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Faculty Commons, May 25 - 31, 2017
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College News

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Faculty Awards Day: Faculty members and their families and colleagues packed Cullen Auditorium for the first Faculty Awards Day May 18. The ceremony included more than 150 education, service and clinical awards for excellence. Pictured with Dr. Paul Klotman are the first Clark Faculty Service Award winners, Dr. Mary E. Dickinson, inaugural chair of the Faculty Senate, Dr. Joslyn Fisher, inaugural chair of the Institutional Policy Committee, Dr. Mothaffar Rimawi, honored for equalizing breast cancer care for underserved patients, Dr. Vandana Gadhi Shah, Gold Humanism Honor Society and Healer’s Art elective advisor, Dr. Faye Chiou Tan, faculty coach for clinicians, and Sally Clark, whose family sponsors the award. See the full list of award winners online.

 

Vote for Your Faculty Senator: Faculty from the following departments, centers and affiliates have until 11:30 tonight to vote for their representatives in the Faculty Senate: Biochemistry, Family & Community Medicine, Medicine, Molecular & Human Genetics, Neurology, Obstetrics & Gynecology, Otolaryngology – Head & Neck Surgery, Pathology & Immunology, Pediatrics, Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation, Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, Radiology, Surgery, Lester & Sue Smith Breast Center, Center for Cell & Gene Therapy, Center for Medical Ethics & Health Policy, Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Children’s Hospital of San Antonio, Menninger Clinic, Texas Children’s Hospital and TIRR. Information about the Senate and a link to the ballot are online (BCM ECA is required to vote) through Thursday, May 25.


McNair Campus Update: The McNair Campus project continues to move forward, with the build out of the first patient tower well underway, said Dr. Paul Klotman and Gay Nord, president of Baylor St. Luke's Medical Center, in a May 24 email to faculty, staff and trainees. The progress on that building comes as the Baylor St. Luke’s Medical Center Board of Directors is in discussions about the timing of the construction of additional campus buildings. With the uncertainty in the national healthcare landscape at this time, the Board believes it is prudent to move forward in developing a plan to use the first patient tower when it is completed and wait to make final decisions on the timing of building the second tower. This plan should allow us to open the first patient tower earlier than expected. An analysis of services to be opened in the first tower is underway. In the interim, the Board has authorized additional capital investments in the current medical center campus. Both our McNair Campus and our Texas Medical Center Campus are important in the care we provide our patients and we look forward to developing both campuses in the interim.


Faculty Kudos

imageDr. Maria Elena Bottazzi, professor and associate dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine, recently graduated as a Fellow of the American Leadership Forum Houston/Gulf Coast Chapter. The yearlong leadership development program brings together leaders from private, public and nonprofit sectors to stimulate inquiry, analysis and solutions for the public good.


imageDr. William T. Butler, chancellor emeritus and former BCM president, was honored for 50 years of service to the College with the unveiling of his portrait at a ceremony May 24 in the DeBakey Lobby at main Baylor.


 

imageDr. Helen Heslop, professor of medicine and pediatrics and director of the Center for Cell and Gene Therapy, was named president of the American Society of Gene and Cell Therapy for 2017-2018 at this year's annual ASGCT conference. The CaGT was represented by 40 current and former members and presented research in 10 oral presentations.

 

imageDr. Kimberly Kay Lopez, assistant professor in pediatrics - public health and director of the Center for the Study of Adversity, Resilience and Education, was accepted into the 2017-2018 City Match City Leaders program. Each year, 10 leaders in maternal and child health from across the U.S. participate in this intensive program. Lopez will focus on expanding community-based maternal and child health efforts in Houston.

 

imageDr. Victor M. Rivera, distinguished emeritus professor of neurology and founding director of the Maxine Mesinger MS Clinic, led a U.S. delegation of multiple sclerosis specialists to the second Clinical Scientific U.S.-Cuba MS Exchange in Havana. Dr. George Hutton, associate professor and director of the Maxine Mesinger MS Center, was one of the featured speakers along with other Baylor MS training program alumni.

 

imageMary Traub, certified midwife and director of the midwifery section in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, recently gave a presentation on centering pregnancy group prenatal care at the third National Midwifery Conference in Shenzhen, China. She also met with a work group on developing the curriculum for a group prenatal care education program there. This model of care is provided as an option to patients in the Houston area who work with Baylor certified midwives.

 

College Events

Commencement 2017: Dr. Marc Nivet, executive vice president of institutional advancement at The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, previously the chief diversity officer for the Association of American Medical Colleges, will give the Whitmore Lecture Commencement Address to graduates of the School of Medicine and Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, May 30, at the Jesse H. Jones Hall for Performing Arts. Faculty attendees should plan to arrive no later than 5:45 p.m.


Ribbon Cutting: The Michael E. DeBakey High School for Health Professions celebrates the completion of its new five-story building in the Texas Medical Center with a ribbon cutting and open house from 3 to 6 p.m. Thursday, June 1, at 2545 Pressler. RSVP online to attend this HISD event.


HR Move: The Human Resources office is relocating to the O'Quinn Medical Tower, 6624 Fannin St., Suite 1800. The office will be closed all day Friday, June 2, to begin the moving process. HR will open at its new location on Monday, June 5, with limited hours of 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Normal office hours, Monday – Friday, 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., will resume Tuesday, June 6. Phone numbers will remain the same.


Children with Special Needs: The Genetics Clinic and The Arc of Greater Houston sponsor the 6th Annual Conference for the Hispanic Community on topics including “How can a genetic evaluation help a child with special needs?” and “Puberty and Sexuality in Teens with Special Needs,” from 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. June 24 at Ripley House. The registration deadline is June 16. More information is available online.


Faculty Opportunities

Admissions Interviewing Subcommittee: The Office of Medical School Admissions is soliciting faculty, fellow and resident nominations for a position on the Admissions Interviewing Subcommittee, with a start date of July 1. The subcommittee is charged with interviewing and evaluating applicants from varied backgrounds and with varied values and beliefs, interests, experiences, and cultural viewpoints in order to ensure a diverse student body. For more information, see the online notice. Please email your interest in serving on the subcommittee to Shannon Mendoza by June 9.


Electives Subcommittee: The Medical School Electives Subcommittee seeks faculty members representing a broad range of disciplines to fill up to five positions. The subcommittee is engaged in reviewing active and new elective courses, developing evaluation tools and presenting electives to the Curriculum Committee. For more information, see the online notice. Please email your nomination to Jamie Smith by Wednesday, May 31.


Faculty Resources

Career Coaching: Faculty Development now offers one-on-one sessions with experienced senior faculty coaches. These sessions are designed to provide guidance on career progression, readiness for academic promotion, development of award portfolios, academic writing and educational research and evaluation. Contact the Office of Faculty Development at (713) 798-7285 for scheduling.


Back-Up Care: Whether you are experiencing a breakdown in your regular child care arrangements, looking for an after school sitter, have adult/elder care needs or need someone to walk the dog, the Bright Horizons Care Advantage Program is ready to help with an upgraded website that makes registration and scheduling easier. Learn more about this College benefit online.


For a Good Cause

Cancer Socks 5K: Former NFL Player and cancer survivor William Dominic Austin, who founded the organization Tackles4Cancer, hosts this run/walk in celebration of the 30th Annual National Cancer Survivors Day. The event is set for June 3 and starts on the McNair Campus. It is sponsored by the Dan L Duncan Comprehensive Cancer Center. Join or donate online.


Run for Research Awareness: This virtual 5K benefits Homes for Animal Heroes, which rehomes post-study dogs and educates the public about biomedical research. You can join the Center for Comparative Medicine’s BCM Beastmode team and walk/run on June 10, or create your own team and share on social media until June 30.


Attention Clinicians: See Clinical Calendar

Clinical Events

The PFT Lab at Baylor Clinic reopens Friday, May 26, with two separate PFT rooms equipped with two new XXL-sized body plethysmographs from CareFusion, thanks to the generosity of the Lester and Sue Smith Foundation. The body box has increased leg room for bariatric patients and easy access for patients with wheelchairs. The new lab will be located in Suite 12A.43 and Suite 12B.26 at Baylor Clinic. You are invited to take a tour of the new expanded facility.


Clinical Opportunities

H&P Preceptor: Clinical faculty members are invited to participate as preceptors for the Undergraduate Medical Education Clinical PPS3 Course (Patient, Physician and Society). This course helps prepare second-year medical students to function effectively in a clinical setting by improving their patient history and physical (H&P) exam skills, as well as their communication skills. In this course students practice these skills with hospitalized patients. Ten preceptor sessions (five per group) are scheduled from Aug. 2 through Nov. 8 and the time involved to precept two groups of students is approximately 20-30 hours. Read the Faculty Opportunities listing for more details Please let course coordinator Colleen McCampbell know of your interest in precepting before July 31.


Patient Safety Facilitator: The School of Medicine is recruiting clinical faculty to serve as small group facilitators for the Patient Safety Course, which meets weekly from 1 to 2:30 p.m., Aug. 1-Sept. 19. Each facilitator will be assigned nine or 10 MS2 students to work through a clinical case. Facilitators will complete evaluations of their students and be evaluated by their students. These evaluations can be used in an education portfolio or as evidence of excellence in an award application. Facilitators are asked to complete free on-line modules and attend an orientation to the course. See Faculty Opportunities for more information. For additional questions, please contact program co-director Dr. Cara Lye. The deadline to apply is July 31.


Medical Director: The Physician Assistant Program in the School of Allied Health Sciences seeks a licensed physician to provide guidance about the content of the clinical components of the curriculum, assist core faculty to develop and maintain high quality clinical training experience and advance understanding of the PA profession within the medical community. Please see the Faculty Opportunities intranet page for more information.


Women Faculty Study: Female physicians are invited to participate in a research study titled Creation and Validation of the Unconscious Gender Bias Index. You will be asked to answer some basic questions about your experiences with barriers and obstacles in the workplace. These questions will take approximately 15 to 20 minutes to complete online. For more information and to take part in the study by May 30, see Faculty Opportunities.


Call for Applications

Transition Medicine Grant: Through a generous gift from the family, the Ligums Family Transition Medicine Grant is available to support projects focusing on adolescents and young adults who have chronic conditions originating in childhood and are transitioning from pediatric to adult care. The grant’s purpose is to support quality improvement in the transition experience, with the ability to partner with community leaders or interest groups. Its maximum annual amount is $10,000, with the possibility of renewal for a second year. Please see the announcement for more information. Letters of intent are due by 5 p.m. June 30.


Attention Researchers: See Research Calendar

Call for Applications

The Nancy Chang, Ph.D. Award for Research Excellence, which funds investigators with exceptional basic, clinical or translational research projects at the College, is accepting applications through 5 p.m. June 19. Endowed by Dr. Chang, a Baylor scientist, philanthropist and entrepreneur, one or two grants of up to $45,000 will be awarded in fiscal year 2018. For more information and to apply, please see the website.


The Mrs. Clifford Elder White Graham Endowed Research Fund provides pilot project awards for Baylor assistant or associate professors studying muscular dystrophy or related disorders. Up to two $22,500 grants are available to be expended by June 30, 2018. Submissions through the online portal close at 5 p.m. June 26.


The Searle Scholars Program supports the research of early-career scientists who were appointed as assistant professors in the following fields on or after July 1, 2016: biochemistry, cell biology, genetics, immunology, neuroscience, pharmacology, and related areas in chemistry, medicine, and the biological sciences. Baylor may submit two nominations for this grant worth $300,000 over three years. If interested, please see the listing online and submit the required information by 5 p.m. June 23.


A Month in Italy: ACRI (Associazione di Fondazioni e Casse di Risparmio Italiane) is sponsoring research prizes to young investigators (maximum age 40) who attend the Biennial Congress of the Italian Association of Cell Biology and Differentiation Sept. 21-23 and choose to spend a month in a hosting laboratory in Naples, Rome or Milan to strengthen collaboration among international research institutions. The application deadline is July 1. More information is available on the ACRI website.


Research Resources

From the Labs: Those millions of bacteria living in your gut may someday be your allies in early detection of colorectal cancer, says a recent paper published in Gut by Dr. Manasi Shah, researcher at UTHealth School of Public Health, and Dr. Emily Hollister, assistant professor of pathology. Read more about it in From the Labs. You can receive weekly articles on research at Baylor as they are posted in our newsletter by going to https://fromthelabs.bcm.edu/ and entering your email address in the box on the right. Or get a digest at the end of the month with links to the articles posted that month by emailing science writer Ana Rodríguez with “Subscribe me to From the Labs” in the subject line.


Funding Opportunities: See the Office of Research's list of privately funded awards currently accepting applications for May.

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