News Briefs

• BCM awarded $14.85 million grant to complete neurological research center at Texas Children's Hospital
• Kline receives Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Award
• Hall honored for work in detecting cancer
• Radiology department faculty honored

BCM awarded $14.85 million grant to complete neurological research center at Texas Children's Hospital

Neurological research at Baylor College of Medicine and Texas Children's Hospital is getting a big boost in the form of a $14.85 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to complete two floors of the Jan and Dan Duncan Neurological Research Institute at Texas Children's Hospital.

The grant will fund the interior build-out of specific floors in the NRI, a multidisciplinary research facility for pediatric neurological diseases such as autism, epilepsy, Batten disease, cerebral palsy, and Rett and Angelman syndromes.

In addition to creating office and laboratory space, the funding will be used to build space for nuclear magnetic mesonance equipment that will help researchers identify metabolic fingerprints of different disorders. The institute is scheduled to open later this year and will be the first facility in the United States entirely dedicated to researching pediatric cognitive developmental and neurological disorders, and developing treatments for them.

Kline receives Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Award

Dr. Mark Kline, chair of pediatrics at BCM and physician-in-chief of Texas Children's Hospital, was honored with the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Award for "Outstanding Community Service Benefiting Local Communities" for his dedication to treating children affected by HIV/AIDS around the world.

Kline was selected by an independent community panel of citizens for The Jefferson Award, which honors an individual for "outstanding, unique and heroic" personal acts that have made a positive impact on a community, helping hundreds, and in his case, thousands of others in the spirit of public service. The Jefferson Awards are presented each year in Washington, D.C., where an array of honorees whose lives, careers and volunteer activities embody the finest examples of public service in a range of human endeavors are recognized.

Hall honored for work in detecting cancer

Dr. Rebecca M. Hall, assistant professor of molecular and cellular biology at BCM, has been selected to receive the fifth Theodore T. Puck Award, which honors a pioneer in cancer cell biology. She is working on developing new methods of detecting cancer – and in particular, prostate cancer – based on variants of an enzyme called Aurora B. She received the Puck award at the 25th Annual Aspen Cancer Conference in July. Her work is supported by the Huffington Foundation.

Radiology department faculty honored

Dr. Walter H. Grant III, associate professor, department of radiology at BCM, received the Marvin M. D. Williams Award from the American College of Medical Physics. The Williams Award is the highest award given by the ACMP and represents a singular achievement in the practice of medical physics. He received the award for his pioneering work with an inverse radiation treatment planning system that developed into the "Peacock System" for Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy.

Dr. Benjamin R. Archer, professor of radiologic science in the department of radiology will receive the American Association of Physicists in Medicine Award for Achievement in Medical Physics in July. The achievement award denotes outstanding career achievement in medical physics practice, education or organizational affairs and professional activities.