News and Events
Venus Ginés Speaks at White House Event Honoring Breast Cancer Awareness Month
(October 23, 2009) Baylor College of Medicine instructor Venus Ginés, MA joined two other breast cancer survivors invited to tell their personal stories at a White House event hosted by First Lady Michelle Obama and Dr. Jill Biden to honor Breast Cancer Awareness Month. After diagnosis all three of these women, like many other breast cancer survivors across the nation, faced major obstacles in obtaining medical insurance with this “preexisting condition.” The First Lady noted that breast cancer survivors “are living in fear of losing their jobs or changing jobs or even moving, because they worry they won't be able to find affordable insurance.”
For more information see WhiteHouse.gov where you can view a video of the entire event or read the full text of the remarks by First Lady Michelle Obama.
Richard J. Jackson, M.D., M.P.H. Visits Baylor to Discuss How Agriculture, Housing, Energy and Transportation Policies Impact Public Health
(June 18, 2009) Richard J. Jackson, M.D., M.P.H., professor and chair of Environmental Health Sciences at UCLA's School of Public Health and former director of the CDC's National Center for Environmental Health met at Baylor College of Medicine with local health care professionals to discuss the impact of agriculture, housing, energy and transportation policies on various aspects of public health--including asthma, cancer, obesity, osteoporosis, health care expenditures, safety, crime and depression. Review his presentation to learn more.
William W. Au, Ph.D. Visits Center to Discuss Opportunities for Collaboration
(March 6, 2009) William W. Au, Ph.D., from the University of Texas Medical Branch's Division of Environmental Toxicology, visits the CDRC to discuss potential opportunities for collaboration and funding. Dr. Au's biomarker and mutagenesis research, teaching, community outreach and international policy leadership complement current efforts of center faculty and other Baylor researchers. Those interested in pursuing opportunities for collaboration should contact Dr. Au at wau@utmb.edu.
Jenny Glover Exemplifies Academic Collaboration Between BCM and Rice University
HOUSTON - (Feb. 24, 2009) - Rice University pre-medicine senior exemplifies the academic collaboration between her school and Baylor College of Medicine. Last fall Glover was enrolled in Environmental Health 314, a Rice interdisciplinary Center for the Study of Environment and Society program class taught by BCM clinicians and researchers. For that class, Glover did a special project on type 2 diabetes and air pollution, focusing on the complex etiology of this growing national epidemic. This semester she is doing an independent study class with the Environmental Health Section at BCM, under the mentorship of Drs. Winifred J. Hamilton (BCM) and Nicholas K. Iammarino (Rice). For this class, Glover is helping to design and conduct a study of blood-lead levels in kindergarten children in an elementary school on the north side of downtown Houston with help from the City of Houston's Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Program and the Houston Independent School District. Results of the study may help City officials pinpoint sources of exposure in this low-income and primarily minority neighborhood, and help mobilize available resources more effectively to reduce exposure. In addition, Glover is a college scholar-athlete, excelling in one of track's most difficult events: the triple jump. As if that's not enough for Glover's agenda, she has taken on a leadership role to improve the relationship between students and student athletes at Rice and other colleges.
See the Rice Owls Web site to read more about Jenny Glover.
Alliance Project Publishes New Article by Sheila Slaughter on Conflict of Interest Policies
HOUSTON - (Feb. 9, 2009) - The Center's Alliance for Biomedical Advances project publishes a new article by based upon her National Institutes of Health (NIH) funded research focusing on the conflict of interest that arises when members of a university’s board of trustees have business interests in the intellectual properties that the institution is developing. The goal of this research is to help shape policies that best address such conflicts and support research integrity.
See the project Web site read Dr. Slaughter's article.
Houston Business Journal Reports on Medical Center Recycling Collaborative
HOUSTON - (Jan. 9, 2009) - Dr. Winifred Hamilton and Rock Morille of Baylor College of Medicine were interviewed and photographed for a Houston Business Journal report on the Houston Medical Center Recycling Collaborative. This organization, which includes volunteers from Baylor and 45 other institutions, is working to reduce the Medical Center waste that goes to landfills by 70 percent.
See the Houston Business Journal report..
Center Faculty Discuss Diabetes Control At Department of Medicine Grand Rounds
HOUSTON - (Dec. 4, 2008) - Assistant Professors Nathalie K. Roff, MD and Gina L. Evans, PhD joined Fellow Daniel S. Goldberg, JD, PhD (Student) in a team presentation on the growing challenges of diabetes control at the Department of Medicine Grand Rounds today. Dr.Roff presented data on increases in the national incidence of diabetes as well as its increasing prevalence in Houston. Dr. Evans discussed a promising pilot study that teaches diabetes self-management to acute care patients in a large county hospital in Houston. Daniel Goldberg discussed how public policy impacts diabetes control and the role of the physician in shaping public policy.
Review their presentation slides.
Environmental Protection Agency Honors Center's Winifred Hamilton
HOUSTON - (Oct. 22, 2008) - For her continued commitment to protecting children from environmental health risks, Dr. Winifred Hamilton (left in photo), assistant professor of medicine and neurosurgery at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, has been awarded the 2008 Children's Environmental Health Champion Award. Hamilton, director of the Environmental Health Section of the Chronic Disease Prevention and Control Research Center at BCM, was one of 12 people recognized by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Office of Children's Health Protection and Environmental Education at a special awards ceremony and reception in Washington, D.C. She has served on the board of directors of the Galveston-Houston Association for Smog Prevention and is a founding member of Mothers for Clean Air. Hamilton also organizes a regional children's environmental health symposium. Most recently, she was the principal investigator for the study, "Childhood Lead Poisoning in Galveston, Texas."
EDICT Project Releases White Paper on the Shortcomings of How Clinical Trials are Designed, Carried Out and Funded in the U.S.
(Washington, DC – April 1, 2008) EDICT Project releases a new white paper on major shortcomings in the way clinical trials are designed, carried out and funded in the United States with a press conference at the National Press Club in the nation's capital.
View the press conference . . .
http://www.bcm.edu/edict/RA/EDICT_Press_Conference_4-1-20008.ram
Read white paper . . .
http://www.bcm.edu/edict/PDF/EDICT_Project_White_Paper.pdf
Read news story about the release of the white paper . . .
U.S. News and World Report news story
Galveston County Officials Adopt Recommendation of Baylor Report On Childhood Lead Poisoning in Galveston, Texas
(November 19, 2007) Dr. Mark Guidry, chief operating officer of the Galveston county health district, and Dr. Ben Raimer, who heads community health services at the University of Texas Medical Branch, volunteer to share the title "lead czar." Appointment of a lead czar was one of 14 recommendations in a report released by the Center's Environmental Health Section on October 28, 2007. This report resulted from a study led by Assistant Professor of Medicine, Winifred J. Hamilton, Ph.D., S.M. examining childhood lead poisoning in Galveston, Texas. Funded by the Kempner Fund this study mapped cases of lead poisoning reported between November 16, 1992 and January 31, 2006.
To access this report and view the maps in Adobe Acrobat PDF format see . . .
http://envirohealthhouston.org/files/galvestonleadreport/
Read the January 27, 2008 Houston Chronicle story about the response to the report . . .
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/5488915.html NEW
Read related stories in the Galveston Daily News . . .
http://news.galvestondailynews.com/story.lasso?ewcd=e4686ecf356a760e
And the KHOU, Channel 11 story with an interview of Dr. Hamilton . . .
http://www.khou.com/topstories/stories/khou071028_tnt_islandlead.1b53835d4.html
The Chronic Disease Prevention and Control Research Center is unable to provide medical advice. If you are in need of professional medical advice, we recommend that you consult with your health care provider or call the Baylor Clinic at 713-798-1000 or 800-BAYLOR1.