June 2004
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Congressional Gold Medal proposed for Dr. DeBakey |
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Kenedy grant helps South Texas children fight cancer |
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BCM team investigates early signs, treatments of Huntington ’s |
Congressional Gold Medal proposed for Dr. DeBakey
Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX) has introduced legislation to award the congressional gold medal to Dr. Michael DeBakey, in recognition of his many outstanding achievements and pioneering efforts relating to cardiac and vascular health.
Original co-sponsors of the bill include Senate Majority Leader and renowned surgeon, Sen. Bill Frist (R-TN) and Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX).
“Dr. DeBakey has devoted his entire life to the health and well-being of others,” Sen. Hutchison said. “His contributions to society are immeasurable, and our nation will be forever in his debt.”
“Dr. DeBakey’s accomplishments are legendary,” Sen. Cornyn said. “Through his impressive contributions to the medical community, he has touched the lives of countless Texans and, indeed, people around the world. This is a much deserved recognition for a man who’s devoted his life to the service of others.”
DeBakey’s innovative research and surgery techniques revolutionized the field of cardiovascular medicine. He is recognized internationally for inventing and refining several medical devices and procedures used daily to save lives. Two of his most significant inventions include the roller pump, an essential component of the heart-lung machine, and the DeBakey Ventricular Assist Device (VAD), a miniature device implanted into the heart to increase blood flow.
He helped develop the Mobile Army Surgical Hospital (MASH) units that saved thousands of lives during the Korean and Vietnam conflicts, and he helped establish the Veteran’s Administration Medical Center Research System.
DeBakey served as an advisor to almost every president in the past 50 years, and he received numerous awards from educational institutions, professional and civic organizations and governments worldwide, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom with Distinction in 1969. DeBakey currently serves as the chancellor emeritus of Baylor College of Medicine and director of the DeBakey Heart Center at Baylor.
Kenedy grant helps South Texas children fight cancer
The Kenedy Memorial Foundation has recently awarded $20,000 to the Vannie E. Cook Jr. Children's Cancer and Hematology Clinic in McAllen to help underwrite the costs of chemotherapy treatments for local children suffering from cancer.
The Vannie E. Cook Jr. Cancer Foundation joined Baylor College of Medicine and Texas Children's Hospital in June 2001 to establish the first state-of-the-art clinic dedicated to providing comprehensive care to Rio Grande Valley children.
The majority of the facility's cancer patients require chemotherapy, a life-saving treatment in many cases. The cost of chemotherapy is often the largest cost associated with pediatric cancer treatment, said Laura Martinez Ilgun, the clinic's director of development and public relations.
“So many of the families that we see here in the clinic have minimal resources, and have no federal funding available to them. Our mission is to treat all patients regardless of their ability to pay, so getting the support from the Kenedy Foundation helps insure that all of our local children with cancer receive the care that they need and deserve,” said Ilgun.
The Kenedy Memorial Foundation is organized exclusively for charitable purposes.
Founded in 1961 by Sarita Kenedy East, granddaughter of Mifflin Kenedy and Petra Vela Kenedy, the foundation has donated more than $160 million to charitable causes and organizations in Texas. In South Texas, where the majority of its contributions have been made, the foundation is one of the major charity contributors.
BCM team investigates early signs, treatments of Huntington ’s
Identifying the first indicators of Huntington’s disease could improve treatment options for the disorder, according to researchers at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston.
The BCM team is following at-risk patients to track these symptoms, as well as conducting clinical trials of drugs that could eventually offer help to patients.
“It’s helpful to establish what the earliest signs of the disease are because that might be important as we design neuroprotective treatments,” said Joseph Jankovic, MD, director of the Parkinson’s Disease Center and Movement Disorders Clinic at BCM. “Eventually, we hope to have drugs that will slow down the disease, and these studies will identify some of the earliest signs to look for.”
Huntington’s disease is a neurodegenerative disorder, which causes 30,000 Americans to gradually lose their mental abilities as well as physical control of their bodies.
In one study, Jankovic and his colleagues are following patients whom they know, based on a DNA test, will eventually develop the disease along with patients at risk who show minimal symptoms. The researchers hope to identify the first signs of the disease in order to help diagnose and treat future patients. In a similar study, the investigators are looking for early warning signs in people who have a 50 percent chance of developing the disease because one of their parents was diagnosed with it.
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