NewsLink, April 29, 2022 
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College News

Faculty opportunities

Visit the Faculty Opportunities page on InTouch for more about these and other opportunities to get involved at BCM. 

- The School of Medicine is seeking applications for an associate course director for the MS2 Patient Safety course. The course prepares learners with the foundational knowledge of the discipline of patient safety in the delivery of healthcare services. It will run in Term 3, Thursday afternoons from Jan. 5 – Feb. 23, 2023. 

- Nominations are open through June 1 for membership on the M.D. Committee for Student Promotion and Academic Achievement, charged with reviewing the academic and professional progress of each medical student at BCM. Committee meetings are held 10 times each year on Tuesdays at 5 p.m. at the end of each grading period. Given the limited annual time commitment and importance of long-range perspective, members serve a three-year renewable term. The new academic year starts July 1.

Physician payment dispute window closes May 15

The CMS Physician Payment Sunshine Act requires applicable manufacturers ('industry') to report certain payments made to physicians (including fellows) and, new this year, advanced practice providers. The deadline to review and dispute these industry payments is May 15. The payments will be published on June 30. Important links and detailed instructions on how to dispute a payment can be found on the BCM Intranet under Compliance and Audit Home – Physician Sunshine Act. For more information about the program, registration and the review and dispute process visit the Open Payments website.

Quality improvement opportunities

Baylor's Institute for Continuing Professional Development in Quality Improvement and Patient Safety, or I-QIPS, seeks qualified candidates to serve as QI coaches for faculty, trainees and project teams. See criteria and apply by May 15 on the I-QIPS coaches info page. Applications also are open through May 29 for the fall 2022 QI Jump Start course, an intermediate-level quality improvement training course. Learn more and apply on the course page.

Research Support Office services

The recently created Research Support Office is part of a new initiative in Baylor's Sponsored Programs Office to better serve and assist research-active departments. The office provides high-level oversight of pre- and post-award support, guidance and training to departmental staff who are engaged in research administration activities across the College. Working in partnership with departments, the Research Support Office also will help departments bridge resource gaps when they experience a high volume of grant submissions and/or periodic staff resource limitations. Services include pre-award research proposal building and budgetary considerations, assistance with sponsor guidance and documentation, post-award requests such as sub-award administration and re-budgeting, and sponsor-specific training where appropriate. The office is led by Victoria Leyton, director of research administration, and can be reached at researchsupport@bcm.edu for more information, feedback and/or discussion on specific needs.

Participate in screen time study

Do your kids want to take part in a screen-use study? Researchers need parents with two children, 6-11 and 6-14 years old, for a two-hour study at the Children's Nutrition Research Center to help test a system to measure TV watching and phone use. Must have an Android device. Participants receive study compensation. Click here if you are interested or contact 713-798-0503 or flashstudy@bcm.edu.

Events

Mental Health Awareness events

Join campus wellness groups BCM BeWell and BCM LIFE for two events to mark Mental Health Awareness Month. In addition, the BCM BeWell portal has resources for tracking sleep, meditation and articles regarding mental health. Email wellness@bcm.edu for more. 

- A discussion on self-care for healthcare professions, May 3, noon – 1 p.m., by Zoom, with the Institute for Spirituality and Health. Register to attend. 

 - Play pickleball, take a yoga class and visit with Faithful Paws, May 12, noon, in Rayzor Lounge and the BCM Courtyard at main Baylor.

Health Policy Day: environmental justice virtual event

Tune in on Wednesday, May 4, 9 a.m. – 3 p.m. for dynamic panel discussions on criminal justice, exposure to contaminants, space exploration/space governance and maternal and infant health and two keynote speakers, Danielle Deane-Ryan, director, Equitable Climate Solutions, Bezos Earth Fund, and Dr. Cedric Taylor, associate professor at University of Michigan, writer, director and co-producer of the documentary "Nor Any Drop to Drink: Flint's Water Crisis." View agenda and register here.

CVRI seminar series

The Cardiovascular Research Institute seminar series continues with "Immune Signaling in the Pathogenesis of Arrhythmogenic Cardiomyopathy," with Dr. Jeffrey Saffitz, the Mallinckrodt Professor of Pathology at Harvard Medical School, Wednesday, May 4, noon – 1 p.m., by Zoom. Register to attend.

Evening with Genetics on genetics and behavior

Evenings with Genetics presents "Does Genetics Influence Behavior," May 10, 7 – 8:15 p.m. This Zoom session will explore genetic factors that contribute to our behavior and highlight genetic conditions that have unique or specific behavioral characteristics. Panelists include Dr. Daryl Scott, associate professor of molecular and human genetics, and a guest parent speaker. Register for this free public event.

Awards and Recognitions

Burckhardt receives global research fellowship

Dr. Bjoern Burckhardt, research associate in Dr. Livia Schiavinato Eberlin's lab in the Michael E. DeBakey Department of Surgery, was selected as a recipient of the 2022 Marie Curie Global Fellowship. He will conduct research using mass spectrometry to study peptides, at Baylor and at Heinrich-Heine University in Germany. Read more about this in From the Labs, Baylor's science blog.

Orengo and Paul earn ataxia research awards

Dr. James Orengo, assistant professor of neurology, and Dr. Maimuna Paul, a postdoctoral fellow in the lab of Dr. Hsiao Chao at the Jan and Dan Duncan Neurological Research Institute at Texas Children's and Baylor, both have received a prestigious competitive postdoctoral fellowship from the National Ataxia Foundation. Read more about their supported research.

Singh honored with patient safety award

Dr. Hardeep Singh, professor of medicine at Baylor and chief of the Health Policy, Quality & Informatics Program at the Center for Innovations in Quality, Effectiveness and Safety (IQuESt) at the Michael E. DeBakey Veterans Affairs Medical Center, has been recognized with the prestigious John M. Eisenberg Patient Safety and Quality Award in the individual achievement category. The award, presented annually by the Joint Commission and the National Quality Forum, recognizes major individual, local and national achievements in healthcare that improve patient safety and healthcare quality. Singh received the Eisenberg award for demonstrating exceptional leadership and scholarship in patient safety and healthcare quality through a substantive lifetime body of work.

Faculty in the News

What's the scoop on poop? Dr. Lukasz Kwapisz discusses the Bristol Stool Chart and how it informs our digestive health in Prevention magazine online. Read this and Baylor's other news media mentions in Faculty in the News, and follow BCMHouston_News on Twitter to keep up with our experts in the media. Interested in science news? Read the latest in From the Labs.

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