News for BCM Faculty, Jan. 2, 2020
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Infectious Diseases Consortium: Baylor College of Medicine’s Vaccine and Treatment Evaluation Unit (VTEU) has received a seven-year renewal grant from the National Institutes of Health and will join the new Infectious Diseases Clinical Research Consortium announced recently by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID). The NIAID plans to provide approximately $29 million per year for seven years for the consortium, a clinical trials network comprising the institute’s nine VTEUs, the Division of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases at the NIH and a new consortium leadership group. Baylor’s unit is led by Dr. Hana El Sahly, associate professor of molecular virology and medicine – infectious diseases. Dr. Robert Atmar, professor of medicine – infectious diseases, is a VTEU investigator and a member of the executive management team of the newly formed leadership group.

Try Baylor Medicine: Employees and trainees who are not already seeking healthcare within the Baylor network are encouraged to migrate their care to Baylor Medicine providers. It's easier than ever to make an appointment with a new primary care or specialty provider – just complete this online scheduling form accessible only to BCM employees and trainees. You will be contacted by a Baylor representative by phone or email within two business days to identify the right provider and complete the scheduling process.

Faculty Kudos

Dr. Hashem El-Serag, the Margaret M. Alkek Distinguished Chair in Medicine, was selected the winner of the 2019 Distinguished Scientist Award by Baylor St. Luke’s Medical Center for his clinical epidemiology of digestive diseases, which has resulted in more than 500 papers and 70 research grants.

Dr. Krithika Lingappan, assistant professor of pediatrics – neonatal-perinatal medicine, was awarded an R01 grant by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute to look into the molecular mechanisms behind sex-specific differences in neonatal hyperoxic lung injury and repair. This proposal will address knowledge gaps behind the sexual divergent incidence of bronchopulmonary dysplasia and lay the foundation for future sex-specific treatment strategies.

Dr. Mohamed Othman, associate professor of medicine – gastroenterology, received the 2019 Clinical Innovator Award from Baylor St Luke's Medical Center for his pioneering work on endoscopic mucosal dissection. He is chief of the gastroenterology section at Baylor St. Luke's.

Cookies for Kids' Cancer has awarded grants to two assistant professor of pediatrics - hematology & oncology with the Texas Children's Cancer Center for their research in childhood cancer. Dr. Stephen Mack will receive $200,000 for his work on epigenetic and immune checkpoint inhibition in brain tumors. Dr. Robin Parihar will receive $200,000 for his work on immunotherapy in pediatric sarcomas.

Dr. Dorina Papageorgiou, assistant professor of psychiatry & behavioral sciences and physical medicine & rehabilitation, presented a keynote address on “Induced learning for the reorganization of the visual, somatomotor and somatosensory systems in health and disease using individualized real-time fMRI neurofeedback applications” at Conférence Neurospin, Institut des Neurosciences Paris-Saclay. She also spoke on the topic at University College London in December.

Dr. Jacquelyn Powers and Dr. Andrew Yee, both assistant professors of pediatrics - hematology, have been selected by the American Society of Hematology to receive the ASH Scholar Award. The program funds hematologists who conduct basic, translational, and clinical research that furthers the understanding and treatment of blood disorders. They will each receive $150,000. Powers was also selected as an ASH Clinical Research Training Institute Faculty for 2020.

Dr. Shyam Sukumar, assistant professor of urology, and colleagues had their pilot study, “Poor Oral Health and Harvest Site Morbidity after Urethroplasty” selected as the best poster at the American Urological Association meeting in Chicago and highlighted in AUA News in December.

Faculty Resources

IAMSE Webinars: The International Association of Medical Science Educators Winter 2020 Webinar Series topic is “How is Health Science Education Tackling the Opioid Epidemic?” with the first of five Thursday sessions starting at 11 a.m. Thursday, Jan. 9. Contact Faculty Development to register for free participation on your computer.

DocTalk: Dr. Marc Feldman and Dr. Lizabeth Riley of the Baylor Medicine Concierge Medicine Clinic present “New Year, New You” at noon Tuesday, Jan. 14, in Cullen Auditorium.

Faculty Opportunities

Volunteer Judges: Judges are needed for middle school science fairs on Saturday, Jan. 11, at Baylor College of Medicine Academy at Ryan and Friday, Jan. 17, at Baylor College of Medicine Biotech Academy at Rusk. Volunteer judges should have first-hand experience in developing and conducting scientific or engineering research. Please commit to a minimum of one hour or judging about six projects. Sign up and view judging dates and times. For questions, email Beatriz Perez-Sweeney at Ryan or Katherine Harris at Rusk.

SMART Program: Are you interested in mentoring an undergraduate student in your lab this summer? The SMART (summer undergraduate research training) program provides frontier-level summer research experiences for undergraduates from around the nation in a supportive and rigorous environment with supplemental educational activities. To participate, please complete a SMART Mentor Commitment Form before Saturday, Jan. 11.

Women of Excellence: Nominations are being accepted for the Women of Excellence Awards, which will be presented during Women's History Month in March. Nominees can be women and men, faculty, staff and trainees who have demonstrated extraordinary dedication to issues that affect women at Baylor College of Medicine or in the larger community while also exemplifying Baylor values. Learn more and nominate online.

Attention Clinicians: See Clinical Events

Clinical Seminars

Buprenorphine Waiver: The Department of Family & Community Medicine offers a free Opioid Use Disorder Training from 8 a.m. to noon Saturday, Jan. 11, at 3701 Kirby Dr. The training is intended for physicians who are interested in obtaining a waiver to prescribe buprenorphine for opioid use disorder. This in-person training, in combination with a four-hour online session, will qualify you to apply for the Drug Enforcement Agency waiver and provide up to four hours of CME credit. RSVP to reserve a place.

Evenings with Genetics: Dr. Claudia Soler-Alfonso, assistant professor of molecular & human genetics, and Dr. Stephanie Sisley, assistant professor of pediatrics – nutrition, discuss the diagnosis and medical management of genetic orders of obesity at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 14, at the Children’s Museum of Houston. Register online to attend this free public event.

Attention Researchers: See Research Calendar

Research Seminars

Precision Health: “Learning developmental biology from genetic diseases” is the topic of a talk by Dr. Yingzi Yang, associate dean for translational research and professor of developmental biology at the Harvard School of Dentistry, at the Center for Precision Environmental Health seminar, 11 a.m. Tuesday, Jan. 7, in Room N315, main Baylor.

Quantitative Biosciences: Dr. Henry Pownall of Houston Methodist presents “High density lipoprotein therapeutics: Of mice and men” and Dr. Anthony Mustoe, assistant professor of biochemistry, discusses “Machine learning strategies for deconvoluting RNA structural ensembles in cells” at the Center for Computational and Integrative Biomedical Research seminar, noon Wednesday, Jan. 8, in Room 201A, main Baylor.

Research Resources

Keck Grants: The College is conducting an internal selection process for applications to the W.M. Keck Foundation’s Research Program, which strives to fund endeavors that are distinctive and novel in their approach. It encourages projects that are high-risk, including questions that push the edge of the field, present unconventional approaches to intractable problems, or challenge the prevailing paradigm. Grants range from $500,000 to $5 million. More information is available on the Office of Research portal. Apply by 5 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 9.

Rally Grants: Baylor may submit one institutional nomination for the Rally Foundation’s Career Development Award in the priority areas of basic science, translational science and quality of life studies for childhood and adolescent cancers. Grants of up to $100,000 per year for three years of support will be awarded. Submit an internal letter of intent with a one paragraph summary of the proposal and an NIH biosketch to Neena Gohil by Friday, Jan. 17, to be considered.

Pfizer Grants: Growth hormone deficiency education is the focus of the 2020 Pfizer Global Medical Grants, which support research, quality improvement and education initiatives to improve patient outcomes in areas of unmet medical need. The grants have a budget of $300,000. Download complete details and apply by Jan. 27.

Helis Grants: The College is soliciting proposals to conduct collaborative, cancer-related research with the Diana Helis Henry Medical Research Foundation and the Adrienne Helis Malvin Medical Research Foundation. The primary goal of this collaborative research opportunity is to foster fundamental, discovery driven biomedical research that may lead to target validation, new target identification and/or drug development. Projects will be considered for three years of collaboration and may request up to $200,000 of total cost per year. Read more about the grants online and apply by March 2.

From the Labs: Read how Dr. Robert Waterland, professor of pediatrics – nutrition, and his lab developed a “couch potato” mouse model in this week’s post. 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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