilion on Harborside Drive. Parking in the patient lot will still be free with validations, similar to UTMB’s other public parking areas. Behind the Primary Care Pavilion will be paid, employee contract parking using hangtags. A similar gate and ticketing system with validation for patients is being implemented at the League City Campus.

UTMB staff responsible for assisting patients with parking validations will no longer need to handle tokens. The new validation system will be electronically accessible through their desktop computers.

For parking-related questions or comments, email parking@utmb.edu or call (409) 266-PARK (7275).

Notable new parking services at UTMB • Garage 9: Formerly the Sealy & Smith garage to the east of John Sealy Plaza garage at Fifth Street and Texas Avenue; waiting list for parking • Lot EA: Surface lot at Sixth Street and Market Street across from Arlan’s; waiting list for parking • Lot O: Fifth Street and Market Street; spaces currently available • Garage 2: Near the UTMB Health Clinics building off of Harborside Drive; waiting list for contract parking • Garage 8: John Sealy Plaza Garage for patients and visitors only, beginning early April • Garage 1: Administration garage for paid, employee contract parking only after the transition; waiting list for parking • New parking equipment: Public parking areas (Garage 2, Garage 8, Primary Care Pavilion and League City Campus)

Neil Hart, director of Auxiliary Enterprises, said several information sessions to explain the validation process have been held over the past month.

JENNIE SEALY HOSPITAL CEREMONIES TO CELEBRATE OPENING UTMB employees and students—as well as the local community—will have their first chance to see the new Jennie Sealy Hospital up close and personal in late February.

Several events will mark the completion of construction and opening of the new 765,000-square-foot hospital, which will accept its first patient on April 9. An employee open house is set for Thursday, Feb. 25 from 4:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., followed by a formal dedication of the state-of-the-art facility on Friday, Feb. 26 at 2 p.m. that will include several local, state and national dignitaries to help UTMB mark the occasion.

Referring physicians will be invited to tour the hospital on Saturday, Feb. 27 from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m., and area residents will have an opportunity to walk through the facility starting at noon that day.

“Jennie Sealy Hospital is our gift to the community,” said Donna K. Sollenberger, executive vice

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president and CEO of UTMB Health System. “This is a wonderful resource that features the latest state-of-the-art technology to provide the best patient care possible. Now we’re going to have the facility that matches the unparalleled skill of our physicians, our nurses and our staff, plus our inpatients will have wonderful views of the water.”

Sollenberger said these views of Galveston harbor or the Gulf of Mexico from every room will aid in the healing process.

“There’s a whole science behind the design of facilities that improve healing, and we incorporated each of those principles into the construction of Jennie Sealy Hospital,” she said. “This new hospital will be a warm and welcoming environment that supports patient healing and better patient outcomes.”

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VALUES

Weekly Relays – 2.0

Continuing to strengthen internal communications across UTMB In response to extensive feedback from employees at all levels across UTMB in 2014, the university began looking for more effective ways to communicate within our departments, schools and institution as a whole. Research pointed to the need for a more reliable, intentional system of communication that provided an opportunity for face-to-face interaction and two-way communication.

As part of the resulting internal communications redesign, the Internal Communications Council (ICC) was formed, and Weekly Relays were introduced on Feb. 26, 2015. Mid-year improvements, including the addition of Did You Know items, were made in response to feedback from Relay Leaders along the way.

A recent employee survey about Weekly Relays indicated the program is meeting the goal of strengthening internal communications so that employees are better informed, understand how they fit in the UTMB mission, and have a reliable way to voice concerns and get answers to their questions. Results also pointed to some ways the program can be improved.

With the one-year anniversary of Weekly Relays, the ICC and Office of Marketing and Communications will be making additional modifications in response to the survey data to make the initiative even better.

• The Weekly Relays template will be revised, integrating the entities into one document and making it more engaging.

• Marketing and Communications will video great Relay meetings to share as best practices for relay leaders and employees alike. Videos will be posted to the Weekly Relay website.

• Relay Notes will soon incorporate discussion points and conversation starters to assist in improving two-way communication.

• The ICC will continue to label “action items” and pay careful attention to the timing of items that appear in Relay Notes.

Weekly Relays remain a core means of sharing important information across our campuses, clinics and other facilities each week. Other existing communications channels will be enhanced over the coming months, including a redesign of iUTMB to make information easier to find. As internal communication channels are refined, Marketing and Communications will develop content guidelines to help determine the best channel for particular news items.

In addition to Weekly Relays and in response to feedback from employees, executive leadership kicked off the “Town Hall On the Road” program back in September, which brings executives to worksites to meet with employees who cannot attend traditional Town Hall meetings in Levin Hall on the Galveston Campus. Locations thus far have ranged from conference rooms on the Galveston Campus to the Angleton Danbury Campus and locations in League City and Webster. Visits will continue throughout the year.

Marketing and Communications also brought back a printed version of this newsletter in response to survey and focus group feedback, to complement the online version.

And, we created a new Facebook page geared to our internal community. Sign up to follow “I Am UTMB” for news of interest to our employees, students and volunteers.

Employees also can help improve communication. Attend your area’s Weekly Relay.

Ask questions. Share concerns. And let Marketing and Communications know about good stories in your area. We look forward to working together to stay connected to one another and to our university’s mission.

Check out the Weekly Relay website: http://blogs.utmb.edu/relay Find your ICC contact: http://blogs.utmb.edu/relay/contact Like us on Facebook: I Am UTMB

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Take care of your hardest working muscle: your heart

By Dr. Sendil Hari Prasad, cardiologist, UTMB Angleton Danbury Campus • Strive for a heart-healthy weight.

Use a Body Mass Index calculator to find out if you’re at a healthy weight.

BMI is an indicator of the amount of body fat most people have. If you can reach and maintain a healthy weight (BMI < 25 kg/m2), not only will you have more energy, you’ll also have a reduced risk of heart disease and other cancers.

• Keep your diet balanced. Stick to a healthy, balanced diet low in fat and sugar, and make a point to eat at least five portions of a variety of fruit and vegetables a day. Choose skinless poultry and leaner cuts of meat and lower-fat dairy products like 1-percentfat milk over full-fat (or whole) milk.

• Eat plenty of fiber. Aim for at least 30 grams a day to help lower your risk of heart disease. Fiber can be found in a variety of sources such as bran, steel-cut oats, whole-meal breads and cereals along with many fruits and vegetables.

• Go fish. Fish such as mackerel, sardines, fresh tuna and salmon are

your health, including risks to your heart health.

• Read food labels. When grocery shopping, it’s always good idea to look at the label on food and drink packages to see how many calories and how much fat, salt and sugar the product contains. Be cautious of pre-packaged foods, as they can contain excessive amounts of salt.

good sources of omega-3 fats, a group of polyunsaturated fatty acids that are important for various functions in the body. The American Heart Association recommends eating fish at least twice a week.

• Drink less alcohol. Don’t forget that alcohol contains calories. Try to keep to recommended daily alcohol limits to reduce the risk of serious problems with

• Get physical. Getting and staying active can reduce your risk of developing heart disease. You can do anything physical that keeps your heart rate up for 30 minutes—or 20 minutes if it’s high intensity—five days a week.

Include muscle-strengthening activity at least two days per week for additional health benefits. Take 10- to 15-minute walking breaks during the day or after meals.

• Give up smoking and avoid secondhand smoke. It’s the single best thing you can do for your heart health. A year after quitting, your risk of a heart attack falls to about half that of a smoker.

PA RTI N G S HOT

The sky’s the limit!

More than 150 CMC managers got a first look at the new Jennie Sealy Hospital during the CMC Winter Conference in Galveston on Jan. 27-28. A “skylight” complete with cloud images adorns the ceiling above an intraoperative MRI in the new hospital. An iMRI is used to get realtime images of the brain during surgery and helps neurosurgeons achieve a more complete removal of some brain tumors.

Managers also got a tour of Old Red and Hospital Galveston.

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