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News for BCM Faculty, Feb. 11, 2021
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College News

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McNair Campus Kudos: Baylor College of Medicine and Linbeck Group LLC have received the Outstanding Construction Award in Healthcare from the Associated General Contractors of America for the build-outs of otolaryngology – head and neck surgery on the fifth floor of the Jamail Specialty Care Center and the acute care surgery, cardiology, thoracic and vascular surgery, and Comprehensive Healthcare clinics on the sixth floor of the hospital building. Project leaders at Baylor included Mike Cassidy, executive director of business operations in Baylor Medicine, and Steve Womack, principal, construction planning, design and development in Facility Services. Pictured is the latest construction project on the McNair Campus, the O’Quinn Tower, a medical office building.

Academic Council: Dean Jennifer Christner discussed plans for the School of Medicine’s regional campus in Temple at the Feb. 8 meeting. The facility will be overseen by the dean and staffed by Baylor College of Medicine faculty following the same curriculum as the main campus. An inaugural class of 40 medical students, selected through the SOM admissions process, is anticipated to begin training in fall 2023, expanding enrollment from 186 to 226 students per class. The affiliation with Baylor Scott & White Health has the potential for developing new tracks in areas such as rural medicine and population health. The Council voted unanimously to endorse the Temple campus.

  • Kristin Wade, chief operating officer for Baylor Medicine, provided an update on Baylor’s COVID-19 vaccination efforts, reporting more than 2,500 vaccines administered last weekend. She praised the Baylor and Baylor St. Luke's Medical Center physicians, nurses, medical assistants, front desk personnel and others whose contributions made the clinics possible. Providers who would like to serve as volunteer vaccinators may send an email to coronavirusinfo@bcm.edu.
  • Provost Alicia Monroe announced the postponement of the Diversity Engagement Survey until September. The Association of American Medical Colleges will administer the Standpoint surveys for faculty and staff in April and rescheduling the diversity survey will prevent respondent “burnout.” She strongly discouraged chairs and center directors from conducting their own unit climate surveys, stating that the College-wide diversity survey will allow benchmarking across departments and nationally.
  • Randy Langenderfer, chief audit and compliance officer, announced the start of the annual Disclosure of Outside Interests Closeout Attestation Period on Feb. 15. New this year is a single disclosure for both Baylor and Texas Children’s Hospital and the inclusion of the Open Payments (Sunshine Act) database. Attestations are due March 31.
  • General Council Bob Corrigan introduced a new structure for institutional committees, Institutional Committee Governance, which will provide process oversight to ensure adequate faculty participation and provide a framework for standardization. Faculty Senate Chair Christie Lincoln is interim chair of the committee.

BSLMC Kudo: Baylor St. Luke’s was listed among Houston’s 2020 Top Hospitals by the Leapfrog Group, earning recognition as the Top Teaching Hospital. The Leapfrog Group is an independent national watchdog organization of employers and others focused on healthcare safety and quality. Thank you to the faculty and staff who helped Baylor's partner hospital achieve this honor.

Faculty Kudos

image Dr. Dan Gorelick, associate professor of molecular & cellular biology in the Center for Precision Environmental Health, and Dr. Ali Jiwani, assistant professor of medicine – pulmonary, are the newest members of the Faculty Senate, having won special elections for senators representing, respectively, the departments of cell biology and medicine, last week. Senate Chair Christie Lincoln announced the results at Academic Council.

Dr. Helen Heslop, professor, director of the Center for Cell and Gene Therapy and interim director of the Dan L Duncan Comprehensive Cancer Center, was named a 2021 fellow of the American Society for Transplantation and Cellular Therapy (ASTCT). This honor recognizes ASTCT members for their service and dedication to the specialty of transplantation and cellular therapy. Additionally, she will present the Mortimer M. Bortin Lecture at the virtual Transplantation and Cellular Therapy Meetings on Friday, Feb. 12. Her topic is T cell immunotherapy via native and chimeric receptors.

Dr. Jacquelyn Powers, assistant professor of pediatrics - hematology, was appointed to a four-year term as a member of the American Society of Hematology Committee on Quality. The ASH COQ is charged to promote the highest quality care of patients with hematologic diseases and is responsible for overseeing and implementing the ASH quality initiative.

image Dr. Carlos Rodriguez and Dr. Susan Lee, associate professors of anesthesiology, have accepted new roles as associate program directors for the Department of Anesthesiology Residency Program. Dr. Chris Deng, assistant professor in the department, has accepted the assistant program director position. All three will work closely with Dr. Lee Chang, director of the program.

Dr. Chandrasekhar Yallampalli, professor of obstetrics & gynecology and molecular & cellular biology, has received a 2021 Peter Joseph Pappas Research Grant from the Preeclampsia Foundation for his work examining the connection between preeclampsia and genetic abnormalities and whether genetic signature is different between women with preeclampsia and unaffected women. Preeclampsia is a serious health problem for pregnant women and the cause of 15% of premature births in the U.S.

College (Virtual) Events

Narrative Medicine: Esmé Weijun Wang reads from her essay collection, “The Collected Schizophrenias,” winner of the Graywolf Press Nonfiction Prize, followed by a question and answer session at noon today, Feb. 11, via Zoom. Register to attend.

DocTalk: Join Dr. Ellen Friedman, professor of otolaryngology and director of the Center for Professionalism, for a discussion about “Emotional Intelligence” at noon Tuesday, Feb. 16, via Zoom, meeting ID: 919 5161 1897, passcode: 966433.

Hematology Conference: Dr. Peter Kurre, pediatric hematologist at the Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, discusses “Regulation of residual hematopoietic function in the AML niche” at noon Tuesday, Feb. 16, via Zoom, meeting ID: 387 923 767, passcode: 831342.

Profiles in Professionalism: “Cultivating Compassion with Wisdom: The Continuum of Moral Distress to Moral Resilience in a Pandemic” is the focus of a talk by Dr. Tessy Thomas, assistant professor of pediatrics and bioethics at Geisinger Medical Center and a Baylor alumna, at 5 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 16, via Zoom. Meeting ID: 916 6037 2990, passcode: 096639.

Evenings with Genetics: The second part of “Race & Genetics: Perspectives of Precision Medicine” features a panel discussion with Dr. Rick Kittles, professor and director of health equities at City of Hope, Dr. Chanita Hughes-Halbert, professor of psychiatry at Medical University of South Carolina, and J. Hoxi Jones, senior advocate, at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 16, via Zoom. Registration is required for this free event.

Faculty Opportunities

Curriculum Renewal: The School of Medicine's Office of Curriculum seeks innovative and committed faculty members to join the Curriculum Renewal Workgroup. This workgroup is tasked with redesigning the current four-year medical school curriculum, specifically the clinical curriculum, including clerkships and intercessions. For more information, please see Faculty Opportunities online.

Learning Community Advisors: The Office of Student Affairs is accepting applications for back-up learning community advisors for the 2021-22 annual year in case a current advisor is unable to continue mentoring a small group of medical students. To apply, please see Faculty Opportunities.

Patient Safety Volunteers: Physicians and advanced practice providers are invited to participate in the interprofessional Patient Safety IPE event Feb. 25 via Zoom. Volunteers will serve as facilitators for small groups of medical, nursing and pharmacy students to work through a near-miss patient safety case. More information is available on Faculty Opportunities.

Faculty Resources

Quality Seminar: Faculty and staff interested in quality improvement are invited to attend “Using Statistical Process Control Charts for Healthcare Improvement,” presented by Dr. Molly Horstman, assistant professor of medicine – health services research, from 4 to 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 23. The Zoom training session is offered by the Institute for Continuing and Professional Development in Quality Improvement and Patient Safety. Learn more and register.

Bioethics Course: The Intensive Bioethics Course offers physicians the opportunity to develop core competencies and integrate innovations in their ethics consultations during a virtual five-day course April 12-16. More information is available online.

Educator Course: Texas Children’s Hospital brings the Practical Skills for Reviewing Evidence in Health Professions Education (PASREV) course to the Texas Medical Center in a virtual format April 15-16. This popular Best Evidence Medical Education course is normally offered only at the Annual AMEE Conference in Europe. Registration for PASREV is now open.

From the Labs: The Black History Month Spotlight is an interview with Dr. Roy Sillitoe, associate professor of pathology & immunology and neuroscience, whose lab studies tremor, ataxia and dystonia. Receive From the Labs via email by entering your email address in the box at the end of any article and clicking the "subscribe" button.


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