NewsLink, Nov. 18, 2022
Please submit items for the weekly NewsLink to Dana Benson.

Archive / BCM Family / BCM News on Twitter

College News

Thanksgiving holiday schedule

Baylor will be closed on Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 24, and will reopen Friday, Nov. 25. Morrison Café and Mary O's at main Baylor and Jamail Specialty Care Center will be closed Thursday and Friday, and other food options in the TMC will be limited. The TMC shuttle will not operate on Thanksgiving Day or the day after. BCM shuttle service will operate on the Red shuttle schedule on the day before and the day after Thanksgiving. This route runs from 6:45 a.m. to 4 p.m. from main Baylor – Baylor Clinic – McNair Campus (two stops) – VA – McGovern. Mail service will close at 2 p.m. Nov. 23 and Nov. 25. In addition, NewsLink will not be published next week. Happy Thanksgiving!

Flu vaccine attestation deadline Nov. 30

Whether you got your flu vaccine on campus through the Occupational Health Program, at a Baylor clinic or at a community location, all faculty, staff and learners must complete attestation through the BCM Flu Vaccine App, or request an exemption, by Nov. 30. Haven't gotten your shot yet? Walk-in appointments are available at the OHP clinic in the Fannin Tower, 6624 Fannin St., Suite 2000.   

HR news: 2023 premium reduction deadline

Employees who are enrolled in individual only coverage will need to earn 10,000 BCM BeWell points by 11:59 p.m., Dec. 15 to receive 20% off their employee only medical premiums in 2023. Employees who have a spouse or domestic partner enrolled in a BCM medical plan option will need to earn 15,000 BCM BeWell points by 11:59 p.m., Dec. 15 to receive 10% off their employee plus spouse or domestic partner medical premiums in 2023. For more information click here. Questions? Email wellness@bcm.edu.  

Study opportunity: Nutrition and pregnancy

Women in the first trimester of pregnancy are needed for a study of how nutrition throughout pregnancy impacts mothers and infants. The study involves four visits during pregnancy and one postpartum visit with the option to enroll infants. Visits involve body composition measurements, blood and milk samples, surveys on health and food, optical skin measurements as well as vision testing. To be eligible, participants need to be healthy and meet body mass index criteria. To learn more about the Maternal Carotenoids Across Pregnancy Study and see if you qualify, contact us at 713-798-0517, e-mail MCAPStudy@bcm.edu or complete this contact form.

Events

Health professions research day

The J. David Holcomb Student Research Day for the School of Health Professions is Wednesday, Nov. 30. The virtual program will feature recorded poster presentations from students in all four health professions programs and a live session with presenter panels. Judges will have access to poster presentations starting Nov. 28 and can take up to three days to view and judge. The top three student presenters from the Physician Assistant and Orthotics and Prosthetics programs win prize money and recognition at the school's Awards Day. To sign up to serve as a poster judge, email Tonya Johnson.

Cardiovascular seminar series

The James T. Willerson, MD Cardiovascular Sciences Seminar Series continues at noon Nov. 30 in room M112 at main Baylor with a talk by Dr. Kenneth Walsh, University of Virginia School of Medicine, titled "Somatic Mosaicism, Clonal Hematopoiesis and Cardiovascular Disease." The seminar is jointly organized by Baylor's Cardiovascular Research Institute and the Texas Heart Institute. CME credit is available to eligible attendees. Email cvri@bcm.edu for more information.

Long COVID forum

Baylor will host its Long COVID Syndrome Forum, a free virtual event featuring faculty involved in the Post-COVID Care Clinic and long COVID research, Dec. 10, 8 a.m. - noon. They will speak about their experiences and lessons learned during the pandemic. Topics will include strategies for identifying and managing post-acute COVID-19 syndrome (PACS), defining care models for long COVID patients and research on understanding the mechanisms of long COVID. CME credit available. Register online.

Awards and Recognitions

Hoyos earns career development award

Dr. Valentina Hoyos, assistant professor in the Center for Cell and Gene Therapy and the Dan L Duncan Comprehensive Cancer Center, is a recipient of the Victoria's Secret Global Fund for Women's Cancers Career Development Award, in partnership with Pelotonia and the American Association for Cancer Research. The award funds innovative research projects in breast and gynecologic cancers led by female early-stage scientists. Hoyos will use the funding for preclinical validation of a novel T cell therapy approach for the treatment of triple negative breast cancer.

Scheurer joins editorial board

Dr. Michael Scheurer, professor of pediatrics - hematology/oncology and co-leader of the Cancer Prevention and Population Sciences Program at the Dan L Duncan Comprehensive Cancer Center, was invited to serve a five-year term on the editorial board of Neuro-Oncology, a leading journal in its field.

Rao honored in neurocritical care

Dr. Chethan Rao, associate professor of neurology and neurosurgery and medical director of the neuroscience ICU at Baylor St. Luke’s Medical Center, earned the Presidential Citation from leaders of the Neurocritical Care Society for his dedication and contributions to the field and to the organization. He was recognized at the society’s 20th annual meeting last month in San Antonio, where he also was elected to the Board of Directors of the society. In addition, Rao was awarded a $100,000 INCLINE grant from the Neurocritical Care Foundation for his project titled Curing Coma Campaign: Acute Coma Pragmatic Prospective Observational (COMPOSE) Study.

Zoghbi wins Watanabe Prize

Dr. Huda Zoghbi has been named the 2023 winner of the August M. Watanabe Prize in Translational Research and will be honored at the 2023 Indiana Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute Annual Meeting next September. Zoghbi is a Distinguished Service Professor at Baylor College of Medicine, director of the Jan and Dan Duncan Neurological Research Institute at Texas Children's Hospital and an investigator with Howard Hughes Medical Institute.

Faculty in the News

For 50 years, DeBakey High School for Health Professions, one of our partner schools with HISD, has been educating next-generation healthcare workers. Read about DeBakey students past and present, including current Baylor faculty, in this Houston Chronicle article, and on our special DHSHP anniversary webpage. See 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.

Follow BCM