Briefs
- Bowers professorship to attract new faculty
- Chan receives $500,000 from Iacocca Foundation for diabetes research
- Compassion and the Art of Medicine
Bowers professorship to attract new faculty
The Ruth McLean Bowman Bowers Professorship in the Verna and Marrs McLean Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at Baylor College of Medicine has been created by her family's foundations to go to an outstanding scientist, researcher or educator who is new to the department's faculty.
The gift from the Ruth McLean Bowman Bowers Foundation and the Marrs and Verna McLean Foundation Discretionary Section permanently endows the professorship, which is restricted to new faculty members in the department who have been at BCM no longer than one year.
Bowers grew up in Beaumont and was an art major at Finch College in New York. She has served on the board of trustees for St. Mary's Hall for 40 years, reaching the status of Trustee Emeritus in 1960 and receiving the school's Distinguished Alumna Medal in 1986. She has also served on the board of regents for Texas Women's University and the board of Trinity University in San Antonio. She has also contributed to The University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio. A strong advocate for women's rights, Bower received the Woman of the Year award in 1990 from the Texas Women's Political Caucus and has been a member of the Governor's Commission for Women.
Chan receives $500,000 from Iacocca Foundation for diabetes research
A $500,000 grant from the Iacocca Foundation will support diabetes research conducted by Lawrence Chan, M.D., D.Sc., professor of medicine-endocrinology at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston.
Chan will use the grant to fund a project involving mice with Type 1 diabetes caused by auto-immune attacks on islet cells, more similar to the cause of Type 1 diabetes in humans than his previous studies.
The Iacocca Foundation, founded in 1984, is devoted to finding a cure for diabetes and has committed $12 million to six institutions for diabetes research, including Chan's lab at BCM.
Compassion and the Art of Medicine
The annual Compassion and the Art of Medicine series hosted by Baylor College of Medicine is underway.
The series is free and open to the public although seating is limited. The first 200 guests will receive complimentary brown bag lunches. All presentations begin at noon, followed by a question-and-answer session at 1 p.m.
BCM's department of family and community medicine presents the series with a grant from The Community Hospital Foundation, Inc.
This month's lectures include:
- Oct. 6, Cullen Auditorium: "Health and Human Rights in the Global Era: Treating AIDS in Resource-Poor Settings" Matthew Carter Memorial Lecture – Geoffrey Preidis, who has been working to provide a preferential option in healthcare to the poor of rural Haiti since 2001. A graduate of Harvard University, he is currently an M.D./Ph.D. candidate at BCM, where he focuses his clinical and laboratory work on fighting the infectious diseases that plague the world's poorest populations.
- The Matthew Carter Memorial Lecture was established in memory of a first-year Baylor medical student killed in September 2000 in order to carry on his message of compassion and caring to successive generations of medical students and health professionals. The annual lecture features individuals in the health care field who dedicate their careers to helping the less fortunate of the world.
- Oct. 13, McMillian Auditorium: "Medical Marriage" – Charlene Dewey, M.D., and Wayne Riley, M.D. An associate professor of medicine, Dewey serves as associate chair for the section of general internal medicine at Ben Taub General Hospital and has spearheaded faculty development and resident ambulatory education at BCM. Riley is vice president and vice dean of health affairs and government relations for BCM. They are the proud parents of two daughters and serve in several church and community activities.
