Findings
Houston, Texas
Volume 6, Issue 10
November 2008

News briefs

Environmental Protection Agency honors BCM researcher

Winifred Hamilton, Ph.D., assistant professor of medicine and neurosurgery, was 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."

The Children's Environmental Health Champion Award program is in its fourth year of recognizing individuals and organizations for activities that protect children from environmental health risks.

Jankovic honored for Huntington's disease research, patient care

Joseph Jankovic, M.D., professor of neurology and director of the Parkinson Disease Center and Movement Disorder Clinic at BCM, received the Guthrie Family Humanitarian Award from the Huntington's Disease Society of America for his leadership in research and patient care related to the disease.

Jankovic was recognized for his long commitment to research in Huntington's disease and his efforts to make tetrabenazine, the first FDA-approved medication to effectively treat the genetic neurodegenerative disease, available to patients.

The award is given annually by the Huntington's Disease Society of America to a leader in the Huntington's disease medical and scientific community who goes above and beyond the call of duty in an effort to bring the best in research, care and patient services.

BCM new home for Eisenberg Center

Baylor College Medicine is the new home to the national John M. Eisenberg Clinical Decisions and Communications Science Center. C. Michael Fordis, M.D., director of the Center for Collaborative and Interactive Technologies and senior associate dean of Continuing Medical Education, will serve as principal investigator and director of the center. The Eisenberg Center was created in 2003 to help translate complex scientific information gathered and created by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality into short, plain language materials. The information is used by consumers, clinicians and policymakers to help make decisions about health care. The initial two-years of funding for the center from AHRQ totals $6.8 million and includes an option for an additional three years of funding.

Smith Breast Center nurse honored

Suzanne Perez, manager of clinical operations at the Lester and Sue Smith Breast Center, was honored with an award from Genentech Inc.’s All for HER program in recognition of her exceptional dedication to providing quality care to HER2+ breast cancer patients. Patients, patient caregivers and health care professionals were encouraged to nominate nurses for their outstanding work helping patients throughout the course of treatment for HER2+ breast cancer. All for HER celebrates the powerful connection between nurses and their patients. The All for HER program is sponsored by Genentech, Inc., with the help of ONS Edge.