NewsLink, Nov. 5, 2021
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Coronavirus & Flu Information

COVID-19 vaccines for children ages 5-11

Federal agencies have approved use of the COVID-19 vaccine in a pediatric dose for 5- to 11-year-olds. Baylor is partnering with Texas Children's Hospital to offer vaccines to our faculty and staff's younger children. Schedule here.

College News

Haunted Hallways

Check out how the BCM community (including Pac-Man and a bunch of ghosts!) celebrated Halloween in this photo album.

Genetic Counseling Awareness Day

In honor of Genetic Counselor Awareness Day, Nov. 4, learn more about these medical professionals who see patients, work in labs and make discoveries to help individuals and families better understand how their genetics can affect their health. Please also take a moment to send a thank-you note to our genetic counselors. These will be shared with them to brighten their day.

HR news

Grow. Perform. Succeed. with E-Learning: Learning G.P.S. is the new online learning system for benefits-eligible employees. This month, the new mobile app launches. Access your e-learning anytime, anywhere by downloading the Learning G.P.S. app on your mobile device or tablet. Review installation instructions.

Staff goal-setting deadline: Nov. 30 is the deadline for staff managers to hold performance year 2022 goals discussions with staff and enter goals in SuccessFactors. Every staff employee is required to have at least one goal. For more information, search SuccessFactors Learning for the BCM Goal Setting for Managers course. There also are helpful tools available on the HR-Staff Performance webpage, including the SMART Goal Worksheet and the Adding, Editing & Cascading Goals quick reference guide. Questions? Contact performancemanagement@bcm.edu.

IT news

Microsoft Teams and Cloud Storage: The Information Technology Business Enablement Team offers weekly coaching sessions on Microsoft Teams and Microsoft Enterprise Cloud Storage. These sessions are offered Tuesday at 9 a.m. and Thursday at 1 p.m. Department and individual sessions are also available by appointment. To sign up for a session or request an appointment for a department or individual session, please click here.

Android password change: On Nov. 8, IT will start requiring a four-digit numeric password on your device. You may be prompted to change your device password to regain access to BCM-provided Microsoft services such as Outlook, MS Teams and OneDrive. More information can be found here. Questions? Email desktopautomationteam@bcm.edu.

Events

BeWell event: Healthy holiday hints

Join Jesse Gavin and Courtney Richardson of the BCM BeWell program from noon - 1 p.m. on Nov. 10 for a live, interactive presentation offering an overview of biometric screening results followed by healthy meal planning tips, including a live cooking demonstration. Benefits-eligible employees and spouses/domestic partners will receive 100 BCM BeWell points for attending. Register today!

Telenovelas for health

Combine your flair for the dramatic with your passion for sharing health information with the community at a Telenovela Scriptwriting Hack-a-thon, Saturday, Nov. 13, 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. Write scripts to help the Hispanic community for the chance to win up to $5,000; hosted by the University of Houston Valenti School of Communications. Register here.

Awards and Recognitions

Chai honored by women surgeons' group

Dr. Christy Y. Chai, associate professor of surgery in the Division of Surgical Oncology and chief of general surgery and surgical oncology at the DeBakey VA, has received a 2021 Break the Glass Ceiling Award from Association of Women Surgeons. The AWS empowers women surgeons in practice to build their leadership skills. The $4,800 grant, sponsored by Intuitive Surgical, provides funding for the awardee to attend a leadership conference or course of her choosing.

Haddock to chair emergency physicians' group

Dr. Alison Haddock, assistant professor of emergency medicine, was elected chair of the Board of the American College of Emergency Physicians during ACEP 21, the world's largest emergency medicine conference. The president-elect will serve a one-year term and new board members can serve up to two three-year terms.

Symanski earns environmental health grant

Dr. Elaine Symanski, professor of medicine and in the Center for Precision Environmental Health and director of the Program in Population and Environmental Health Disparities, was awarded $2.16 million by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences for a project titled "Source-specific multi-pollutant exposures and the neighborhood context in disparities in stillbirth." In collaboration with researchers from Texas A&M Texas Transportation Institute and Drs. Kristina Whitworth, Amal Rammah, Hamisu Salihu, and Abiodun Oluyomi from Baylor, the study will evaluate disparities in the role of neighborhood deprivation, residential greenness and source-specific exposures to multiple air pollutants on risks of stillbirth.

CZI grant supports Human Cell Atlas

Researchers led by Dr. Rui Chen, professor of molecular and human genetics, faculty member in the Human Genome Sequencing Center and member of the Dan L Duncan Comprehensive Cancer Center, and Dr. Timothy Stout, chair, Sid W. Richardson Professor and Margarett Root Brown Chair and director of the Cullen Eye Institute, have been awarded a Chan Zuckerberg Initiative Ancestry Networks for the Human Cell Atlas to support the inclusion of data from tissue samples from ancestrally diverse donors in the Human Cell Atlas. The project will focus on how genetic ancestry influences health and disease at the level of our cells, resulting in a scientific resource that will be more representative of the diversity found in the global human population.

Faculty in the News

Dr. Judy Levison discussed in Public Health Watch the concern about syphilis in Texas, where more babies are born with the disease than anywhere in the country. Check out this and Baylor's other news media mentions in this week's 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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