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News for BCM Faculty, June 10, 2021
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College News

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Refreshed Student Spaces: In response to faculty and student feedback, the School of Medicine recently completed significant improvements to the medical education facilities, including installing 600 new lockers so that students will have ample space to stow belongings when on campus. The Learning Community space pictured here has new modular furniture and other biophilic and wellness upgrades to promote collaboration between students and clinical faculty advisors.

Education Award Changes: The Office of Faculty Affairs and Faculty Development announces changes to the Norton Rose Fulbright (NRF) Faculty Excellence Award application and review process. These changes will be effective in the new academic year starting July 1. For details about these changes, see the link on the webpage. An NRF workshop at noon Friday, June 18, will give an overview of the process and review the changes. Please email the office to register for the workshop.

Faculty Kudos

The Baylor College of Medicine Board of Trustees recently appointed two faculty members to endowed chairs. The honorees are:

Dr. Daniel Hamstra, professor and chair of the Department of Radiation Oncology, was appointed to the William T. Butler Endowed Chair for Distinguished Faculty. With a research focus on prostate cancer and tumors of the brain and spine, he also serves as radiation oncology lead at the Dan L Duncan Comprehensive Cancer Center and radiation oncology service line chief for St. Luke’s Health, Texas Division.

Dr. Jin Wang, professor of pharmacology & chemical biology and molecular & cellular biology, was appointed to the Michael E. DeBakey Professorship in Pharmacology in recognition of his drug discovery and chemical biology research program. Additionally, Wang is a collaborator on a new $1.2 million National Institutes of Health grant to develop a proteomics toolkit, PROTEAN-CR, for modeling and analyzing protein-ligand interactions in cancer research. Dr. Lydia Kavraki, professor of computer science and director of the Ken Kennedy Institute at Rice University, leads the project.

Dr. Biykem Bozkurt, professor of medicine – cardiology, lectured as a visiting professor at two institutions in May. She presented “New Perspectives in Heart Failure” as the Understein Memorial Visiting Professor at George Washington University Heart and Vascular Institute, and “New Heart Failure Definitions and Treatment Strategies” for the German Center for Cardiovascular Research & Charité.

Dr. Monica Prado, assistant professor of family & community medicine, recently participated in a Telemundo virtual forum on COVID-19 vaccines with her Harris Health colleagues Dr. Max Quintana and Ana Aguillon, contributing to ongoing community education on the importance of vaccination.

Dr. Hardeep Singh, professor of medicine – health services research, served the drafting and review taskforce to develop the inaugural "Global Patient Safety Action Plan 2021-2030: Towards eliminating avoidable harm in health care,” working closely with the World Health Organization to finalize several sections of the plan.

Dr. Robert Tillman has joined Baylor as director of faculty development in the Office of Faculty Affairs and Faculty Development and director of mentoring and professional development in the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences. He also serves as senior faculty in the Department of Education, Innovation and Technology. Tillman's professional interests include developing programs that address the professional development of faculty and trainees in academic medical centers. A focus of his role is to support the continued growth of mentoring and faculty leadership programs.

College Events

Autism Webinar: “Independence Is a Process” is the topic of a webinar with Brandi Timmons of Social Motion Skills at noon Friday, June 11, made possible by Spark for Autism. RSVP to view.

Faculty Workshop: The Office of Faculty Affairs and Faculty Development offers “Building and Refining your CV,” at 4 p.m. Monday, June 14; RSVP to view on Zoom. See the summer workshop calendar.

DocTalk: Family & Community Medicine faculty present “Adverse Childhood Experiences” at noon Tuesday, June 15. Learn how certain experiences during childhood can have a lasting effect, identify factors that create resilience and earn 50 BeWell points. Register for Zoom link.

Space Travel: Dr. Lindy Elkins-Tanton, Arizona State University Interplanetary Initiative, leads a conversation on societal considerations of deep space exploration, sponsored by the Translational Research Institute for Space Health, at 1 p.m. Thursday, June 17. Register online.

Faculty Opportunities

Education RFA: Pilot grant funding for Baylor faculty engaged in educational research or program development and evaluation is now available through the College, with the support of the Huffington Foundation. Education, Innovation and Technology Faculty Pilot Grants provide funding of up to $50,000 per project for up to a two-year duration. Up to five awards will be made during FY 2022. The submitting principal investigator must be a faculty member appointed in the Department of Education, Innovation and Technology. To apply, follow the instruction for application and submit required materials to requestforapplications@bcm.edu by 5 p.m. July 16.

Call for Abstracts: The Academy of Distinguished Educators hosts a virtual annual Showcase of Educational Scholarship Sept. 17. Faculty, staff and learners are invited to submit an abstract for presentation as a poster display by Aug. 2. Areas of interest include content development, instructional design/delivery, learner assessment and educational leadership.

Vaccine Studies: Baylor investigators at the Vaccine and Treatment Evaluation Unit are looking for volunteers who are age 18 and older, with no past history of COVID-19, to participate in vaccine studies. Please call 713-798-4912, email COVID-VAX@bcm.edu or register online to get involved.

  • Volunteers who have not yet received a COVID-19 vaccine can participate in COVID-19 vaccine studies.
  • Volunteers who have received a COVID-19 vaccine can participate in COVID-19 booster vaccine studies.

Alumni Mentors: Many of Baylor's graduating medical students are seeking mentorship to help navigate the next phase of their medical career. The Office of Alumni Affairs seeks alumni mentors who can help guide these recent graduates. If you are interested, please fill out this form. For any questions, please contact Nate Church.

Faculty Resources

Engaging Learners: The Department of Education, Innovation & Technology presents Dr. Kimberly Tanner, professor and director of the Science Education Partnership and Assessment Laboratory at San Francisco State University, speaking on “Engaging Learners and Making Teaching Fair and Inclusive: Cross-Disciplinary Tools, Insights and Strategies to Promote Student Success” at 11 a.m. Wednesday, June 23, via Zoom, passcode SEPAL.

Education Grand Rounds: “Telesimulation, Teledebriefing, Telementoring, Tele-what?” is the topic of a presentation by Dr. Rami Ahmed, professor of emergency medicine and simulation division chief, Indiana University School of Medicine, at noon July 7, via Zoom, passcode 383992. Sponsored by the School of Health Professions and Office of Faculty Affairs & Faculty Development.

Storm Season: Now that hurricane season is here, make sure you have enrolled in Baylor’s Emergency Notification System and that your contact information is current. Through the ENS, you’ll receive important College updates by text, phone and/or email. If a storm is approaching, you can find updates, information and resources on the Weather Safety webpage. Space City Weather is another source with information on hurricane tracking that is specific to this area.

From the Blogs: Read what the Gulf Coast Center for Precision Environmental Health, the Office for Science and Technology at the Embassy of France, and the Texas Community Engagement Alliance learned about disaster research and prevention from the COVID-19 pandemic in this week’s Momentum post.


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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