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News for BCM Faculty, Jan. 30, 2020
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Ask Me About My Research: Dr. Michele Loor, assistant professor of surgery, and Dr. Gabriel Loor, associate professor of surgery, join Ellie Loor to demonstrate the importance of sharing your work with non-scientists in this episode of Ask Me About My Research. You can pick up your own “Ask Me” button in the Office of Communications & Community Outreach, Room 176B, main Baylor.

Special Medical Election Change: On Jan. 1, 2020, Houston Methodist Hospital became an out-of-network facility for the Premium PPO, Health&Savings PPO and ResidentCare PPO UnitedHealthcare options. For the Value EPO option, Houston Methodist Hospital is no longer part of the UHC network. Because of this special circumstance, Human Resources-Benefits will hold a special medical election change opportunity Monday through Friday, Feb. 3-7. Employees who are currently enrolled in a medical plan option will have the one-time option to waive or change their medical plan option and coverage level and open a Health Savings Account (if enrolled in the Health&Savings PPO) by logging into the Employee Self Service portal. Frequently asked questions, contact information and office hours for HR-Benefits are available online.

Baylor Medicine: Healthcare services are available via the Baylor Medicine network. To schedule an appointment, click here. In addition, the enhanced BSLMG network offers lower copays for physician visits, and the College pays a higher coinsurance amount if employees use a BSLMG facility.

Faculty Kudos

Dr. Anne Gill, assistant dean of interprofessional education, delivered the commencement address for the Texas Woman's University Houston graduation in December. More than 3,000 graduating students, faculty and family members attended and heard her praise students for their grit and urged them to practice kindness, compassion and gratitude. Gill, a TWU alumna, also is professor of pediatrics and part of the Center for Medical Ethics and Health Policy.

Dr. Amy McGuire, Leon Jaworski Professor of Biomedical Ethics and director of the Center for Medical Ethics and Health Policy, has been elected as one of 12 new Hastings Center Fellows. Fellows are chosen for their outstanding work in complex ethical issues in health, health care, science, and technology.

Dr. Rajeev Raghavan, associate professor of medicine - nephrology, is this week’s featured senator. Read about his commitment to patient care and his service on the Faculty Senate on the faculty intranet portal.

Dr. Xiang "Shawn" Zhang, professor in the Lester and Sue Smith Breast Center and McNair scholar, is one of two clinical investigators to win Stand Up To Cancer's 2020 Laura Ziskin Prize in Translational Research. He will work with Dr. Leisha A. Emens of UPMC Hillman Cancer Center to further research the availability of immune checkpoint inhibitors for breast cancer patients. They will share a $250,000 grant for their year-long research project.

College Events

Autism Study: Families affected by autism are invited to a special on-site registration and data collection event for SPARK, an autism research partnership with Texas Children’s Hospital, on Saturday, Feb. 1, at the Houston Museum of Natural Science during the museum’s Sensory Friendly Event. RSVP online, or for more information, contact Danica Limon.

Brody Lecture: Holly Fernandez Lynch of the Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, delivers the inaugural Baruch A. Brody Lecture in Bioethics on “Conflicts of Conscience and Implications for Physicians’ Gatekeeping Authority” at 5 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 5, in the Houston Methodist Institute Auditorium or via Zoom.

Ethics UnConference: “Evolving Clinical Ethics: A Working UnConference” is a forum for practicing ethicists to collaborate in advancing the field through peer-to-peer solution sharing, lightning talks, fishbowl discussions and the marketplace of ideas. Hosted by the Center for Medical Ethics and Health Policy, the UnConference is Wednesday through Friday, Feb. 5-7, at Houston Methodist Research Institute. Register online to attend.

Faculty Resources

Career Advancement: The Office of Faculty Development presents “Building and Refining Your CV” at noon Tuesday, Feb. 4, in Room N112, main Baylor or via Zoom. RSVP to attend.

LCME Self-Study: The School of Medicine commences its Liaison Committee on Medical Education self-study with “LCME Kick-Off,” a school-wide presentation by Dr. Barbara Barzansky, LCME co-secretary and director of Undergraduate Medical Education with the American Medical Association, at noon Friday, Feb. 7, in Kleberg Auditorium, main Baylor or via Zoom. All are encouraged to attend. Lunch will be provided on a first come, first served basis. Read more about the accreditation process in the monthly LCME Newsletter.

Rodeo Tickets: General Admission tickets and season passes to the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, barbecue contest tickets and half-price carnival e-packs can be purchased in the Office of Communications, suite 176B at main Baylor, through 5 p.m. Feb. 28. Please note that the carnival pack is now a phone app; instructions will be provided upon purchase. Concert tickets are not available. Bring cash or a check payable to Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. For more information, call the Office of Communications at (713) 798-4710.

Forensic Training: Physicians for Human Rights at Baylor hosts its second annual training event on conducting forensic evaluations for asylum seekers on Feb. 29 at main Baylor. Applicants who have a forensic medical or psychological evaluation are three times as likely to win their asylum cases compared to those without documentation. Training is open to physicians, mental health providers, physician assistants, nurse practitioners and medical students, and will include sessions on human rights and asylum law, physical and psychological forensic evaluations, and medical-legal affidavit writing. All who receive training will be eligible to volunteer in the Baylor College of Medicine Human Rights and Asylum Clinic, which has been conducting these evaluations since summer 2019. Register online for the training. Contact Physicians for Human Rights with any questions.

Faculty Opportunities

Senior Associate Dean: The School of Medicine has interviewed excellent candidates for the senior associate dean of Graduate Medical Education/Designated Institutional Official (DIO) without finding a replacement for the position. Dean Jennifer Christner now strongly encourages qualified and interested internal candidates with educational leadership experience to apply for one of several leadership positions for the GME office. The senior associate dean for GME/DIO is a 0.8 to 1.0 FTE who will report to the dean. The school also is recruiting for two assistant deans of GME at 0.5 FTE each who will report to the DIO. The school has just completed its new 5-7-year strategic plan, making this an exciting time to be part of GME leadership. Read more about the positions online and apply by Friday, Feb. 14.

Associate Course Director: The School of Medicine is soliciting nominations for an associate course director for the MS1 course, Nervous System, scheduled in the spring semester. The course covers clinically relevant nervous anatomy, physiology, pathology, therapeutics, differential diagnosis and neurology to prepare students for clinical experiences. More information is available on the Faculty Opportunities webpage. Applications are due Saturday, Feb. 15.

Quality & Safety Abstracts: Conference registration is now open for the 7th Annual Quality Improvement and Patient Safety Conference, April 22 at the Texas Children's Hospital Pavilion for Women. Physicians and other healthcare providers, trainees, students and staff may submit abstracts that focus on quality and safety research projects and program innovations through Saturday, Feb. 15. See the online form for details.


Attention Clinicians: See Clinical Events

Clinical Seminars

Sleep Apnea: Dr. Andrew Huang, assistant professor of otolaryngology, hosts a free community education session on Inspire, an FDA-approved, hoseless sleep apnea treatment, at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 5, in Conference Room A, McNair Campus hospital building. Register online.

Alford Grand Rounds: Dr. Ronald Kahn, chief academic officer and head of the Section of Integrative Physiology and Metabolism at Joslin Diabetes Center and Mary K. Iacocca Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, speaks on “Exosomal miRNAs as Hormones – a Novel Model of Tissue Communication” at the sixth annual Bobby R. Alford, M.D. Grand Rounds Distinguished Lecture endowed by the Diana Helis Henry and Adrienne Helis Malvin Medical Research Foundations at 4 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 19, in Room M112, with a reception to follow.

Clinical Note

Love Award: Nominations are open for the Ben and Margaret Love Foundation Bobby Alford Award for Academic Clinical Professionalism. Candidates are considered for their professionalism in patient care, clinical research and education as well as their humanism. The opportunity to nominate a faculty candidate for this prestigious award is limited those at the highest levels of leadership at the College or affiliated institutions. The deadline for submissions is Feb. 28. Nomination information is available online.


Attention Researchers: See Research Calendar

Research Seminars

Neuroscience: The 17th Annual Theoretical and Computational Neuroscience Conference starts at 8:30 a.m. Friday, Jan. 31, in the Bioscience Research Collaborative, 6500 Main St. Hosted by the Gulf Coast Consortia, the event's confirmed speakers include Dr. Anne Churchland, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Dr. Ann Hermundstad, Janelia Research Campus, and Dr. Ken Miller, Columbia. Register online to attend.

Physiology: Dr. Arndt Kiekmann, associate professor and principal investigator at the Cardiovascular Institute, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, speaks on “Branching Morphogenesis: The Many Ways to Grow a Tree” at 11 a.m. Tuesday, Feb. 4, in Room 409B, main Baylor.

Cancer Therapeutics: Baylor and MD Anderson Cancer Center hold a joint symposium on Cancer Therapeutics on Thursday, Feb. 13, in Onstead Auditorium, Basic Science Research Building, 6767 Bertner Ave. Keynote speakers include Dr. Todd Golub, core institute member, chief scientific officer and director of the cancer program at Broad Institute, and Dr. Klaus Hoeflich, vice president and head of biology with Blueprint Medicines. Registration is open.

Research Resources

Phage Research: Baylor researchers have implemented a clinical solution for antibiotic-resistant bacterial infections. Called TAILOR (Tailored Antibacterials and Innovative Laboratories for Phage Research), the initiative is open to consultations about preparing and delivering FDA-approved anti-bacterial viruses – phages – tailored to target specific antibiotic-resistant bacterial infections in patients. For more information email TAILOR.

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 what extensive protein analysis by Dr. Chad Creighton, associate professor of medicine, and his colleagues, revealed about cancer 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.


Questions or Comments?

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Institutional Policy Committee: Contact the Policy Committee to learn more about College policies and procedures.

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