Impact September 2018

UTMB NEWSLETTER • SEPTEMBER 2018

Focused on student success: Assistant director of Student Life

New discovery in fight against Alzheimer’s Compassionate care helps couple find hope in tragedy School of Health Professions grads mark milestone

SFISD officer returns to UTMB to thank staff for life-saving care John Barnes, a Santa Fe ISD police officer injured in the May 2018 shooting at Santa Fe High School, returned to the Galveston Campus on Aug. 27 to visit with the team of UTMB health care professionals who helped save his life.

UTMB Police Lt. Ryan Erwin presents a UTMB Police challenge coin to Barnes during his visit.

Barnes thanks Daniel Altmyer, nurse clinician III in UTMB’s Emergency Services, for his efforts in treating him following the shooting.

Barnes, center, talks with nursing staff and UTMB law enforcement in the UTMB Emergency Department on the Galveston Campus.

Barnes talks with Pamela Cruz, nurse manager of UTMB’s Emergency Services, during his visit to campus.

President’s Way To Go Awards UTMB President David Callender recognized several employees with Way To Go Awards during Town Hall on Sept. 19.

Pictured, from left, Glen Baker, Matthew Terry, Rebekah Fief, Jason Garner, Brandon Lively and UTMB President David Callender.

Jason Garner, Rebekah Fief, Lt. Joel Rivera, Officer Terrell Smith, Brandon Lively, Matthew Terry and Glen Baker were recognized for coming to the aid of a roofer who had collapsed while working at the Angleton Danbury Campus hospital.

Savannah Parks, patient resource specialist at the UTMB Health Resource Center, was honored for her work with the Galveston County Care Transition Task Force in helping to increase awareness of the variety of care transitions from UTMB hospitals and broadcasting the existence of the resource center in Jennie Sealy Hospital.

Elaine Hester Goodman, nurse clinician III in the Angleton Danbury Campus intensive care unit, was recognized for driving from Angleton to the Galveston Campus in early July and working during a particularly busy day when one of UTMB’s ICUs had so many patients it was placed on critical diversion status.

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From the President Fiscal Year 2019 is off to a running start!

Before we shift our focus to the future and what’s to come, I want to recognize the hard work of our dedicated faculty and staff during a challenging FY18.

Thanks to each of you—along with just a bit of luck—we were able to surpass our budget projections and end the fiscal year on a positive note.

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To recognize the collective efforts and contributions you have made during the past year, I’m happy that UTMB will once again issue a $750 TEAM Award, in the form of a one-time payment to eligible employees, on Friday, Nov. 16. To check your eligibility for this payment, visit www.utmb.edu/president/communications.

Compassionate care helps couple deal with tragedy Page 4

During my Town Hall on Sept. 19, I discussed last year’s performance and shared information on how we’ll continue to build upon this success in the coming months by prioritizing our people, the value of our service, strategic management and growth, and efficient, streamlined use of resources. I also announced that UTMB will continue our efforts to reward outstanding work by awarding merit raises for eligible employees in November. If you were unable to attend or watch Town Hall online, you can access the full presentation at www.utmb.edu/townhall/.

Day in the Life of UTMB’s assistant director of Student Life

As UTMB’s footprint expands—thanks to our collaboration with MD Anderson Cancer Center on the League City Campus, a signed letter of intent for a new campus in Webster and continued construction on the Galveston Campus—FY19 is shaping up to be an active and exciting year for us.

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This latest issue of Impact features a “Day in the Life” of Mike Cromie, assistant director of Student Life, and highlights what he and his team do to enhance and improve the educational experience for students across our institution.

Other stories in the September issue include: School of Health Professions graduates mark milestone

• A Best Care in Action article about how UTMB staff is helping a family deal with tragedy • Our researcher’s work to unravel why some patients with brain markers for Alzheimer’s disease avoid dementia • An update on construction projects taking place across UTMB • A summary of the past month’s Pulse videos • Myths about atrial fibrillation, by Dr. Rafic Berbarie • This month’s trivia question and more

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As always, send your story ideas, Hidden Talents and trivia answers to the Impact team. I look forward to us excelling together in the coming year.

Hidden Talent: Climbing skills to rival Spider-Man Page 11

Dr. David L. Callender UTMB President

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!

Vice President Marketing & Communications Steve Campbell

ON THE COVER:

Editors Stephen Hadley Shannon Porter Jessica Wyble

Mike Cromie, assistant director of UTMB’s Office of Student Life, is focused on helping set the stage for student success.

Associate Vice President Marketing & Communications Mary Havard

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

CONTACT US Email: impact.newsletter@utmb.edu Phone: (409) 772-2618 Campus mail route: 0144 U.S. Postal address: UTMB Marketing & Communications

301 University Boulevard

Galveston, TX 77555-0144

B EST CA R E I N AC T I O N

Finding hope in tragedy Compassionate care by UTMB health care professionals saves blood clot patient’s life

BY CHRISTOPHER SMITH GONZALES

One night, when she was eight months pregnant, Natalie Beriault felt like her heart suddenly stopped before it lurched back into action.

Beriault, 27, was at home by herself in Lumberton, Texas. She had been lying in bed most of the day when suddenly she had trouble breathing and thought she was going to faint.

She told herself it was just anxiety. Her boyfriend was away on a business trip, so Beriault called a friend to come to her house. Beriault remembered worrying that if she went to the emergency room it would turn out to be nothing and she’d be stuck with a large medical bill.

“I was just looking for any excuse because I didn’t want to go to the hospital,” Beriault said.

But going to the hospital is exactly what Beriault should have done. After her fingers and lips started turning blue, she did visit her local emergency room, where doctors told Beriault she had a pulmonary embolism. A blood clot had traveled from somewhere else in her body to her lungs, which was complicating her breathing.

A pregnant woman’s blood clots more easily to help lessen blood loss during birth. But that also means some pregnant women may develop a blood clot during their pregnancy, during childbirth or even up to about three months after delivery, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Beriault’s pulmonary embolism was so extensive that there was no longer any meaningful blood flow to her lungs, Roughneen said.

“Not nearly enough to sustain life,” he said.

It took about four hours from when Beriault started feeling short of breath to when she made it to UTMB by ambulance. When doctors first tried to remove the blood clot, Beriault went into cardiac arrest and essentially died on the operating table.

After CPR was administered, Beriault was hooked up to an extracorporeal membrane oxygenation machine, or ECMO. The machine takes over for the lungs, oxygenating the patient’s blood as it runs through the machine. UTMB is one of only six hospitals in the Houston region with an ECMO machine.

Beriault spent a week in a medically-induced coma. While the medical professionals at UTMB were able to save her life, Beriault lost her son, whom she was going to name Carter.

Despite the tragic outcome, Beriault’s fiancée, Eric Brackin, was thankful to the team at UTMB and for the care she received here that saved her life. On social media, he thanked Roughneen, her surgeon, Dr. Lauren McTaggert, OB/ Gyn physician Dr. Violetta Lozovyy and the nurses in the Surgical Intensive Care Unit.

“If you have these symptoms, go to the doctor.

It is not worth losing your life. You don’t want to go through what I went through.”

Blood clots are a serious issue for pregnant women, said Dr. Patrick Roughneen, professor of Cardiothoracic Surgery at UTMB and part of the team of health care providers who helped treat Beriault.

“They are amazing people who really want to be there, doing their jobs, saving lives,” Brackin wrote on Facebook.

“They not only cared for the patient, they cared for the family as well. They comforted us. They cried with us. They were there with us. We are forever grateful.”

Beriault is currently undergoing physical rehabilitation and she and Brackin hope to get married and start a family in the near future. However, Beriault wants other women to learn from her story.

Women who are pregnant should be aware of the symptoms of Dr. Patrick Roughneen meets with Natalie Beriault and her fiance, Eric Brackin. blood clots, including shortness of breath, blue discoloration around the lips, leg or chest pain, and leg swelling.

“Don’t second guess it,” Beriault said. “If you have these symptoms, go to A blood clot that develops in the legs or arms can break off and travel to the lungs, causing a pulmonary embolism. That is exactly what happened to Beriault and it can be a dangerous and life-threatening situation, said Roughneen.

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the doctor. It is not worth losing your life. You don’t want to go through what I went through.” n

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RESEARCH

BY DONNA RAMIREZ

A NEW UTMB STUDY HAS UNCOVERED WHY some people who have brain markers of Alzheimer’s disease never develop the classic dementia that others do. The study is now available in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease.

To answer this question, researchers used high-throughput electrophoresis and mass spectrometry to analyze the protein composition of synapses isolated from frozen brain tissue donated by people who had participated in brain-aging studies and received annual neurological and neuropsychological evaluations during their lifetime.

Alzheimer’s disease, the most common form of dementia, affects more than 5 million Americans. People suffering from Alzheimer’s develop a build-up of two proteins that impair communications “What sets these between nerve cells in the brain—plaques made of amyloid beta proteins and tangles made of tau proteins. people apart from Intriguingly to researchers, not all people with those signs of Alzheimer’s show cognitive decline during their lifetime.

The question became, “What sets these people apart from those with the same plaques and tangles that develop the signature dementia?”

those with the same plaques and tangles that develop the

The participants were divided into three groups: those with Alzheimer’s dementia, those with Alzheimer’s brain features but no signs of dementia and those without any evidence of Alzheimer’s.

The results showed that resilient individuals had a unique synaptic protein signature that set them apart from both AD patients with dementia and normal subjects with no AD pathology. Taglialatela said that this unique protein make-up may underscore the synaptic resistance to amyloid beta and tau, thus enabling these fortunate people to remain cognitively intact despite having Alzheimer’s-like pathologies.

“In previous studies, we found that while the people without dementia but with Alzheimer’s neuropathology had amy- signature dementia?” loid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles just like those with dementia, the toxic amyloid beta and tau proteins did not accumulate at synapses, “We don’t yet fully understand the exact mechanism responsible for this prothe point of communication between nerve cells,” said Giulio Taglialatela, director tection,” said Taglialatela. “Understanding such protective biological processes could reveal new targets for developing effective Alzheimer’s treatments.” of the Mitchell Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases at UTMB. “When nerve cells can’t communicate because of the build-up of these toxic proteins that disrupt synapses, thought and memory become impaired. The next key question was then ‘What makes the synapse of these resilient individuals capable of rejecting the dysfunctional binding of amyloid beta and tau?’”

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Other authors include UTMB’s Dr. Olga Zolochevska, Dr. Nicole Bjorklund, Dr. John Wiktorowicz and Dr. Randall Woltjer from Oregon Health and Science University. n

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Day in the Life of an

assistant director for the UTMB Office of Student Life

BY SHANNON PORTER

Ask anyone who has been a student at UTMB in the past 30 years, and there’s a good chance they’ll tell you they’ve met Mike Cromie.

For going on three decades now, Cromie has played an integral role in working with students all across the institution, first as a representative in the financial aid office and now as the assistant director of student life.

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“When I was in financial aid, I saw all students at the beginning of the year, but I didn’t see them again unless they needed to come to me for more money— and those usually weren’t their best days,” Cromie said.

Now, in student life, he gets the chance to see them as they are starting new and exciting chapters of their lives— and he continues to interact with them until graduation.

For Cromie and his staff, that opportunity begins during Welcome Weekend, an event held just before the academic year begins to introduce new students and their parents to UTMB culture, and Fall Student Orientation, which was held this year on Aug. 20 and was attended by more than 650 new students.

On that day, Cromie arrived to work well before the sun rose.

By 6 a.m. he made his way to Levin Hall’s foyer to ensure things were set up and ready to go before students checked in at 7. An hour later, hundreds of students had gathered in the Levin Hall Main Auditorium for a half day of presentations relevant to all four UTMB schools.

After lunch, students fanned out all across the Galveston Campus to begin their school-specific orientations, which Cromie and his team also coordinate.

of the happenings across campus and staying abreast of ways to best serve UTMB’s ever-growing student population.

And their work to serve students continues well after the official start of classes. During the first few days of each new academic year, Cromie and his team ensure students get the opportunity to learn about not only what is happening on campus, but also in the island community at large.

“For a lot of students, this is their first time in Galveston,” Cromie said. “Besides learning about the various student organizations we have on campus, we also want to make sure they know what’s here in Galveston as well.”

The team—comprised of Cromie, Taylor Sieling and Tori Bradbery—work to share all of the information students need to succeed. They work with student committees to convey information important for students to know, such as different service organizations they can be a part of, where to find certain departments on campus, and even where the closest laundromat is to where they live.

An effective orientation program depends on Cromie and his staff planning for the arrival of new students long before they arrive in Galveston. Student Life coordinates program agendas, schedules and presentation content with all four schools, while also staying up-to-date on all

“You have to take a break. Learning to have that work-life balance is essential, and we’re here to help students find a balance that works for them.”

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“It’s important that we collaborate with these student leaders because they’re the ones going through these experiences firsthand,” Cromie said.

Student Life’s role is akin to that of air traffic controllers in that they do everything they can to ensure students are well-equipped to succeed and stay on the correct path, Cromie said.

“The last thing I tell them at orientation is, ‘If you have an issue and don’t know where to go, come to Student Life and we’ll help you,’” Cromie said.

During New Student Orientation, Cromie was flooded with questions on everything from the location of the closest water fountain in Levin Hall to where to send vaccine records from a previous university.

“If I don’t have the answer and it’s something we don’t handle in Student Life, we’ll get them in contact with someone who can respond,” he said.

Knowing who to turn to for answers comes with having been on campus so long, he said.

In addition to his team’s involvement with New Student Orientation, Cromie and his crew oversee 90 student organizations and host a variety of activities to help students get to know one another and build friendships outside the classroom or lab. These include movie nights, a holiday bingo event, a fall festi-val and the annual Plazapalooza, which takes place during the first week of the fall semester on the lawn in front of Old Red. His team is also responsible for coordinating UTMB’s intramural sports leagues; Cromie even plays for the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences softball team.

For students, it may seem overwhelming to think about taking up a new hobby or joining a student or-ganization as they’re trying to balance their new school workload.

Cromie likes to remind them that bal-ance is the key to success.

“I tell students, ‘You have to take a break,’” he said.

“Learning to have that work-life bal-ance is essential, and we’re here to help students find a balance that works for them.” n

gistrar; rsity Services and Re e president of Unive vic t ent Life ud tan St sis ry, as , be eh Bo ; and Tori Brad tor ina ord From left, William S. co m gra g, Student Life pro Cromie; Taylor Sielin . tor ina program coord

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E D UC AT I O N

Marking a milestone 2018 School of Health Professions grads join 12,000 others who have earned degrees in 50 years

BY KURT KOOPMANN

WHEN THE 2018 SCHOOL OF HEALTH PROFESSIONS graduates received their degrees in August they joined more than 12,000 others who have earned degrees and certificates since the school’s founding in 1968.

They also received advice from one of those graduates, Marco Rodriguez, who received his degree in Occupational Therapy as a member of the class of 1992.

Rodriguez is chief executive officer for El Paso’s Transformations Rehabilitation Services, which he founded in 2013.

Recognized as a pioneer, Rodriguez has worked to shift the perception for children diagnosed as neurologically atypical by developing outpatient rehabilitation services for corrective, therapeutic treatment.

His agency is dedicated to serving people of all ages and various diagnoses including orthopedic, neurologic and mental health. As a philanthropist,

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Rodriguez has provided more than $1 million in therapeutic services to families unable to pay.

He currently serves on the board of directors for the Autism Society of Texas at El Paso.

“Never apologize or feel guilty for having taken full advantage of the opportunities that were presented to you,” said Rodriguez when asked what advice he will be sharing with graduates. “Wake up every morning with a grateful heart and spend the rest of your life creating opportunities for others.”

In addition to occupational therapy, the school’s graduates will be entering fields such as clinical laboratory sciences, respiratory care, health professions, physical therapy, rehabilitation sciences, and nutrition and metabolism.

The school’s graduates live in all 50 states and other countries, treating tens of thousands of patients annually in their health care practices throughout the state, country and world.

As the state’s population grows and ages, there will be an increased need for health care providers. Graduates from the SHP can help fill that need, entering a strong job market that has key economic indicators projecting continued growth.

“We offer exceptional academic programs with a world-class faculty, which, along with demand, makes for a very bright future for all of our graduates,” said Vicki Freeman, the school’s interim dean. n

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GOOD NEW S

President David Callender launched his “Pulse” video update series in May to keep the UTMB family up-to-date on issues affecting the organization. In August, those videos covered:

August 14 The announcement regarding UTMB’s letter of intent to negotiate to lease the Bay Area Regional Medical Center building in Webster.

August 21 A discussion of the preliminary findings from Huron, a consulting group that’s helping UTMB think about how its Institutional Support areas and Academic Enterprise can become more efficient.

There are multiple ways to access Dr. Callender’s video updates. In addition to the recap in Weekly Relays, you can watch and listen to the videos from https://www.utmb.edu/president/pulse. Please use a modern web browser for the best experience. If you are at a PC without audio or speakers, closed captioning on the videos can be turned “On” and “Off” by clicking the “CC” symbol in the video player tool bar (the symbol displays once you hit “play,” on the right side of the tool bar).

Closed captioning is now on by default.

You can also access the transcripts on the Pulse website to read the messages; a transcript accompanies each video. If you are a social media user, the videos (with subtitles) are posted to the UTMB employee Facebook page, I Am UTMB. Facebook will display captions if you mute the sound. n

Name: Dylan Lancaster UTMB Talent: Communications, Health Policy & Legislative Affairs Hidden Talent: Climbing skills that would make Spiderman envious Whether it’s competing on the television program “American Ninja Warrior” or sailing on the 1877 Tall Ship Elissa, Dylan Lancaster loves to climb. He balances a healthy respect for the dangers of heights with what he calls the lingering effects of “invulnerable youth syndrome.”

Because there aren’t many places to climb in Galveston—aside from the Elissa—his Ninja Warrior training boils down to living an active lifestyle, reaching 50 consecutive pullups (he’s at 43), weekly trips to a rock gym in League City and being confident in his abilities. Still, he beat several top competitors to make it to the “American Ninja Warrior” regional finals earlier this year.

You won’t find his debut when ANW runs on TV this year, but he’ll gladly recount what happened if you spot him on campus or on the 1877 Tall Ship Elissa, where he and several UTMB employees serve as crew.

“It’s an amazing experience with a fantastic group of people from all walks of life,” Lancaster says of his experience on the Elissa crew.

When Dylan isn’t teaching new volunteers how to sail, you might catch him skylarking (sightseeing) with his GoPro camera at the top of the mast—10 stories up.

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Common myths about atrial fibrillation

By Dr. Rafic F. Berbarie, associate professor, Division of Cardiology, Department of Internal Medicine According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, nearly 6 million people in the United States have atrial fibrillation (or AFib), an abnormal heart rhythm characterized by rapid and irregular beating of the upper chambers of the heart. The following are common myths associated with AFib:

Myth: I am too young to get atrial fibrillation.

Fact: While atrial fibrillation does increase in prevalence as we age, it is a condition that can happen at any age and at any time.

Myth: Atrial fibrillation can’t be treated.

Fact: While it is true that atrial fibrillation cannot be cured, there are many treatment options for this arrhythmia, including a variety of medications, cardioversions (electrical shocks to the heart) and invasive cardiac procedures called ablations.

Myth: Having atrial fibrillation means I need a pacemaker and/or heart surgery.

Fact: Pacemakers and invasive procedures (called ablations) are options to treat atrial fibrillation. However, a variety of medications can control symptoms and the atrial fibrillation so that invasive procedures might not be necessary.

Myth: I will not be able to live a normal, active life with atrial fibrillation.

Fact: The great majority of atrial fibrillation patients are able to live a normal life through various treatment options.

Myth: I had heart palpitations the other day, and so this must mean I have atrial fibrillation.

Fact: Palpitations—or fast, irregular heartbeats—are a very non-specific symptom. Palpitations can be due to atrial fibrillation but can also be caused by a variety of other arrhythmias, including different types of tachycardia and premature beats. Your doctor may want to order testing to determine the exact cause of the palpitations.

Myth: Atrial fibrillation only causes heart complications.

Fact: The main non-cardiac risk with having atrial fibrillation is a stroke.

Blood clots can form in the heart when you are in atrial fibrillation and these can go to the brain and cause strokes.

UTMB TRIVIA UTMB studied and helped treat those afflicted with an outbreak in the summer of 1920 that terrorized Galveston.The map, at left, shows the locations of the 18 confirmed cases, which led to 12 deaths.

What was the outbreak that so terrorized the island in 1920?

Send your answer to impact. newsletter@utmb.edu and be entered into a drawing to win a UTMB swag bag. Good luck!

Answer to the August trivia question: UTMB put its first ambulance in service in 1910.

Congrats to Megan BrazileBradford, correctional clinical associate at the TDCJ’s Jester facility in Richmond, Texas, who won the August trivia!