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News for BCM Faculty, Sept. 12, 2019
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Kuspa Reception: Colleagues from across the College attended a farewell reception for Dr. Adam Kuspa on Monday. A faculty member since 1993, Kuspa served as chair of the Verna and Marrs McLean Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology before his appointment as senior vice president and dean of research. He also was interim dean for the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences. He is pictured with Dr. Susan Hamilton, chair of molecular physiology & biophysics, and Dr. Mary Dickinson, vice president and dean of research.

Academic Council: Randy Langenderfer, chief compliance and audit officer, gave an update on the implementation of the Disclosure of Outside Interests policy at the Sept. 9 meeting. The centralized, web-based reporting tool will launch Oct. 1 with annual compliance attestation/certification set for March 2020. The DOI policy requires faculty members, residents, graduate students, fellows, post-doctoral candidates and staff members receiving Staff 1 or Staff 2 benefits to annually disclose any financial interest over $250 value that is related to job duties and responsibilities or could be perceived as a conflict of interest. The launch includes department-based training sessions and the Disclosure of Outside Interests website, which has a video introduction to the “Culture of Transparency” by President Paul Klotman as well as links to the tool, instructions and resources to fulfill the policy’s requirements.

  • Provost Alicia Monroe presented plans to expand the Doctor of Nursing Practice – Nurse Anesthesia Program through a training agreement with NorthStar, a national anesthesia services provider, to build its workforce. The plan will increase the number and location of training sites and open the program to 30 additional trainees within three years.
  • The annual faculty evaluation process begins Thursday, Sept. 19. Monroe reminded chairs and center directors to provide their evaluators with the list of faculty members they will be reviewing. Faculty have until Oct. 21 to complete the self-evaluation form; meetings with evaluators must be completed by Dec. 18.
  • Terry Krailo, assistant vice president for marketing, introduced the re-branding of the Faculty Group Practice as “Baylor Medicine.” The new family & community medicine clinic in River Oaks is the first facility to have the new name. Re-branding will roll out by service line through April 2020 and will include an advertising campaign. Baylor affiliates will not be affected by the change.
  • Research Dean Adam Kuspa thanked Dr. Hugo Bellen, Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator and March of Dimes Chair in Developmental Biology, for his service as chair of the Interim Funding Committee and his advocacy for research at the College as chair of the Basic Science Faculty Input Committee from 2011 to 2015 and later as the Basic Sciences Representative of the Faculty Senate from 2015 to 2019. Bellen accepted an award of recognition named for Kuspa.

Faculty Kudos

Dr. Christie Ballantyne, professor of medicine and chief of cardiology and cardiovascular research, has been awarded a $6 million grant by the National Institutes of Health’s Heart, Lung and Blood Institute to research how mutations in hematopoietic stem cells contribute to atherosclerotic cardiovascular diseases. He will collaborate with Dr. Richard A. Gibbs, director of the Human Genome Sequencing Center, Dr. Eric Boerwinkle, adjunct associate professor of medicine, and researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital and the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard.

Dr. Mary Estes, Cullen Endowed Chair and distinguished service professor of molecular virology & microbiology, has been honored with the American Society for Microbiology Lifetime Achievement Award for her sustained contributions to the microbiological sciences. The ASM is the oldest and largest life science society, composed of more than 30,000 scientists and health professionals.

Dr. Ricardo Nuila, assistant professor of medicine and director of the Narrative Medicine Program, was accepted to the fall 2019 class of Logan Nonfiction Fellows at the Carey Institute for Global Good in Rensselaerville, N.Y. He will use the opportunity to work on his first book, "The People’s Hospital," on safety net hospitals and the care of the underserved, which will be published by Scribner in spring 2021.

Dr. Tamara Ortiz-Perez, associate professor of radiology, is this week’s highlighted senator on the faculty intranet portal as the Faculty Senate observes Women in Medicine Month. Read about the passion she brings to her role as chair of the senate’s Faculty Affairs & Benefits Committee.

image image The Academy of Distinguished Educators has awarded Norton Rose Fulbright Educational Grants to three faculty members. Recipients are Dr. Aanand Naik, associate professor of medicine, for "Evaluation of Leading Healthcare Improvement: A Novel Leadership Course for Baylor College of Medicine,” Dr. Bindi Naik-Mathuria, associate professor of pediatrics, for "Developing Surgical Simulators for Complex and Rare Minimally-Invasive Operations in Infants to Enhance the Training of Pediatric Surgery Fellows,” and Dr. Shabana Yusuf, associate professor of pediatrics, for "Enhancing Effectiveness of the Pediatric Resident Evidence-Based Medicine Curriculum through Team-Based Learning.” Award winners will submit poster abstracts to the Academy’s Showcase of Educational Scholarship in 2020.

College Events

Compassion Series: Dr. Michelle Barratt, professor of pediatrics at UT Health, presents “What’s in a Name?” as part of the Compassion & the Art of Medicine series at noon Friday, Sept. 13, in Cullen Auditorium. She works with patients and trainees at a long-term juvenile detention facility.

Stop Smoking: The Department of Family and Community Medicine offers free training for healthcare providers to help patients with smoking cessation, 8 a.m. – noon Saturday, Sept. 14, at the Kirby Clinic, 3701 Kirby Drive, Suite 600. Topics include pharmacotherapy, motivational interviewing and shared patient-provider decision-making on lung cancer screening. For more details and to register for this CME-eligible course, please contact Maribel Mosqueda.

"Leonardo: Connecting Art & Anatomy” marks the occasion of the 500th anniversary of the death of Leonardo Da Vinci at 4 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 17, in Room N315, main Baylor. The Consulate General of Italy-Houston sponsors this talk by Dr. Kevin Petti, president emeritus of the Human Anatomy and Physiology Society.

Evenings with Genetics: “OI Can: Current Management, Research and Resources for Osteogenesis Imperfecta” is the topic of a discussion with Dr. Reid Sutton, professor of molecular & human genetics, Dr. Venitha Shenava, assistant professor of orthopedic surgery, and a guest parent speaker. The event starts at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 17, at the Children’s Museum of Houston. Register to attend.

Faculty Opportunities

Faculty Awards Director: The Office of the President seeks a Director of Faculty External Recognition to oversee the nomination process of faculty members for awards from a variety of national and international sources. Interested faculty at the rank of associate professor or professor within any mission area who have effective organizational and communication skills and experience as a mentor to students or faculty are encouraged to apply for this paid, part-time appointment. See the Faculty Opportunities website for the full job description and apply by Monday, Sept. 16.

Patient Safety: Physicians, residents and fellows, nurses and pharmacists are needed for a multi-institutional, inter-professional patient safety training event from 12:30 to 3 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 17, in the Texas Medical Center. Organized by faculty from Baylor, Texas Woman’s University and The University of Houston College of Pharmacy, the evidence-based workshop brings together medical, nursing and pharmacy students to work through a near-miss patient safety case in small groups. The workshop needs 50 medical facilitators and a minimum of 25 nursing and 25 pharmacy facilitators. To volunteer, please contact Dr. Cara Lye or Dr. Sara Andrabi. For more information, see Faculty Opportunities.

Faculty Resources

Educator Bootcamp: Learn the tools you need to succeed in your education role – applicable to any area. The Office of Faculty Development, School of Medicine, Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences and Academy of Distinguished Educators present two bootcamp sessions; register for one or both:

  • Teaching the 21st Century Learner – align your teaching and assessment to best practices and cognitive science while engaging with experience educators, 2-5 p.m. Friday, Sept. 13, Room M321, main Baylor, or via Zoom.
  • Strategies for Successful Teaching – optimize your large and small group teaching with active approaches and learn to provide effective feedback, 2-5 p.m. Oct. 18, Room M323, main Baylor, or via Zoom.

Scholarship Showcase: The Academy of Distinguished Educators highlights educational projects by Baylor trainees and faculty at the Annual Showcase of Educational Scholarship, noon to 3 p.m. Friday, Sept. 20, in Rayzor Hall, main Baylor. Stop by to view the posters, engage in discussions and enjoy light refreshments. Awards for best posters will be presented at 3 p.m. in Cullen Auditorium, main Baylor.


Attention Clinicians: See Clinical Events

Clinical Seminars

Surgery Grand Rounds: Dr. Atif Iqbal, chief of the colorectal surgery section, discusses “Colorectal Surgery” at 7 a.m. Wednesday, Sept. 18, Room N315, main Baylor or via Zoom, meeting ID: 517 471 817.

Ethics Grand Rounds: Dr. Susan Miller of Houston Methodist Hospital presents “When Our Personal Beliefs Have the Potential to Harm” at 5 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 18, in the Rio Grande Conference Room, Houston Methodist.

TCH Professional Day: “Evidence-Based Approaches to Care in Pediatrics and Obstetrics” is the topic of this year’s system-wide conference Thursday, Sept. 19, at Texas Children’s Medical Center Campus, West Campus and The Woodlands. See the agenda and register online to attend.

Depression: Psychiatry faculty from Baylor and UT Health are among the leaders discussing the latest clinical and research advances in the diagnosis and treatment of depression across the lifespan, the topic of the 2019 Houston Mood Disorders Conference, Friday and Saturday, Sept. 20-21, at Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center. Online registration is open for the CME-eligible event.


Attention Researchers: See Research Calendar

Research Seminars

Neuroscience: "Promoting Recovery from Cervical Spinal Cord Injuries” is the topic of a lecture by Dr. Gary Sieck, professor of physiology & biomedical engineering at Mayo Clinic, at 11 a.m. Friday, Sept. 13, in Room 187A, main Baylor.

Cancer: Dr. J. Silvio Gutkind, professor in the Moores Cancer Center at University of California San Diego, speaks on identifying new mechanism-based precision therapies for head and neck cancers as part of the Dan L Duncan Comprehensive Cancer Center Distinguished lecture series, noon Monday, Sept. 16, in Room N315, main Baylor.

GI Research: Dr. Jason Hou, associate professor of medicine, presents “IBD Qorus: Leveraging a Learning Healthcare System for Quality Improvement and Research” at 4 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 19, in Room M112, main Baylor.

Cancer Therapy: Dr. Junjie Chen, professor and chair of experimental radiation oncology at MD Anderson Cancer Center, presents “Targeting DNA damage checkpoints in cancer therapy” at 4 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 26, in Room N315. His seminar is sponsored by the Verna and Marrs McLean Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology.

Research Resources

Mentor Training: Faculty research mentors are invited to participate in a workshop to build skills in mentoring competencies including aligning expectations, maintaining effective communications, fostering independence and resilience and promoting professional development. Workshop activities are based on the mentor training curriculum of the NIH’s National Research Mentoring Network, tailored for Baylor mentors. Two workshop dates are offered in November. To attend, choose your preferred date by Oct. 21 For more information, contact Dr. Sandra Haudek, director of peer coaching in the Office of Faculty Development.

From the Labs: Read what Dr. Farrah Kheradmand, pulmonologist and professor of medicine, and graduate student Matthew Madison learned about e-cigarettes’ effects on lung function and infection 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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